Women Traditional Leaders Build Capacity

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday July 6, 2011.
A workshop aimed at building the capacity of women traditional leaders to participate effectively in governance has ended in Wa, the Upper West Regional capital with a call on the government and various traditional authorities to intensify efforts to get more women into positions of authority.

The workshop, which was under the theme, “Strengthening traditional authorities for national development: Role of the women,” was organized by the Center for Indigenous Knowledge and Organization Development (CIKOD) in collaboration with the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS).

As part of the training, CIKOD has developed a training manual aimed at building the capacity of women in local governance, natural resource management, gender mainstreaming and community human resource mobilization.

Opening the workshop, Upper West Regional Minister, Issaku Saliah underscored the need for collaboration among all sectors to preserve, transform and utilize indigenous set ups for the country’s progress.

He said there are beautiful aspects of culture which must be safeguarded at all times, adding that the attempt to position women as the mainstay of local and traditional governance was prudent.

“Undoubtedly, the role and impact of women leaders in the traditional setting can never be overemphasized. These range from perpetuating our culture, serving as counselors/advisors to building peace bridges during conflict times,” he said.

The Minister also commended CIKOD and KAS for creating a network of women traditional leaders to deliberate on issues affecting the society and pledged the government’s commitment to support efforts towards giving the female a voice in the development process.

Evelyn Abe-Iyel G. Bonye, who spoke on behalf of Bernard Guri, Executive Director of CIKOD, said the choice of traditional women was a deliberate strategy to empower women to play equal leadership roles in northern parts of Ghana as is the case of their counterparts down south.

She said although women leadership institutions have not been prominent in the culture of the north, the Regional Houses of Chiefs there were working hard to revitalize and outdoor traditional women leaders to balance the development equation.

She also said CIKOD is collaborating with the District Assemblies to accelerate the development of rural areas, using women as the focus of the development process.

Dr. Isaac Owusu-Mensah, Senior Programme Manager of KAS underscored the need for traditional women leaders in the north to liaise with their counterparts down south to build solid networks.

“The new queenmothers must not be comfortable with the skin but must see it as opportunity to contribute to the development process of their community. The times when traditional authorities were comfortable with festivals and greetings of politicians are passed.’