Communicating Development And The SDGs: Oxfam In Ghana And Advocacy Campaign Effectiveness On SDG5

Abstract

The study examines the effectiveness of communication strategies employed by Oxfam in Ghana in advocating for Sustainable Development Goal 5 (Gender Equality). Though development organisations are making efforts in driving social change, the focus between strategic communication and actual grassroots impacts remains a critical area of investigation. Leveraging the theoretical frameworks of Agenda-Setting, Participatory Communication and Communication for Social Change, the research measures how advocacy messages are constructed, disseminated and received within the Ghanaian context. The mixed-methods approach was adopted in this research, using a semi-structured interview for the qualitative analysis where staff if Oxfam in Ghana and the Planned Parenthood Association (PPAG), implementers for Oxfam in Ghana were interviewed. And, the quantitative analysis utilised a content analysis of news articles, annual reports and impact stories centred on the WEACT and Power to Choose Projects. The study reveals that Oxfam Ghana’s traditional advocacy efforts successfully align with national development agendas and effectively utilise mainstream media to highlight policy-level successes. The organisation also effectively uses the participatory approach in involving key stakeholders at the policy or decision-making level to influence public and policy agenda. Nevertheless, though the organisation’s social media was not analysed, observation of its social pages shows a ‘digital disconnect’between its Instagram and Facebook pages. While the Facebook page is consistently updated with posts but mostly on events/activities, the Instagram page has been dormant for some months. Engagement on the social platform is focused more on event-based reporting or awareness/information sharing, with a notable absence of human-interest narratives and impact stories. Similar trends were observed in the digital communication of Oxfam’s implementing partners social pages - PPAG and Yenkasa gh. The findings suggest that while Oxfam excels at high-level policy advocacy (Agenda Setting), it underutilizes the horizontal, dialogic potential of social media required for transformative social change. The study concludes that for SDG 5 advocacy to be truly effective in Ghana, there must be a strategic shift toward story-centric participatory communication that bridges the gap between organizational reporting and the lived experiences of beneficiaries.