Accra, Ghana-based IMANI Center for Policy and Education was named one of six finalists for this year's prestigious $100,000 Templeton Freedom Award for its IMANIFesto Initiative, which estimated the costs and rated the feasibility of all campaign promises of Ghana’s main political parties in the run-up to the country’s 2016 election with a three-pronged quantitative assessment framework.
"IMANIFesto became a reference point that benchmarked political promises along quantifiable metrics that the common man could relate to and is now the blueprint for political communication along the lines of policy promises,” said Franklin Cudjoe, founding president and CEO of IMANI. “It is exciting to know that IMANIFesto will become the most potent tool to help narrow the gap between political wish lists and reality in Ghana and anywhere we export the idea to – primarily the rest of Africa and anywhere else politicians evade scrutiny."
IMANIFesto forced the country’s political parties to attempt to justify many of their unrealistic campaign promises to the public by determining and publicizing the financial viability of each promise, its potential impact on private sector development, and overall policy implications of its implementation. IMANIFesto stirred public debate with each campaign publication and subsequent press event, which pressured political parties to reform several of their previously unrealistic promises. Near-constant attention in the national media and IMANI’s savvy use of social media made IMANIFesto a household name in Ghana. IMANI’s engagement of millions of Ghanaians has reminded the people of Ghana that the power to hold the government accountable is in their hands.
"IMANI demonstrates the vital role that civil society organizations can play in making government leaders more accountable to citizens,” said Atlas Network CEO Brad Lips. “Its IMANIFesto Initiative finally forces politicians to reconcile their campaign rhetoric with the real-world trade-offs that face policymakers in office."
What: IMANI’s IMANIFesto Initiative named one of six finalists for Atlas Network's prestigious $100,000 Templeton Freedom Award
When: Nov. 8, 2017, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Liberty Forum & Freedom Dinner closing ceremony – Capitale, 130 Bowery, New York, NY 10013 (Bowery and Grand St.)
Press Contact: Daniel.Anthony@AtlasNetwork.org or 202-449-8441
Awarded since 2004, the Templeton Freedom Award is named for the late investor and philanthropist Sir John Templeton. The award annually honors his legacy by identifying and recognizing the most exceptional and innovative contributions to the understanding of free enterprise, and the public policies that encourage prosperity, innovation, and human fulfillment via free competition. The award is generously supported by Templeton Religion Trust and will be presented during Atlas Network's Liberty Forum & Freedom Dinner gala dinner ceremony Nov. 8, 2017 in New York City. The winning organization will receive a $100,000 prize and the runners-up will each receive $25,000.
The 2017 Templeton Freedom Award finalists are:
- Beacon Center of Tennessee (Nashville, Tenn., United States) – “Tackle the Hall Tax” project
- Georgia Center for Opportunity (GCO) (Norcross, Ga., United States) – “Prisoner Reentry Initiative”
- IMANI Center for Policy and Education (Accra, Ghana) – “IMANIFesto” initiative
- Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies (IEE) (Porto Alegre, Brazil) – Fórum da Liberdade
- Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO) (Mexico City, Mexico) – “Anticorruption Reform Initiative for Mexico, 3for3”
- Macdonald-Laurier Institute for Public Policy (MLI) (Ottawa, Canada) – "Aboriginal Canada and the Natural Resource Economy” project
About IMANI Center for Policy and Education
Based in Accra, Ghana, IMANI Center for Policy and Education stimulates public discussion of the promotion of economic prosperity rights, the rule of law, open and unconditional trade, free speech, and decentralization of power and resources. IMANI educates individuals on the value of free markets and human initiative made manifest through entrepreneurship. It continues to affect the public policy and corporate realm of society through forums, congregations, and published articles.
About Atlas Network
Washington-based Atlas Network is a nonprofit organization that strengthens the worldwide freedom movement by connecting more than 470 independent partners in over 90 countries that share the vision of a free, prosperous, and peaceful world where limited governments defend the rule of law, private property, and free markets.
Attachments:
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/be01e3dc-8b20-440c-a88f-e4bafb949643
Attachments:
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/54056da8-6d75-40ef-ba7d-442e2d8980ab