Business advocacy, up to about a decade ago, was virtually unknown to the average Ghanaian and even more so the Ghanaian business community. From the mechanic at Suame Magazine in Kumasi to the Shea-butter producers in the three Northern Regions, the vegetable farmer in the Accra Plains, the cocoa-farmer in Brong Ahafo, Ashanti and Western Regions, to the formal or informal traders and other service producers found in all parts of the country. Increasingly, business participation in shaping reforms in an open and transparent manner is impacting positively on the development of emerging markets. The private sector can become a valuable partner for policy-makers through a process of business advocacy that enables the private sector to identify issues of common concern and propose joint solutions that will support the growth and competitiveness of the sector. This is especially relevant in young and fast-changing developing countries such as Ghana. Although advocacy is not well-documented or well understood in our part of the world, it is not new in other parts of the world. Advocacy as a tool for economic development is a relatively new concept that has evolved to the extent that it is becoming an impetus for more rational and focused national development. Hepworth and Larsen (1986) define advocacy as “the process of working with and/or on behalf of clients (1), to obtain services or resources for clients that would not otherwise be provided, (2) to modify existing policies, procedures or practices that adversely impact clients, or (3) to promote new legislation or policies that will result in the provision of needed resources or services”. It can be implemented through research, media campaigns, public speaking, and dialogue with targets that are able to make the necessary changes being advocated. As a tool, advocacy is not new and can be illustrated in 1966 in the USA when delegates to a conference on young people with cerebral palsy asked: “What will happen to my child when I’m gone and not able to speak up for him?” The response was: ‘if there is no family willing or able to speak up for a person, then perhaps they could continue to have a voice through a Citizen Advocate programme’. Two key figures in the advocacy movement, John O’Brien and Wolf Wolfensburger, carried this forward and eventually helped to establish over 200 Citizen Advocacy schemes in the USA, Canada and Australia dealing with advocacy in civil society. General advocacy has evolved rapidly and has been developed into three categories: namely self advocacy, case advocacy and cause advocacy (UNICEF). “Self advocacy is speaking for, representing the interests of, or defending the rights of one-self.” This is the oldest type of advocacy, wherein an individual has to address his or her own issues without any external help. An instance is when you have an electrical problem and you go to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to lodge a complaint. I’m sure readers can attest to the tedious process one goes through just to get the ECG to provide a service YOU have paid or will pay for. On the other hand, “Case advocacy is speaking for, representing the interests of, or defending the rights of another person or specific group of people who are not in a position to defend their rights at that very moment.” “Cause or Public advocacy is speaking for or representing the interests of, or defending the rights of a general category of people, or the general public.” This is the most effective type of advocacy since it addresses a similar problem faced by the public and engages the relevant authorities to resolve the issue, thus covering the needs of many people at the same time. Public advocacy has been very successful in championing the cause of the general public, such that numerous advocacy groups have sprung up addressing issues from gay-rights to slavery to agriculture. Although groups may be relatively small, there are large international advocacy organisations such as Amnesty International and Business NZ that are truly global in nature. In Ghana, some of the social-issue groups include Ghana Media Advocacy Programme (G-MAP), the Human Rights Advocacy Centre (HRAC), the ARK Foundation and ABANTU for Development. Amnesty International is an exemplary model of public social advocacy founded by an English labour lawyer, Peter Benenson in London, 1961. Its mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated." It is now the Global mouthpiece for human rights advocacy with over 3 million supporters in over 150 countries. What is Business Advocacy? Business advocacy, derived from the definitions above, involves advocacy to create or improve a more appropriate enabling environment through review of regulatory frameworks. The subsequent dialogue, if successful, will create the appropriate conditions to allow for increased economic growth, a more profitable private sector, increased investments, greater competitiveness, more wealth-generation, more job-creation and finally poverty-reduction. In terms of business advocacy, Business NZ is the largest business advocacy body of New Zealand created from the 2001 amalgamation of New Zealand’s Employers' and Manufacturers' Federations. Such an advocacy group is perhaps what Ghana needs to promote progress in our economic environment. Ghana is a developing country and hopefully the concept of business advocacy will be grasped by the average businessman or woman or associations as well as the Government to enhance public-private partnership for national development. In the meantime, we can support business advocacy groups who are making strides in helping the wheels of Ghana’s economy turn more effectively and efficiently. Some of the national level groups leading the business advocacy process in Ghana are the Association for Ghana Industries (AGI), Private Enterprise Foundations (PEF), Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI), as well as professional bodies and business associations representing small and medium enterprises. The Business Sector Advocacy Challenge Fund (BUSAC) is supporting Ghanaian private sector organisations to effectively perform their advocacy role. The BUSAC Fund is the second component of the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) Support for Private Sector Development Programme, Phase II. SPSD II was set up to promote Ghana’s Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS) and the National Medium Term Private Sector Development Strategy. The BUSAC Fund strengthens the advocacy capacity of the private sector organisations (PSO) composed of trade unions, media-houses, business associations and farmer-based organisations. The first phase of the BUSAC Fund project was started by DANIDA in 2004 and also funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The first phase of the project was quite successful, and as a result DANIDA with two other development partners, USAID and the European Union (EU), are funding the second phase of the project. The BUSAC Fund II is scheduled to run for 5 years and projected to consolidate the gains made in BUSAC Fund I, and to further spread the concept and practice of business advocacy to all sectors of the economy and to all regions and districts in Ghana. The project provides competitive grants to PSOs to advocate to and dialogue with mainly the Ghanaian government and local authorities by placing pressure on, and challenging duty-bearers at national, regional, metropolitan, municipal and district levels to address issues seen as barriers to doing business from the private sector’s point of view. The Fund further aims to contribute to the progress of the business environment to facilitate private sector development in Ghana. It seeks to build capacity of Private Sector Organisations to identify, analyse and through research understand the depth and breadth of the business environment challenges which hinder their development and growth. Through advocacy, the Fund has improved the capacities of more than 400 institutions to address challenges that impede their progress. For example, the BUSAC Fund provided a grant to the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) to support an advocacy action called "Using the Media to Strengthen Business Advocacy”. The advocacy has brought to light the challenges faced by businesses from all sectors of the economy. It provides a platform via the national television station, GTV, that airs the programme “The Business Advocate” wherein PSOs interact with stakeholders and advocacy targets such as government authorities to discuss business issues. The call-in segment of the programme allows viewers as well to comment on this TV programme. The success of this action led the members of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Trade and Industry in 2009 to call for an extension and expansion of the GJA/BUSAC media advocacy action. Another example of the success and positive impact of the BUSAC Fund on Ghana’s economy is the final result achieved by the Ghana Institute of Engineers. An Act of Parliament established the Ghana Institute of Engineering in 1969 to regulate engineering practices in Ghana, but unfortunately the corresponding legislative instrument was never created. The Institute, in 2006, received a grant from the BUSAC Fund entitled “Call for passage of the Engineering Law”. It has taken the Institute almost 5 years to achieve the final results of their action implemented in 2006-2008. The Engineering Council Act, “ACT 819” was signed in May, 2011 by His Excellency John Evans Atta Mills. The Act establishes the Engineering Council as a corporate body with the objective to secure the highest professional standards in the practice of engineering. It also mandates quality training and prescribes standards of professional conduct for engineering practitioners. The Engineering Council will also advise the Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing on engineering matters. It pays to be persistent, and in this case the impact of the passage of this Act will only been seen in the future through improved professional performance on the part of qualified engineers. Business advocacy has made positive strides in contributing to the growth of the economy in Ghana, but it still has a long way to go in the creation of an improved enabling environment for economic growth. The BUSAC Fund and other business advocacy groups should be continuously strengthened to nurture and build the capacity of the PSO’s until they can stand on their own to address their challenges without external assistance.