Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung@ 40 in Ghana Upon return in 1988 work with the former partners was continued and new partners were added. Promising developments for an opening in the political arena were strongly supported. In the early 1990s the work of the Committee of Experts that formulated proposals for the Fourth Republican Constitution of Ghana and the Consultative Assembly that drafted the Constitution was intensively supported. The transformation process constituted major challenges for those institutions that were mandated to implement the necessary steps. First among them was the Interim National Electoral Commission(INEC) that had to revise and replace the electoral register, educate voters and conduct the presidential and parliamentary elections. The elections were key to a successful transformation and FES, therefore, decided to contribute to making the process a success. Together with INEC, thousands of electoral officers and representatives of the political parties were trained on their roles in the electoral process. Furthermore, large quantities of educational material were developed and distributed. In spite of the very polarized relationship between the political parties, INEC and FES managed to involve them in the preparation and coordination of administrative aspects of the elections. The close partnership between FES and the now Electoral Commission, spans from these first days of the Fourth Republic. Cooperation with our Partners FES' relies heavily on the cooperation with its local partners. Only with them has it been possible to work on the implementation of the objectives of our work: • Promoting democracy and good governance. • Strengthening the democratic governance institutions. • Defending workers' rights and supporting free trade unions. • Facilitating socio-economic dialogue. • Fighting for gender equality. 4