WROs should be innovative to impact lives of women and girls

Mr Solomon Tesfamariam, The Country Director Plan International Ghana, has advised Women Right Organisations (WROs) to be innovative to make lasting impacts in the lives of women and girls in the country.

He said there the need for WROs to challenge the system to assist women and girls who were the most vulnerable in society.

Mr Tesfamariam gave the advice when he spoke at the orientation and signing event for the 14 selected Grantees of the Womens Voice Leadership- Ghana (WVL Ghana) initiative under the COVID-19 Flexible Response Funding Mechanism (FRFM) Grant.

He said the initiative recognizes the leadership and tenacity that women's rights organizations have demonstrated over decades in the fight for gender equality.

The Country Director advised the beneficiaries to use the grants for its intended purpose to maximize the impact of development to help eradicate poverty.

The WVL Ghana is a five-year initiative being carried out by Plan International Ghana, Plan International Canada, NETRIGHT, and Women in Law and Development Africa (WiLDAF) through the support of Global Affairs Canada (GAC).

It seeks to support the capacity and activities of local, regional, and national WROs to empower women and girls, advance protection of women’s and girls’ rights, and achieve gender equality in Ghana.

Ms Patricia Essel, the Project Lead-WVL Ghana, highlighting the objectives of the project noted that the project would support up to 87 local, regional and national WROs and networks to enhance their institutional capacity, deliver gender-transformative, and innovative programming, and lead collective action and advocacy.

She said the total budget for the WVL Ghana was 5,191,804 dollars but due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, an additional $500,000 has been added to aid the activities WROs under the COVID-19 FRFM Grant.

Ms Essel urged the grantees to always respect the feminist principles by ensuring full and meaningful participation and influence on all project processes as well as respect WRO’s agency, acknowledge their expertise and knowledge of their issues and context.

She expressed appreciation to Global Affairs Canada for their support to the project and their quest to promote gender equality work.

Ms Melody Darkey, WiLDAF Director, speaking at the event also urged the WROs to apply the funds for the intended purpose to be able to provide accountability when the need arises.

The Women's Voice and Leadership initiative was launched in 2017.