The SONA
Initiative
Institutional Design for Democratic Inclusion (2024-2025)
The SONA Initiative was a time-bound pilot program founded in 2024 to address a persistent democratic failure: women drive local economies, yet remain excluded from the governance systems that shape economic policy, infrastructure, and resource allocation.
The Problem
In the pilot district in rural Ghana's Eastern Region, women entrepreneurs attempting to attend district assembly meetings were physically blocked by male community leaders. The justification was explicit: “Business belongs in the market, not the council chamber.”
This exclusion was not anomalous. Research on informal economies consistently shows that governance systems privilege formal organizational forms, rendering informal actors politically invisible even when they are economically indispensable.
The barrier was not capacity, awareness, or civic interest. It was legitimacy.
The Intervention: Institutional Translation
SONA implemented a civic-economic integration model centered on institutional translation, converting informal economic priorities into inputs legible within formal governance systems.
Financial Literacy & Governance
Women entrepreneurs strengthened internal governance, financial management, and collective decision-making structures. Internal accountability is a prerequisite for external legitimacy.
Practical Civic Education
Training on district planning and statutory mandates.
Strategic Alignment
Rather than framing demands as rights-based claims, cooperative priorities, such as market access and infrastructure, were reframed as development issues aligned with district planning frameworks.
03Outcomes & Insights
Visible Impact
- 12+
Women entrepreneurs established sustained participation in district assembly proceedings.
- 2
Women secured appointments to district economic planning committees previously closed to them.
"Inclusion can be achieved by altering how legitimacy is recognized, rather than by expanding participation alone."
What We Learned
Participation ≠ Legitimacy
Inviting citizens to meetings doesn't work if systems don't authorize them.
Mobilization ≠ Inclusion
Engagement protocols must align with statutory processes.
Architecture > Leadership
Dependence on individual leaders is fragile; systems must be durable.
Trajectory
The SONA Initiative was intentionally structured as a pilot to generate field-tested insight.
These methods are now being formalized through The Freedom and Democracy Institute, where I serve as Chief Operating Officer, operating across Ghana, Kenya, and Liberia.
Translating pilot-level interventions into durable governance architectures.