WiLDAF trains 20 legal literacy volunteers
The Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF), with support from STAR Ghana, has trained 20 legal literacy volunteers from 10 communities in the South Dayi District in family laws including such area as traditional marriage and inheritance, the Children’s Act and domestic violence.
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This is to enable them to educate their communities and provide community members with information on family laws and procedures.
It formed part of a community legal literacy project being implemented by WiLDAF and sponsored by STAR Ghana and Crossroads International of Canada.
Addressing chiefs, queenmothers and opinion leaders on marriage and divorce laws stipulated by the laws of the land, a legal consultant to WiLDAF, Ms Bernice Sam, stated that customary marriage was legitimate in accordance with the 1992 constitution.
This was at a day’s workshop for the leaders, from the Peki, Kpalime, Tongor and Kpeve traditional areas in the South Dayi District of the Volta Region.
Customary marriage
Ms Sam said customary marriage conformed to the plural legal system embodying laws passed by parliament as well as customary laws, adding that the constitution was the supreme law of the land’s guide to customary law and superseded all other laws made in the country, including those promulgated by parliament.
Customary law marriage is a union between a man’s family and the woman’s family. But it is also a contract between the man and the woman.
The programme manager for communication and advocacy of WilDAF, Ms Patricia Isabella Essel, said as part of engagement with traditional leaders, WiLDAF would discuss leadership issues and marriage laws in the country in order to help improve on access to justice.
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She said the project was expected to build the capacity of community leaders, to serve as legal literacy volunteers, and increase their knowledge and skills to create awareness, and also advocate legal protection for the people on family laws.
Expected results
Ms Essel also stated that at the end of the project there would be increased claims for protection of human rights and increased number of settled cases by legal literacy volunteers, as well as improved access to justice by different categories of people, to be administered by formal and non-formal judicial actors.
Communities taking part in the project, which is expected to end by December 2014, are Tongor Ahor, Peki-Dzake, Kpale-Xorse, Dzemeni, Wegbe Kpalime, Wegbe Wawase, Kaira Kpalime, New Adzokoe, Old Adzokoe and Toh.