Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung@ 40 in Ghana the Republic of Ghana. In this regard FES has supported Parliament through induction workshops for Members of Parliament after elections, the publication of “A Guide to Parliament” and outreach programmes by the Leadership and Members of Parliament across the country to interact with the electorate. Promoting gender equality FES together with our partner organisations works towards the realisation of political, legal and economic equality between women and men. In addition to the general gender mainstreaming approach in all our fields of work, we put special emphasis on reversing the under-representation of women in politics and public life. Selected women from the political parties have gone through training programmes to give them visibility and making them active participants in the governance process in Ghana. Furthermore, policymakers are made to appreciate the need to mainstream gender in policy-making. FES has supported the Women Manifesto Coalition from the very early stages. This project has been rewarded with the first prize of the UNIFEM Germany Award. Furthermore, we are supporting our partners to formulate and implement an affirmative action strategy to ensure that women have an equal say in politics. Youth in politics The youth forms a large part of the population in Ghana. However, their part in decision-making is limited. The youth has often been manipulated and exploited as foot soldiers to violently engage in political conflicts. Many are consequently frustrated by the nature of politics in the country. To foster a political culture of democracy and engagement in issues rather than violence, FES has started to work with the youth across the political divide The objective is on the one hand to equip the next generation of politicians with the necessary skills to work within and to shape functioning, internally democratic political parties. On the other hand, 8