Professor Avea Nsoh, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of TEERE is registered as a national NGO initially domiciled in the Upper East region but working across the northern regions, has announced a 3 years partnership agreement with STAR-Ghana Foundation on their Gender Rights and Empowerment Programme (G-REP).
This was made known in a speech read on his behalf in a stakeholder’s consultative meeting on October 06, 2022, at Kassena-Nankana Municipal Assembly Hall.
According to the CEO, the project seeks to mobilize and empower women towards the upcoming 2023 District Assembly Election. Indicating that “there is a global battle for the proper representation of women in our governance space”.
He said: “The trend is not good in our domestic scene as the project officer shall soon present us with some data. In an era of leave no one behind, we must collaborate to ensure proper representation of women and vulnerable groups in the decision-making spaces”.
Meanwhile, Maxwell Babilo Banu, the project officer for the Women Empowerment and their
Participation in Local Governance (WEPLOG) noted that the project focus is to empower women and to increase their numbers in the local governance pace.
According to him, the first year of the project is concentrating on getting more women elected in the upcoming 2023 District Assembly elections. “As you have seen in the presentation, data available indicated, within the two project intervention District, that is Bongo and Kassena Nankana Municipal. In 2019, the last District Assembly election, two women contested in the Kassena Municipal and they eventually lost and so no woman was elected. Likewise in the Bongo District. Four women contested in Bongo and none of them got elected, so as it stands, no women representation in the District Assembly. However, in the Kassena Nankana Municipal, they ended up appointing two women to the District Assembly. And so, the project intends to go out there and identify women” the project said
The Kassena Nankana Municipal District Chief Executive Joseph Adongo described the project as an important
“This is a very important programme especially now that we are moving into the Assembly elections. Is now public knowledge that most women don’t come out and there are several reasons why they don’t come up. It can be from their social standing, financial standing, and all those things”.
“So, I think that this particular that is coming, which has started, I have seen that people are bringing out views that are very important”.
We the men sometimes want to be domineering and because of that, we don’t want to allow them to lead. Women also think am a woman, why will I go and contest against a man when I have a man in my house? It means am disrespectful. So, that one made them not to contest and a lot of issues. I am happy with the response the women themselves are now giving by saying they are now enlightened unlike before.
This will be a wake-up call because it will tell us that few of them will be representing us and we need to do whatever we can to bring them up.
I also think, those who would like to show up, will have to do their groundwork very well. They need to build their character, they need to be involved in the community they come from, and you need to make sure that they are trusted.
People will not just vote for you because you are a woman, the DCE advised
Navro pio whose representative was present at the stakeholder’s consultative meeting commended the leadership of the project for their nice initiative.
He said, trying to empower and then encourage women to participate in local governance, is a nice way to help tackle and balance gender inequality.
He gave his blessing and support to TEERE to carry out the project in his traditional area smoothly without any hindrance.
Also sharing her views at the stakeholder’s consultative meeting, the Naaga Divisional Queen Mother Malsungu- Tumpaele said: “The woman does everything, to take care of the girl child is a woman. But when it comes to your daughter’s marriage, they don’t even involve the mother. She will not be part of the decision-making. Meanwhile, is the mother who nurtured the girl from the beginning.
So, from the onset, they have seen women in this part of our that we can never be leaders and for that matter all the time if we want to play a leadership role, you would receive intimidation and they don’t even want to encourage us”.
However, some statistics shown by TEERE also pointed out that women’s participation in local governance in the last Assembly election in Bongo and Kassena Nankana Municipal wasn’t encouraging.
The paramount chief of Kassena-Nankana Traditional area, Municipal Chief Executive, Co-ordinating Director, Budget and Planning officers, Municipal Heads of Department, Heads of Religious bodies, Heads of second cycle schools, CLOSSAG, Representatives of Persons with Disabilities, Representatives of political parties, reps of women and youth groups were all present at the stakeholder’s consultative meeting.
The project is sponsored by STAR-Ghana Foundation with funding from the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO).
Source: Apexnewsgh.com|Ghana
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