Women urged to build capacity to take leadership positions

The African Women International (AFWI), a non-governmental organization, has appealed to Ghanaian women to rise up and build their capacity to take leadership positions in governance at all levels.

It said they should discard the age old notion that they are the “weaker-sex” who are incapable of undertaking certain challenging roles.

Mrs. Victoria Araba Dennis, the Executive Director of AFWI who spoke to the GNA in an interview, said research conducted by the NGO revealed that few women were involved in local governance.

According to her this trend was very “disturbing” and identified one of the reasons women shy away from local governance and other leadership positions as low self-esteem.

Mrs. Dennis was speaking to the GNA on the sidelines of a three- day workshop organised by the NGO and funded by Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) to train women on the local government system, community mobilization, 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.

She expressed high conviction that the training will help bring out the hidden strength in the women to increase their participation in assembly elections as well as other areas to contribute to the development of 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 at church, community, Parent/ Teacher Associations and other groups.