UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) has entered into partnership with Chango in Ghana, a donation crowdfunding platform powered by IT Consortium.

Crowdfunding and donations to fund communal activities is a common practice in Ghana that has existed for many years. Community members come together to support the funding needs at the benefit of the entire community. However, the informal nature of this practice means there is very little accountability, with risks of fund misuse thus making the practice unattractive to many especially in the diaspora.

In line with the ambitions of the GrEEn Project to pilot crowdfunding as a channel for diaspora to contribute to local development, Chango will scale up its operations in two targeted regions (Ashanti and Western). The platform gives individuals, communities and groups the opportunity to raise funds for a specific purpose, keep track of their contributions and keep members accountable for the use of donated funds. Beyond individuals and group contributions, Chango will also support UNCDF in providing a secure, licensed and established platform to collect donations for local resilient climate infrastructure in their communities of origin. The donations will aim at complementing regular allocations by the central government to local governments authorities through intergovernmental fiscal transfer system. The funds will be then transferred to support projects and infrastructure that correspond to selected criteria for climate change adaptation following the well-established UNCDF LoCAL mechanism.

Thanks to the support of the European Union under the EU Trust Fund for Africa, Chango will leverage the GrEEn Project to target specific diaspora groups in selected countries through a network of project ambassadors to raise awareness on Ghanaian crowdfunding platforms and finally channel diaspora funds to support selected projects in the regions and districts.

“This is another step towards contributing to the national crowdfunding ecosystem” said Arianna Gasparri, UNCDF. “Thanks to the support of the European Union, UNCDF has worked with the public and private sectors to provide concrete opportunities for crowdfunding to flourish in Ghana. This partnership will empower Chango to increase their outreach and target a larger segment of the Ghanaian community helping them make an impact in their communities back home” she said.

“We are excited about this partnership to expand the usage of Chango by Ghanaians both home and abroad to make a lasting impact on our societies” said Joojo Esua-Mensah, IT Consortium.

Crowdfunding represents an enormous potential to bridge the local development financing gap. Ghanaians in the diaspora have shown enormous willingness to contribute to the development of their communities, however, the challenge in finding a formal and secure platform has prevented this potential from scaling. To this end, UNCDF adopts a market system approach to make sure crowdfunding can be inclusive and supportive of national development: UNCDF supports private sector expansion and the reach of underserved segments by de-risking the initial investments needed to develop new and innovative products and services; it contributes to building the digital skills of targeted users to help them navigate such innovation and works with the public sector to inform policy formulation to build an enabling ecosystem and allow these innovations to flourish.