Report On Consultation with Sector Ministries and Other Key Stakeholders
OPENING
Abantu for Development in collaboration with African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) organized a consultation forum with sector ministries and other key stakeholders at the Sunlodge hotel in Tesano. The forum began with an introduction session where people in attendance had to state their name, the organization they came from, what they hoped to learn from the program as well as what they believed regarding gender equality. Following the introduction session, Dr. Rose Mensah-Kutin, Director of ABANTU for Development, shared her welcome remarks touching on the importance of succession planning as a step in attaining our set objectives for passage of the bill. She also called for the support of the passage of the bill which was in its third year of implementation, a stage, where a broader and nationwide push would be very helpful towards the cause of getting and Affirmative Action Bill passed into law. She concluded by expressing appreciation to everyone supporting the cause and stated that our presence and efforts was indicative of our commitment to achieving gender parity.
ADDRESS BY DR. COMFORT ASARE, DIRECTOR OF DEPARTMENT OF GENDER
Dr. Comfort Asare started her address by sharing the status of the Bill and some of the difficulties the Bill had faced along the way. She stated that the Affirmative Action Bill was currently at the Attorney General’s department undergoing the necessary review. Before she spoke about some of the challenges faced by the bill, she stressed on the importance of stakeholders showing commitment to the cause. Talking about the challenges faced, she spoke about how one Member of Parliament told her of a negative experience of being hounded out by his constituents when he tried to educate them on the bill. She also shared an experience she had at an event where some men in big positions in society voted against the Affirmative Action Bill in a mock election. Dr. Asare also spoke about the fact the the progress of the Bill had been frustrated by some Members of Parliament who kept suggesting changes to the Bill. Despite these challenges, she was hopeful progress would be made soon since the president of the republic had stated that he wants the Bill to be in Parliament by the end of the first quarter of the year. She gave an example of one of the changes that had been made. She stated that the memorandum that allowed for Queen Mothers to be made a part of the National House of Chiefs has been expunged since it has been deemed more of a cultural issue and would take up too much time in a parliamentary debate. Other avenues would therefore be explored to deal with that. She also stated that it had come up that the issue of Safe Space must be properly defined in the Bill and sent to the Attorney General’s department. Dr. Asare also spoke about one of the issues that the Cabinet had with the Bill. The problem was that there are no sanctions for political parties for non-compliance with the directives towards equal participation set out for them under the Bill. She ended her address by making a few points. She stated that it was important that engagements would continue even after the passage of the Bill. She also agreed that it was important for the sanctions on political parties to be passed and that political parties should make female candidates contest in their party strongholds.
SNACK BREAK AND PHOTOGRAPH
Following the address by the Director of Gender, there was a snack break and a group photograph.
PRESENTATION BY MRS. JOANA OPARE, INTERNATIONAL CONSULTANT FOR GENDER, PEACE AND SECURITY.
Mrs. Opare’s presentation was on the process of strengthening the campaign and advocacy towards the passage of the Affirmative Action Bill into Law. She started her presentation by explaining Affirmative Action as a temporary measure that is taken to ensure a marginalized group gets equal treatment and access to rights and opportunities. Following this, she spoke about how Ghana were legally bound under some International commitments to achieve equal participation and rights. Some of these international initiatives Ghana has committed to include the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), Beijing Platform, Africa Solemn declaration for Gender Equality in Africa and Sustainable Development Goals. She also mentioned how Ghana’s own 1992 Constitution in Articles 17 and 35 gave the mandate to pass an Affirmative Action initiative. The presenter then discussed the necessity of having the bill passed. She stated that more women were needed in power to fix the problems affecting women as they would have a different type of control over decision-making and would be able to address the feminine side of issues more effectively due to their experience of being women. This would also be fair since Ghana was a democratic state and there deserved to be equality and equity. Mrs. Opare then discussed the probable impact she believed that the passage of the Bill would have:
- A change in legislation
- Advocacy and awareness raising
- Promotion of community causes
- Political Mobilization
- Environmental impact
- Popular education
- Deepening democratic processes
- Creating more women role-models
- Increase in gender sensitive practices
The presenter then shared some tips she believed would be helpful towards an effective campaign. She stated that research, developing the message, setting the goal, targeting the audience and then delivering the message would be effective. She also opined that figuring out costs of time, money, resources and the roles of the people needed would be efficient for the running of a campaign.
Mrs. Opare then shared how she believed successful advocacy could be done, but before that, she touched on some of the challenges she had witnessed it face. The first challenge was in the form of opposition to the Bill where by a significant number of males were against the Bill because they feared on losing their seats to other women who would become empowered by the Bill. The other challenge she spoke about was the lack of political will and funding towards the cause. Regarding advocacy, the presenter explained the term to mean fighting for a cause or speaking up for something. Afterwards, she shared some steps for preparing a successful advocacy project:
- Define the problem you want to address
- Your cause needs to be right
- Your group should have power in numbers and clout
- You should’ve thoroughly researched the issue, the opposition and the climate of opinion in the community
- You should be skilled in using the tools available to you, an example is the media
- You should pick your strategy and tactics carefully
She ended her presentation by reaffirming some points she had made earlier on in her presentation. She stated how important it was to educate the masses on the law and to engage professional expertise. It is also imperative to get the Political Parties on board so they can help with the push and negotiations.
REMARKS AND DISCUSSIONS ON THE WAY FORWARD
Following the presentation, Dr. Rose Mensah-Kutin shared a few remarks. She commended Mrs. Opare for the passion shown in her presentation and highlighted the importance of working together and coordinating efforts and resources. She also stated that it was now up to the Department of Gender to ensure that the Bill is in Parliament by the end of March per the President’s directive so Ghana could have something to account for on their Affirmative Action Bill progress at the upcoming ECOWAS progress report meeting. Following this, she opened the floor for discussions and contributions to be made. These were some of the points made:
- Children must be educated from a young age to see the importance of gender equality. Boys especially must be socialized to regard girls as their peers.
- Advocacy specialists need to be thoroughly educated on the Affirmative Action Bill in order to run effective advocacy sessions.
- There is currently low awareness of the AA bill on both social and traditional media and so something catchy is needed to attract attention.
- There is the need to include religious organizations more in the advocacy process.
WRAP UP AND CLOSING
Following the discussions, Dr. Rose Mensah-Kutin gave her closing remarks. She stated that we must continue to push and not give up because we all had work to do from our corners. She acknowledged that the patriarchal system has been entrenched in our society and so it will not be easy to overturn and achieve gender parity. She added that she was happy to see some commitment from the Executive arm of Government since they had directed that the bill be in Parliament by the end of the first quarter. This was evidence of strong political commitment.
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