Gender inequality has generally rendered many women disadvantaged, in developing and harnessing their human capital. Whilst various reasons have been cited for the existence of gender inequality in Northern Ghana, the most widely cited reason is culture, specifically the patriarchal system, low participation in decision-making, and unpaid care work.

Gender equality and social inclusion are seen not only as fundamental aspects of human rights and social justice but also as a precondition to improving the development process by placing social concerns at the forefront of interventions. Recognizing the numerous normative issues that contribute to gender inequalities in Northern Ghana and their effects on improving the socioeconomic status of women, URBANET, in partnership with MEDA under the GROW2 project, seeks to tackle these inequalities by implementing Gender Equality Champions (GEC) by engaging men who are passionate and can serve as Community Partners to ignite change.

Under the leadership of the GESI coordinator, 35 men from the North East and East Gonja districts were taken through two days of intensive training.  These men will serve as Gender Equality Champions (GECs) within their various communities. This initiative aims to improve their knowledge and skills as well as equip them with the tools necessary for effective and efficient advocacy. This will ensure community support for women’s socioeconomic empowerment topics such as gender awareness on sex and gender, negative masculinities and their effects, and equity and equality.

The Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) officer at Urbanet has, under the GROW2 project, commenced a series of pieces of training on the Gender Action Learning System (GALS) in various communities in the operational zones of the GROW2 project. The training will include selected couples within these communities and village agents, who will later transfer the knowledge learned to others within and outside the community.

The Gender Action Learning System is a community-led empowerment methodology that uses specific participatory processes and diagram tools that aim at giving women as well as men more control over their lives and resources. Couples and clients will be introduced to setting goals, making active decisions, and planning towards achieving these goals. The component takes participants through the processes involved in goal setting, identifying challenges or obstacles that hinder the success of the goals they set for themselves, and how to mitigate these challenges.

Participants in this training are guided to understand the concepts of goal setting, effective decision-making, and planning strategies that foster the achievement of these goals. And with the help of illustrations, they can draw out their visions, and schedule for goals, opportunities, challenges, and targets. They are made to identify on their own how they can achieve these goals using existing resources and opportunities and controlling challenges.

The primary focus of these activities is to first empower these women, to be able to take charge and create an environment that aligns with the future they want for themselves and their communities. And secondly, ensure that couples and households can make collective decisions that foster growth within and outside their household. It is also meant to address the issue of gender and social injustice in economic development by using an inclusive and participatory process, which in itself is an empowerment strategy.

The issue of women’s access to land has been discussed for decades. Despite the efforts to ensure land ownership for women, especially for farming purposes, it remains unresolved in some parts of the country. Although some women have been given access to lands or portions of lands to farm, most of these lands hold little to no value.

Urbanet, in partnership with the House of Chiefs and CECOTAP in North East Gonja district, organized a land dialogue to create awareness about the importance of women’s access to land, especially for agricultural purposes. The event brought together GROW2 WSHFs, chiefs, land owners, the DCE, opinion leaders, and gender equality champions, among other stakeholders.

The dialogue focused on ways to get easy access to fertile lands for women, with an emphasis on the significance of women’s smallholder farming. The GESI coordinator, Madam Nimatu, who led the dialogue, stated the significance of empowering women economically as well as socially. She stated the contribution of women to not just the household but also the community. She encouraged all the stakeholders present to advocate for women in any sense that contributes to positive development.

The GROW2 project aims to empower as many women economically as possible through agribusinesses. This is set to be achieved by providing opportunities for women smallholder farmers and entrepreneurs, this includes access to land and reducing inequalities. With the support of traditional leaders and other stakeholders, discussions will be held frequently to ensure success.

As part of the event, the GESI officer also engaged participants on the impact of WSHFs on households and the community at large. The contribution of these women to household development cannot be underestimated. It was a pleasure having the DCE, traditional leaders, and other stakeholders express the need to support them.

A major component of the Women Innovation for Sustainable Enterprises (WISE) project is alleviating poverty and ensuring economic empowerment for women. The project has, since its inception, provided step-down training, innovative saving methods, and business and entrepreneurial strategy training, among others, to equip women smallholder farmers and aggregators to transform their farming activities and livelihoods into profitable agribusinesses. Through start-up support, a lot of women have been able to secure businesses for themselves, while others have transformed already existing businesses to meet wider market standards.

Over the years, a few of these beneficiaries have become exceptional entrepreneurs, and some of them have participated in competitions where they pitched their businesses in the country’s capital. These women have been selected to serve as mentees and advocates in their communities. To ensure that a ripple effect is seen across the districts, these mentees have been allowed to engage in some savings groups within the Kumbungu and Tolon districts, sharing their entrepreneurial journeys and insights.

This experience-sharing is not just about networking; it is a platform for growth, empowerment, and learning new strategies to navigate the business world. They also engaged them in proper savings strategies that can be used in transforming their businesses, setting goals, and how to achieve them. The purpose of using mentees for this engagement was to ensure that, the rural women understood they could also succeed if they put their minds to their businesses. And to also provide them with a sense of hope and boost their morale, knowing that people from amongst them have been able to go this far.

To ensure the sustainability of the project, we are aiming at getting as many advocates and mentees as possible within each community of implementation and equipping them with the needed skills to support and uplift others. The aim of URBANET is not just to support and provide relief to an entire community within our districts of influence, but to ensure that a considerable number of women are effectively transformed and serve as ambassadors in their communities.

Zoggu is one of the 28 communities under the Nanton district where the GROW2 project is executed within the Northern region by URBANET Ghana. It has been identified as one of the communities with much potential considering its vibrant women smallholder farmers and aggregators and their zeal to embrace change. Through the project, many initiatives under the market systems component and gender transformative approaches have been implemented in the community, which have seen great progress.

Through the continuous support from URBANET Ghana and the GROW2 project, the community is slowly becoming a hub for serious agribusinesses owned by women, gender rights advocacy, and several other transformational development initiatives. 

As the sponsor of the GROW2 project, Global Affairs Canada (GAC) has shown immense interest in the project and its progress. Through the major implementor, MEDA Ghana, it pays working visits to its Key Facilitating Partners (KFPs) to measure the impact of the project on clients (beneficiaries).

URBANET Ghana hosted the Canadian High Commissioner to Ghana, Martine Moreau, the Senior Development Officer at GAC, Mr. Majeed Mohammed, and a team from MEDA Ghana in the Zoggu community. The visit was meant to interact with the women under the project, especially those who could acquire the various technologies under the project’s Price Discount Scheme (PDS) and members of the Gender Module Family (GMF) activity. Most of them shared their experience, the benefits they have derived from the project, and how it has transformed their households and businesses.

The High Commissioner, through the GESI officer of URBANET, interacted with some women who own tricycles and groundnut shellers acquired through the project. She found interest in how they were able to acquire such pieces of machinery and how well it is helping them. She expressed her satisfaction at how far the women have come and are working hard to transform themselves and their children.

Through the project’s market system and gender transformative approaches, many of them have improved their relationships with spouses and children, and have attained alternative income sources in addition to what they did previously, which has improved their financial status. The project intends to reduce poverty, if not end it, amongst women through business and market approaches. It seeks to create as many women in the agribusiness sector as possible, and URBANET, through its project officers across its Zones of Influence, is ensuring that it is achieved. 

The WISE project is a partner project with Plan International Ghana, and as an implementing partner, URBANET accounts to not only its beneficiaries and stakeholders but partners as well. Given this, URBANET has had a close relationship with Plan International Ghana over the years and has worked jointly to ensure the success of the project. Despite working with the northern branch of Plan International Ghana, our relationship extends beyond the branch office.

URBANET had the pleasure of hosting the recently appointed Country Director of Plan International Ghana, Constant Tchona, and some team members from the regional branch, in some of its WISE project implementing communities, as part of his visit to the regional branch. He engaged with the project beneficiaries in the Kumbungu district, sharing his life journey and as well immersing himself in their stories and experiences. From heartwarming interactions with the VSLA groups at the Kpilo community to monitoring the WISE project Safe Spaces for Children at the Tibung community, his visit was filled with impactful moments.

The team also visited the Voggu community, where the Country Director closely monitored our women-friendly solar hub and interacted with the hub agents and some women entrepreneurs. The resilience and determination of these women entrepreneurs left a lasting impression, showcasing the power of sustainable initiatives in driving change.