Women urged to build capacity for leadership positions
The African Women International (AFWI), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), has advised Ghanaian women to make use of opportunities to build their capacity to enable them to take leadership positions in governance at all levels.
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It said they should discard the age-old notion that they were the “weaker-sex” who were also incapable of playing certain challenging roles.
The Executive Director of AFWI, Mrs Victoria Araba Dennis, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview that research conducted by the organisation had revealed that few women were involved in local governance.
According to her, the trend was very “disturbing” and identified one of the reasons why some women shy away from local governance and other leadership positions as low self-esteem.
Mrs Dennis was speaking to the GNA at a three-day workshop organised by the NGO and funded by Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), to train women in the local government system, community mobilisation, assertive communication, leadership and networking.
Dubbed, “Leadership development for inclusion and participation of women in local political governance”, the workshop was attended by 50 women drawn from five Zonal Councils in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) Municipality.
They were taken through topics such as “Human Rights And Gender Advocacy”, “Policy Formulation”,” Lobbying”, “Proposal Development and Fundraising”, “Strategy Development”, “Building Alliance and Team”, “Communication And Personality Branding”.
Mrs Dennis said women were endowed with many skills and intellect which when developed could be of great benefit to the country, thus, the decision to help them to upgrade their knowledge and skills.
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She expressed the hope that the training would help bring out the hidden strengths in women to increase their participation in assembly elections as well as other areas to contribute to the development of their communities and the nation.
An Assistant Director of the KEEA Municipal Assembly, Mrs Daphne Nyagorme, said women had been voiceless in the society for a very long time and asked them to come out from their shells and make their voices heard.
Mr Gabriel Benarkuu, a facilitator of the workshop said, women could develop their confidence by vying for leadership positions in churches, communities, Parent/ Teacher Associations and other groups.