The president of the Women in Poultry Value Chain and the CEO of Global Women Development Promoters (GLOWDEP), Victoria Norgbey has been awarded honorary doctorate in Public Administration by the Geofidel Executive Education-London in partnership with Stratford University.

The award is in recognition of her contribution to the development of agribusiness and girl child empowerment in the country.

Presenting the doctorate certificate to her, the executive director of Geofidel said “your astuteness, professionalism and scholarly appreciation and discussion of issues make you an appropriate recipient of such honour. The short period I encountered you at the GAPFA Secretariat left an indelible impression on me on your compassion, understanding and willingness to help in anyway possible”. Congratulations Dr. God bless you, he added.

Receiving the award, Norgbey pledged to lead the agricultural and girl child space to develop innovative paradigms to facilitate change in behaviour and attitude for progress.

Norgbey, who was part of 10 participants from the Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana to receive the honours, thanked The GLDI for what she described as an “extraordinary honour.”

The honour done me today gives me renewed zeal and vitality to work harder in the quest to contributing significantly towards the creation of effective interventions, in the global efforts of making this world a better place for us all,” she said.

Norgbey received the awards after a one-week global leadership masterclass and awards for West Africa CEOs of public and private sectors and senior management executives in Ghana on Thursday August 19, 2021. The training was on the theme: to encourage West Africa Leaders and captains of industries to provide the right leadership for West Africa emancipation through training and development.

Victoria Norgbey is an Educationist, Agriculturist, a Gender Expert and a Leadership icon. She holds an Executive Master’s degree in Governance and Leadership from the Graduate School of Governance and Leadership, GIMPA, Accra, Ghana. She also holds a BSc. (honours) degree in General Agriculture from the University of Cape Coast in Ghana with Diploma in Education (Professional teacher).

Victoria specialized in Poultry Production and Feed Milling Technology from Barneveld College in the Netherlands. She is also a product of Kansa States University, USA in Feed production and Management. Victoria has work experience in Gender issues that cuts across the country and beyond the Africa Region as well Asia. She has worked in areas of Gender mainstreaming in development programmes in Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Liberia, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia and Bangladesh since 2012.

At the end of this programme, participants are expected to develop the requisite leadership attributes, apply appropriate leadership style suitable to the organization, lead people in the organization effectively and lead the organization for result.

The course outline includes but not limited to the following;

• Successful Leadership in Modern Organisation: An Overview
• Leadership and Effective Decision Making
• Team Building and Leadership
• Leadership and Accountability
• Managing Organisational Change
• Issues in Leadership
• Performance Appraisal
• Evaluating self-Leadership Style
• Strategic Leadership
• Innovation and Creativity in Leadership
• The Ethics and Skills of Leadership
• Approaches to Leadership
• Leading for Result in the Organization

Geofidel is a United Kingdom licensed world-class executive education, business, institution, leadership, community development and gender-focused training organization with offices in London, UK and Abuja Nigeria. Its vision is to be a leading International Human Capital Engineering Firm rendering solutions to public and private sectors.

To create, deploy and maintain world-class business, leadership and management solutions aligned to global best practices through dynamic, aggressive and creative market place innovation that will deliver superior customer service

VSLA Formation at Suntreso

VSLA Formation at Adiembra

VSLA First Shares Purchase Meeting at Antwikrom

VSLA Formation at Dwenase

VSLA Group at Akoyem

VSLA Group at Aboboya

A VSLA Group in a Meeting at Agrave

VSLA Group in a Meeting at Acheasewa

VSLA Meeting at Akomanikrom

VSLA Meeting at Ntowkrom

ESLG at Tema Community One Market

ESLG at Kantamantu Egg Market

Kit Boxes and Contents

BACKGROUND/INTRODUCTION

CocoaAction is a new strategy to coordinate and align the cocoa sustainability efforts of the world’s largest cocoa and chocolate companies to increase their impact and contribute to building a rejuvenated and economically viable cocoa sector, for no fewer than 300,000 cocoa farmers and the communities where they live, by 2020. The strategy focuses on Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, which together provide about 55% of the world’s current cocoa supply, and will later be extended to other cocoa producing countries.

CocoaAction’s vision for 2020 is that cocoa will be the crop of top choice for farmers in Ghana and farmer organisations enable their communities to grow economically and live sustainably. Farmers will live in communities where CocoaAction’s desired outcomes are:

• The worst forms of child labour will be eliminated
• Basic education will be available and children go to school
• Gender parity will be improved so that women have a greater influence in their communities’ decision making process.

GLOWDEP has been assigned the task of implementing the Gender and Women Empowerment Component of the Project in 33 selected communities in Western North, Sunyani, Ataase and Kasapin. The project seeks to achieve the following outcomes;

• Increased participation of women in community development issues
• Create greater gender awareness in the communities
• Improved economic status of women through IGA and Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA)

During the year (2019), GLOWDEP undertook community development programmes which were geared towards assessing the needs of women and also to increase their capacity and opportunities for empowerment.

The activities were;

1. Mapping of Women Groups in communities
2. Training of women groups in communities
3. Gender Training for Field Officers
4. Marking International Women’s Day with Cooking Competition among the women in the various districts.
5. Support for VSLA Set-up and Trainings
6. Support for Income Generating Activities (IGA) as requested by the women

Community Entry and Profiling, Data Collection, Sensitization and Training on Village, Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) Scheme as well as Girl Child Education and Gender and Women Empowerment Activities in the four project districts: Ataase-Edubiase, Western North, Sunyani and Kasapin were successfully accomplished.

MAPPING OF WOMEN GROUPS

Team GLOWDEP undertook mapping activities in all thirty-three (33) communities in Ataase, Western North, Sunyani and Kasapin districts.

Under this objective, GLOWDEP;

• Introduced the project to the stakeholders
• Sensitized community members about the women empowerment issues
• Identified existing Women Groups and formed new ones in areas where none existed
• Sampled and administered questionnaires towards a Gender Needs Assessment

The Needs Assessment sought to engage the women to gather information on leadership, decision-making in their farmer/ community organizations, control over income in the household and preferred Income Generating Activities.

In all the communities, GLOWDEP staff met with the Women’s Groups and had one-on-one interviews with them. A purposive sampling of a minimum of fifteen (15) women were done for this purpose. In some cases also, focus group discussions were organized.

A woman being interviewed

A group photograph with the women in one of the communities

One-on-one interview during Data collection

Community stakeholder meeting in Western North

Mrs. Norgbey interacting with some women

A farmer being interviewed on her farm

Gender Needs Assessment

GLOWDEP with the Women Group in Sunyani after the meeting

TRAINING OF WOMEN GROUPS

During the visits, GLOWDEP provided education on the importance of girl child education. They also rolled out the Women Empowerment initiatives that Touton had put into place for their farmers. This included revamping of the Women’s Groups and preparations towards the 2019 International Women’s Day Celebration.

The GLOWDEP team led by Mrs. Victoria Norgbey, the Executive Director educated the women on the importance of giving girls the same opportunities as the boys when it comes to education.

She stressed that, gender parity had nothing to do with women taking over the roles of men in the communities, but rather it had to do with women getting equal opportunities as men and equality before the law.

She asked the participants to raise their hands if they would willingly educate their female child if an opportunity existed for only one child to be educated in the family. Sadly, only few women indicated that they would educate the girl instead of the boy. Those who opted for the girl explained that putting the girl in school would reduce the risk of teenage pregnancy. Those who opted the boy also indicated that a female child’s role in society had already being defined as a mother and no matter the level of education, the female child still ended up in the kitchen.

With this knowledge, Mrs. Norgbey sensitized the participants on the importance of giving equal opportunities to both the male and female child. She also explained that there were more reasons to send the girl child to school other that the fear of teenage pregnancy. She stated, “a girl can equally become successful if the right environment is provided for her”

Using Dr. Kwegyir Aggrey’s, “If you educate a man you educate one person but if you educate a woman you educate the whole nation”, Mrs. Norgbey educated them vividly on why both boys and girls should go to school and become important people in the society.

She suggested the following tips towards bringing up the girls in a proper way;

• Let your attention be on your girls. Encourage them to be hardworking. Be supportive of their dreams.
• Discipline them when they begin to go wayward.
• Draw them close to yourselves so that they can share their thoughts with you.
• Let them complete whatever they are doing be it in school or learning a trade. Don’t allow them to become drop outs.
• If your girl child will be successful, it depends on you too as a mother.
• Give them enough money to cater for themselves so that boys do not take advantage of their needy condition to offer basic needs for sex which may cause them to be pregnant and drop out of school.
• Teach them cooking and other skills when they are on vacation so that they are much valued.

Mrs. Norgbey also cautioned the women not to spend exorbitantly and unnecessarily during funerals. She advised that they need not sew a cloth for every funeral but rather save their monies and spend them on their children and other profitable business ventures.

She also used this opportunity to interact with the women and sought to know whether they had a Women’s group. In all the communities, they had women groups however, they were yet to select their names and choose leaders.

In all thirty three (33) communities, teem GLOWDEP guided the women towards selecting their leaders who also doubled as VSLA officers. The simple majority method where nominations were received and voting was done by the raising of hands was adopted.

Mrs. Norgbey educating them on the need to send their girls to school

Mrs. Norgbey educating them on the need to send their girls to school

Some participants at the meeting

Women Empowerment Training in Ataase

GENDER TRAINING FOR FIELD STAFF
Introduction

When women and men have relative equality, economies grow faster. Gender equality helps reduce the root causes of poverty and vulnerability. It contributes to sustainable growth. Gender equality leads to faster achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  Therefore, recognizing women as co- drivers of Development and focusing efforts upon them and involving them at each stage of the project cycle will ensure sustainable development and long lasting benefits for society.

It is in light of these Touton, Ghana, in collaboration with Child Rights International organized a five (5) day training workshop with two (2) days focused on Gender Mainstreaming in Programmes and Projects as a strategy towards improving the understanding of gender mainstreaming in community development and other programmes. GLOWDEP was one of the facilitating teams that tackled the Gender Mainstreaming component of the training workshop.

The training took place from 21st – 25th January, 2019 at the Joyflux Hotel, Kumasi.

The workshop recorded a total of twenty-five (25) participants three (3) females and twenty-two (22) males.

The participants were from Touton (Extension Officers, Community Development Officers, (Agronomists) and the Consortium Members – All Family Life Network (AFLINE), Child Rights International (CRI) and Global Women Development Promoters (GLOWDEP).

Cross section of participants

Mrs. Norgbey, the facilitator

Mrs. Norgbey, explaining the Indicators

Development of Action Plans

Group Work in Session

Group Work in Session

MARKING 2019 INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY – COOKING COMPETITION

Touton organized a nutrition training for the women groups in the four district areas: Ataase, Western North, Kasapin and Sunyani communities. After which GLOWDEP was contracted to test their understanding of the prior training carried out in these communities. In order to visualize this, GLOWDEP had deployed its nutritionist to all thirty thee (33) communities to support participants to prepare a menu to test their understanding of the five (5) food groups and improve their knowledge on healthy diet. GLOWDEP undertook this cooking competition within the eight (8) communities in Ataase whiles Food Demonstration was organized in the remaining twenty four (24) Kasapin, Sunyani and Western North communities during the year 2019.

The significance of this activity was to

• ascertain the success of the prior training on nutrition
• improve their knowledge on healthy diet.
• test participants’ practical understanding of what was taught
• mark International Women’s day.

For each community, the participants were divided into groups with each preparing a menu                                                                                     for a specific class of people. The ingredients used were mainly local and indigenous such as ‘kako’, ‘kontomire’,  ‘abedru’, ‘wele’ to mention a few. The groups were assessed based on different criteria (handling of ingredients during cooking process, the laying of tables, environmental sanitation, personal hygiene to mention a few) and marks awarded. After which, prizes were presented to participants.

The significance of this activity was to access the success and the positive impact the Nutrition training had on the participants and also to build team spirit among participants. It is significant that members of the communities work together so as to enable sustainable development.

Participants displaying their meal sauce with rice) served with pawpaw and pear.

Cooking Notes of a Group

Mrs. Norgbey educating the community people

Mrs. Norgbey giving her remarks on the displayed dishes

Group photograph with the GLOWDEP team

Cutting of vegetables for the Soup and Stew

Cutting of vegetables for the Soup and Stew

SUPPORT FOR VSLA AND SET-UP

People in the rural communities have innovative minds and ideas but what they lack is identification of opportunities, knowledge and financial services and support. 80% of farmers live in rural areas with limited financial services; they have little or nothing at all to invest in agriculture for commercialization.

In most villages in Ghana, there are higher population of unemployment and limited access to financial facilities to even start or invest in commercial agriculture. Many Microfinance Institutions (MFIs), rural banks and other lenders are traditionally reluctant to finance smallholder cocoa famers as agriculture is perceived as a high risk sector.

When dealing with a dynamic group of people with extremely low level of income, it is very important to consider interventions that will directly support livelihood changes before other long term interventions. Organizing and building the financial literacy, record-keeping and savings culture of the small holder farmers is the way to go.

Child Labour Remediation has become a big challenge and must be tackled in a more sustainable way. One of the ways is through the Village Savings and Loans Association, which impacts the communities with savings habit. Where Women are even the target, it provides them with opportunities to save and invest in their additional livelihood outside the cocoa season. It empowers them to improve the nutrition and wellbeing of their children, and keep them in school throughout, thus   achieving SDGs 3 and 4, alongside SDG 5 which is geared at Women Empowerment.

 

Thus, during the 2019 year, GLOWDEP undertook extensive Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) activities within all the thirty three selected communities in Ataase, Western North, Kasapin and Sunyani districts as part of the Gender and Women Empowerment component of the CocoaAction project sponsored by Touton, Ghana.

The purpose of the scheme was to cultivate the habit of savings and also to provide some form of capital for additional livelihoods for income generation when the cocoa was out of season.

 

During the period, GLOWDEP carried out sensitization and supported the set-up of the Scheme in all thirty three (33) communities. GLOWDEP undertook all the modules under the Scheme except the Share Out module which is yet to be executed at the end of the scheme’s cycle.

 

Community Sensitization was organized in all the communities to introduce them to the Scheme and generate their interest to be committed to it. The sessions were very participatory as participants asked questions concerning the security of the scheme among other issues.

Some testimonies of successful ongoing VSLAs in other communities also encouraged them

A picture of one VSLA group being sensitized on the VSLA sticker

First Share-purchase Meeting going on

Touton Officials Encouraging VSLA Group Members

First Shares Being Purchased by a Group in Sunyani

Mangoase Women Electing Their Executives

VSLA KIT BOX & CONTENT

Touton Ghana assigned GLOWDEP the task of implementing the Gender and Women Empowerment Component of the CocoaAction Project in 33 selected communities in Western North, Sunyani, Ataase and Kasapin operational Districts. The project sought to achieve the following outcomes;

• Increased participation of women in community development issues
• Greater gender awareness in the communities
• Improved economic status of women through IGA and Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA)
• Health and Nutrition through Nutrition Education and Cooking Competition.

During the period under review, GLOWDEP undertook community development programmes which were geared assessing the needs of women as well as increasing their capacity and opportunities for empowerment.

The activities were;

1. Mapping of Women Groups in communities;

Under this objective, GLOWDEP;

• Introduced the project to the stakeholders
• Sensitized community members about the women empowerment issues
• Identified existing Women Groups and formed new ones in areas where none existed
• Sampled and administered questionnaires towards a Gender Needs Assessment. This was to build capacity of women to be part of the decision-making process in community development.

The newly formed women Group in Antwikrom,Sunyani

Focus Group Discussion in Ataase

One On One Interview in Ataase

2, Training of women groups in communities

• Revamped the Women Groups by facilitating the selection of the group names and leaders in all thirty three (33) communities.
• Sensitize and build the capacity to participate in Community Development Activities.
• Educated the women in Food and Nutrition which was geared towards the Cooking Competitions/Food Demonstrations to celebrate the International Women Day’s Celebration.
• Undertook sensitization programmes on the importance of Girl Child Education

Training of Koforidua Women Group in Ataase

Training of Women’s Group in Kasapin

Election of group Executives at Antwikrom

Training of Women’s Group in Western North

3, Gender Training for Field Officers

GLOWDEP facilitated a training workshop on Gender Mainstreaming in Development Programmes as a strategy towards improving community development and other programmes.

A Consortium was formed comprising of Global Women Development Promoters (GLOWDEP), Child Rights International (CRI) and All Family Life Network (AFLINE) thus this workshop was to train Touton Officers as well as Consortium members.

Touton found it necessary to train the District Officers as they would be assisting the Consortium Members i.e. Child Rights International (CRI), GLOWDEP and in the implementation of the Child Labour Remediation, Gender and Women Empowerment and Community Action Planning Activities programmes.

Some key messages from the training workshop were that;

• When women and men have relative equality, economies grow faster.
• Gender equality helps reduce the root causes of poverty and vulnerability. It contributes to sustainable growth.

Gender equality leads to faster achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Mr. Asiedu of Touton Conducting the opening ceremony

Exhibits from the training

Presentation of Group work

Group Work in session

4, Marking International Women’s Day – Cooking Competition in districts

Touton and GLOWDEP marked the 2019 International Women’s Day celebrations with a Cooking Competition in the eight (8) communities in Ataase and Food Demonstartions in the 25 communities in Sunyani, Kasapin and Western North Districts

The objectives were to;

1. Assess the success of the prior training received on nutrition and its impact on their food
2. Give participants the opportunity to practice the skills acquired from the training.

Promote Unity and team work for sustainable community development.

1. The women in groups, prepared foods/dishes to meet the nutritional requirements of the following categories of people;
   • The Aged
   • Pregnant Woman
   • Lactating Mother
   • Growing Child
2. Marks were awarded based on Choice of food and ingredients, Preparation, Handling of ingredients during food preparation, Arrangement of cooking utensils, Personal and Environmental hygiene, Laying of tables and Presentation of food and dessert on table and Taste of food.

 

1. Based on the marks, prizes were given out to the winners.

Display of menu chart

Preparation of “Konkonte”

Participants preparing palm-nut soup

Participants displaying their meal, (Wuruyie)

Participants receiving an award at Acheasewa

Group Photograph of participants with their awards at Kotwea

• Food demonstrations were also held in Kasapin, Sunyani and Western North communities with the following outcomes realized;
  • Creation of a platform for community members to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding on nutrition.
  • Education on Nutritional requirements for Healthy Living.
  • Promotion of unity and peace among community members.

Peeling of Plantain for Ampesi in Kasapin

Pounding of Fufu in Daadom, Sunyani

Display of Group 1’s “Tubani” Beancake for the Growing Child

Group Photograph of participants in Antwikrom with the GLOWDEP team

Food display in…

5, Support for VSLA Set-up and Trainings

A Village Savings and Loan Group is a group of 15-25 people who save together and take small loans from those savings.  It is a member-managed group in that although members are trained by experts, the operation and management of the funds accumulated are solely managed by the group members.

The objective of the scheme is to encourage the habit of savings and also to provide some form of capital for additional livelihoods for generation of income when the cocoa was out of season.

VSLA in Akwaboahene in Kasapin

VSLA Members in Mangoase, (Sunyani) Displaying their passbooks

VSLA Monitoring Ataase

More than 98% of the VSLA groups have been very receptive from day one whiles the remaining 2% are progressively improving

The concept has been helpful so far as members can now save their disposable income. The women feel economically empowered as they have some kind of savings to fall back in case of uncertainties.

It has been observed that many people including males have developed interest in the VSLA and are in anticipation of second groups to be formed in some of the communities.

The success of the concept was heard abroad as other people began to call for the VSLA implementation in their communities though they are not Touton communities.

 

6, Support for Income Generating Activities (IGA) as requested by the women

As part of GLOWDEP’s responsibility to facilitate the needs assessment process of Income Generating Activities requested by the women, the women were which would serve as a means of additional income for the women.

They were advised to consider factors such as sustainability, availability of raw materials, demand rate among others. Therefore, each suggestion was supported by information based on these factors.

They undertook simple feasibility studies to assess the viability of the top two projects they had selected.

GLOWDEP facilitating the selection of additional livelihoods in Western Region

As a result, some of the women have started additional livelihoods in snails, poultry etc. as a way of improving their nutrition

Global Women Development Promoters (GLOWDEP) in collaboration with the Ghana Poultry Project (GPP) organized a training workshop for the Women in Poultry Business in the Greater Accra Region.

This workshop specifically targeted women to equip them with the skills to engage in advocacy and policy influencing. This was a follow-up to similar workshops organized in the operational areas of the Ghana Poultry Project (GPP).

The workshop took place on Thursday, 13^th December, 2018 at the GLOWDEP Head-Office in Accra.

In attendance were Ghana Poultry Project, Women in Poultry Farming (WIP), Apex Body of Women in the Poultry Value Chain (WIPVaC-Apex), Egg Sellers Association of Ghana (ESSAG) etc.

The sessions tackled topics such as Overview of Policy Influencing and Advocacy, Steps and Principles in Policy Influencing, Policy Influencing and Planning, Strategy and Steps and Negotiation.

“As people within the poultry business and providing services to meet the nutritional requirement of the nation, it is critical to speak on the issues that can help maintain or improve these services through advocacy. Advocacy and Policy Influencing are powerful tools which can determine the outcomes of businesses.” – Mrs. Victoria Norgbey (Executive Director, GLOWDEP)

Madam Evelyn of Ghana Poultry Project giving the opening remarks

Mrs. Victoria Norgbey, taking participants through how to influence policies

Group work / Action Plan Development Sessions

Presentation of Group Work

Group photograph taken after the training

The French Embassy supported GLOWDEP to implement the Girl Child Education and Women Empowerment Project last year under which some Girls’ Clubs were formed in schools in the Central Tongu District.

The second phase of this project seeks to monitor and strengthen the existing Girls Clubs established by GLOWDEP through the support of the French Embassy in Ghana. Therefore as a strategy towards the sustainability of the Girls’ Clubs, GLOWDEPorganized a Trainer of Trainees (TOT) workshop on 30^th May 2018 for School Based Coordinators of Girls’ Clubsfrom thirty-seven (37) Basic and Senior High Schools from the Adidome, BakpaAvedo, Anfoe,Devime, Kpedzeglo, Mafi Kumasiand ZongoCircuits.

The workshop was organized in collaboration with the Ghana Education Service (GES), Central Tongu District at the Central Tongu District Assembly Old Hall in Adidome.

In attendance were the District Chief Executive (DCE) of Central Tongu District, Queen Mother of the Mafi Traditional Area, Officials from the Ghana Education Service, Headmasters from the various School, Circuit Supervisors, Girls’ Club Coordinators among others.

The Speakers of the training workshop were from Global Women Development Promoters (GLOWDEP), Ghana Education Service, Central Tongu District, Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG) and the Ghana Health Directorate. Topics discussed included Gender Parity in the Central Tongu District and strategies to improve it – The Global and National picture of Gender Parity, Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health, Menstrual Hygiene and management practices and Principles of Counselling.

International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated on March 8 every year. In different regions, the focus of the celebration ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation and love towards women to a celebration for women’s political, economic and social achievements and empowerment.

This year’s theme for the IWD celebration was “Press for Progress” with a focus on mobilizing women [and girls] to gather momentum and strive forward towards achieving their goals.

As it has been commemorated and celebrated over the years in Ghana, the French Embassy in Ghana in collaboration with Global Women Development Promoters (GLOWDEP) organized the celebration of the IWD in Accra on 8^th March 2018 to join the rest of the world in celebrating the day. The venue was Alliance Francaise.

The theme for the celebration was Press for Progress: Empowering Women in all Settings: Rural and Urban. The program was emceed by Dr. Marion Chapon (Cooperation Attaché) and the Speakers were Mrs. Victoria Norgbey, the Executive Director of GLOWDEP and Madam Vicky Okine, the Executive Director of Alliance for Reproductive Health Rights

GLOWDEP in collaboration with the French Embassy in Ghana joined the world in celebrating the International Women’s Day 2018 on 15^th March 2018 at the Adidome Senior High School on the international theme, “Press for Progress”.  All activities undertaken were geared towards empowering girls and women and girls towards having confidence in themselves, setting high goals and achieving them. They included an All-Female Cadet Corp Parade, Documentary on “Women in Agric”, Presentation on the new CBT learning reform of the National Technical and Vocational Education and Training Qualifications Framework (NTVETQF), Panel Discussion on the themes, The Role of Stakeholders in Pressing for the Progress of Girl’s Education, The Role of Parents in Pressing for Progress for Girl’s Education and How do you Press for Progress as a student to achieve academic excellence?

Other activities included Occupational Costumes Parade, Musical Interlude by the ADISEC Girls’ Club and Receiving of Solidarity Messages and Addresses from the seasoned Dignitaries and Parents invited. Some parents shared their personal experiences which greatly encouraged the girls to be determined to make it in life.

The ceremony was well attended by students from nine (9) schools, Teachers, Parents, Counsellors, Officers from the Ghana Education Service, Social Welfare, District Assembly etc. The French Embassy in Ghana was represented by Dr. Marion Chapon (Cooperation Attaché) who was the Guest of Honour and Genevieve Partington (Project and Grants Officer)

About the Communities

Eight of the twelve communities are located in the Central Region and the remaining four (4) are in the New Edubiase District of the Ashanti Region.

The average population of the 12 communities was approximately 800 people with the least populated community beingNsuakyi Mmoho Ahenkro with approximately 250 inhabitants and the highest been Sibinso with over 2000 inhabitants.

The community leadership structure is very similar to each other with the chief at the helm of affairs, supported by his elders and other opinion leaders. Except Lah-Teh Amanbete where the queen mother is recognized and actively take part in decision making in the community.

Education

With the exception of Nsuakyi Mmoho Ahenkro, the remaining eleven (11) communities have either a primary or JHS or both schools. At Nsuakyi Mmoho Ahenkro children as young as five (5) years old walk for about 20 minutes daily to Afano, the nearest community, to school.

Some of the communities such as Obuobikrom, Nyamebekyere, Taylorkrom and Beyeden had only primary schools but no JHS. Bunsu on the other hand had a JHS but no primary school. In all these cases, the children have to walk long distances to schools in near-by communities. In most cases however, the communities with school did not have adequate toilet facilities, except in the cases of Sibinso and Lah-Teh Amanbete.

In the cases of Obuobikrom and Nyamebekyere, the communities had to contribute both financial and human resources to put up the school facilities there. La-Teh Amanbete had gone a bit further to construct a 14-bedroom teachers Living quarters to motivate the teachers to stay in the community because even though the community had adequate school facilities, the teacher to student ratio is very low with only 7 teachers instead of the minimum of 12.

In all twelve communities, the students’ retention rate was very low especially for the females. This was attributed to high teenage pregnancy rate in most of the communities.

Out of the twelve (12) communities, only three; La-Teh Amanbete, Bunsu and Kwafulkrom had Well-functioning SMC/PTA where members of both committees knew and played their roles effectively. Six of the communities; Sibinso, Nsuta, Obuobikrom, Beyeden, Kwame Adukrom and Basofi Ningo had weak committees, meaning, they had incomplete executive members or a weak structure. The remaining three; Taylorkrom, Nsuakyi Mmoho Ahenkro and Nyamebekyere did not have any of the committees.

 

Child Labour

During the community entry phase of the project where the GLOWDEP team went on a familiarization trip to each of the 12 beneficiary communities, none of them admitted to incidence of child labour in their communities.

However, the initial assessment showed that children are used in various capacities either at home or on the farm such as burning, carrying of load to the market, weeding of rice farms and selling during market days.

In all twelve (12) communities, only La-Teh Amanbete had a Child Protection Committee, the remaining eleven (11) had no CCPC to ensure and promote the welfare of the children in their communities.

 

Gender and Women Empowerment

In all twelve (12) of the beneficiary communities, the female population were higher than the male. However, the women were poorly/not represented in the leadership structure of the communities and hardly took part in community decision making.

Most of the women worked with their husbands on their farms and majority depended on their husbands as their sources of income.

None of the communities had a recognized women’s groups which advocated for the women in the communities.

 

Achievements

In the 1^st Quarter of the year, the GLOWDEP team worked tirelessly and achieve the following objectives. These were;

1. Support the formation and training of members of School Management Committees (SMC) and Parent Teachers Associations (PTA) in all the twelve (12) communities
2. Support the formation and training of members of Community Child Protection Committees (CCPC) in all of these twelve (12) communities
3. Raise awareness of children’s rights and the negative effect of Child’s Labour on the wellbeing of the child.
4. Support and facilitate the formation and training of women groups in leadership and governance towards empowerment.

 

Summary of the Groups Formed

NO.	COMMUNITIES	SMC/PTA	CCPC	WOMEN GROUP
1	La teh-Amanbete	Well-functioning	Revamped	Newly Formed
2	Basofi Ningo	Revamped	Newly Formed	Newly Formed
3	Beyeden	Revamped	Newly Formed	Newly Formed
4	Bunsu	Well-Functioning	Newly Formed	Newly Formed
5	Kwafulkrom	Well-Functioning	Newly Formed	Newly Formed
6	Kwame Adukrom	Revamped	Newly Formed	Newly Formed
7	Nsuakyi	Newly Formed	Newly Formed	Newly Formed
8	Nsuta	Revamped	Newly Formed	Newly Formed
9	Nyamebekyere	Newly Formed	Newly Formed	Newly Formed
10	Obuobikrom	Revamped	Newly Formed	Newly Formed
11	Sibinso	Revamped	Newly Formed	Newly Formed
12	Taylorkrom	Newly Formed	Newly Formed	Newly Formed

 

Success Stories

The GLOWDEP team had enjoyed a number of successes since the commencement of the CocoaAction Strategy Project. Notable among them were;

1. The formation of the committees and training of executive members:

Just within three months, the GLOWDEP team had been able to form or revamp the all three (3) committees targeted in each of the 12 beneficiary communities. This is a major achievement since it covers about 3 major objectives of the project.

 

1. Miss Gifty Asiedua:

A JHS One student of Nsuta D/A who refused to go back to school after an embarrassing incident with the headmaster of the school made a new decision after receiving counsel from the GLOWDEP team.

The training has helped me realize that I have the ability to be excel in my education and have a bright future – Gifty Asiedua

The following week, when the team visited the community, she was in school learning and according to the teachers, she is behaving and performing better than before; both socially and academically.

 

Conclusion

The implementation of the CocoaAction Project which started in January 2017 went on smoothly during the period under review. The committees were receptive towards the Needs Assessment and the Community Profiling.

Out of the twelve communities, only three (3) had well-functioning SMC/PTA committees. The remaining were reshuffled and some new members brought on board.

The Community Child Protection Committees were virtually non-existent, except for La-Teh Amanbete which was even revamped because it was inactive.

There were no formal Women’s Groups in all the communities except for few churches.

In all, thirty-six (36) committees were formed towards the development of the project goal.

Training workshops were organized for all the committee members to spell out their roles and responsibilities in achieving the objectives of the CocoaAction Project.  In all, one-hundred and eighty-five (185) participants were in attendance including Seventy-Two (72) women.

The communities are now aware and conversant with what constitutes child labour and pledged their support to desist from the practice.

The project communities were receptive and poised to participate towards the success of the CocoaAction Strategy Project.