Stakeholder consultation: who is invited and how?
Policy-makers now try to engage with stakeholders for their contribution to the policy. Stakeholder interviews confirm that all stakeholders concerned with hypertension and diabetes were invited for policy discussions. Asked how they influence the making of diabetes and hypertension policies and how patient views are captured in the policy process, a participant from a patient organization stated;
With policy, we are very active in the process and try to fight for patient interest…. Between 2010 and 2012, prices of diabetic products were just escalating so we sat down with the then government…..that is, Ministry of Finance and Ghana Revenue Authority. Then we picked seven companies and mandated them to import our products so that when they import, there is a duty waiver and a VAT (tax) waiver. And when we did that, the prices stabilized for four years
On how stakeholders are invited, findings reveal that the traditional way of engaging stakeholders by the MOH/GHS is to conduct a static location meeting and invite all stakeholders together in one place to deliberate on the working document of the policy. However, policy-makers have realized that this method has not been helpful in the stakeholder engagement process. A respondent explained as follows;
The challenge we have seen over the years is that if you call a stakeholders meeting, the key people that you need to come and make input in the policy do not come. They send some people whose opinions really do not matter. So when you deal with these opinions, this same stakeholders come and complain and do not support certain aspects of the policy
After the stakeholder engagement, a zero draft is produced. A zero draft is “good to go” but policy makers still needs to validate it by consulting an even larger stakeholder group to ensure that what they captured and reported is fully supported by the larger stakeholder group. The document is then circulated to other interested parties after which a draft is presented. Based on the nature of the policy, there could be first, second and sometimes final drafts of the policy. The policy is then endorsed by the Minister and then launched. After launching, the policy document is disseminated to all key stakeholders for them to know the content and create awareness about the policy. This usually takes place at both regional and agency levels.