CIWED GHANA CONDUCTS NETMAPPING WITH KEY PLAYERS IN HEALTH IN THE SAVELUGU AND NANTONG DISTRICTS.

CIWED GHANA CONDUCTS NETMAPPING WITH KEY PLAYERS IN HEALTH IN THE SAVELUGU AND NANTONG DISTRICTS.

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As an NGO committed to promoting quality health for all, CIWED-Ghana team, as part of the implementation of the PAI project conducted a net-mapping exercise with some key players and influential actors who have influence on and access to issues and matters concerning health at the community and district levels. The exercise was conducted on two separate days for Savelugu and Nantong and at different times for select community and district level stakeholders.

NANTONG

The exercise was conducted firstly in Nantong at the district assembly on Tuesday, 22nd August, 2023 for the community leaders (opinion leaders, assembly members), state actors (health workers, district assembly workers, social welfare unit and other relevant actors at the district level) and the youth. Different net-maps were formed at the end of the day, each representing the power-play and the relationship between the various district level actors in health with regards to three (3) key issues, thus information, advice and money. The net map was a tool develop by the UN to conduct stakeholder engagement to get the necessary inputs and contributions from the relevant actors for advocacy or policy formulation purposes. The session at Nantong started with an opening prayer and discussions commenced ranging from the participants identifying the relevant actors in the health sector who can influence health outcomes in the district, the next was to identify how the actors are linked to each other in terms of information, advice and money and the third was to identify or rank them based on their power and influence in health issues at the district level. For the first engagement (community opinion leaders), eight (8) actors were identified (18) actors were identified in the second engagement (state actors). This shows the difference in perspectives of the groups engaged in the session. The most commonly identified stakeholders were; the GHS, NGOs, Traditional authorities, religious leaders and the District assembly. The net maps formed in Nanton didn’t see the mention of the media as a key player with regards to health information access and dissemination in the community and this in the analysis of CIWED was due to the unavailability of a radio/media station in the Nantong district. The power play was also with some community actors such as the chiefs and religious leaders who were considered very important and powerful actors in health information access and dissemination, however health advice only came from the GHS and the NGOs operating in health. Money as well was seen coming from the NGOs to all other actors and from the GHS to health volunteers at the district level. 

SAVELUGU The net-mapping exercise for Savelugu was conducted on Thursday, 24th August, 2023 at the forecourt of the Fire Service department, Savelugu. Again, the various stakeholders in attendance were; the community leaders, state actors and some select community youth. The discussions were facilitated by Mr. Danaa and he started all sessions by briefly

ALTERNATIVE NON-AGRICULTURE LIVELIHOOD TRAINING FOR VSLA WOMEN IN NANTON

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As part of effort to empowered vulnerable women VSLA groups in Nanton District, under the project Funded by Plan Ghana, a Programme under WVL Project, CIWED GH on the 1st of August, 2023 undertook a practical hand on livelihood capacity building training for women in the VSLA groups in Digu, Fazihini and Gbumgbum communities in the Nanton District. The idea to compliment the earnings of the women was a recommendation from the first phase of the project to include livelihood activities in subsequent phases. The women were taught how to make liquid soap, cake soap, Bar Soap and “tie and dye”. This is the second and final cluster trainings which witnessed the participation of sixty five (65) women coming from the three (3) communities as beneficiaries of the project who had their capacity strengthened on the respective livelihood interventions in this training and the second cluster will be follow in the coming weeks.

 In his remarks, the Executive Director of CIWED GH, Mr. Baako Abdul-Fatawu, urged the women to use the knowledge gained to supplement their existing earning streams. This he said will drastically improve their weekly contributions during their VSLA meetings. The representative of the women leaders, the Magazia of kparigilantili thanked CIWED and its partner, PLAN Ghana for the training given them. They assured the team of making good use of the knowledge gained to become financially sustainable.

CIWED-GH HOLDS INCEPTION MEETING TO COMMENCE THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE GLOBAL GOODS PROJECT

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In an effort to achieve the inclusion of inadequate youth representation on social accountability mechanisms that affect their access to SRMNCAH services is one objective under the activity of Global Goods Grants funded by the PAI. CIWED-GH organized an inception meeting on the 26th July 2023 at the resource center for disability inviting all project stakeholders including community level leaders (opinion and traditional leaders), state actor (health workers and district assembly officials) and some select youth to engage them, introduce the project to them, get their buy in on the new project in the district. CIWED-GH intended to know the best/most suitable implementation methods and strategies to be used to achieve the desired project results and also to know what to expect from the community members during the implementation to ensure the project is carried out successfully. At the end of the day, the various stakeholders contributed immensely and gave relevant demonstrations on how some actors have been overlooked in other projects who are spoilers and are influential enough to frustrate a project at the community and district level, this has shaped our implementation plan and strategies rolled out in the project implementation.

CIWED and its Women Leaders’ Network (WLN) Hold Positive Gender Durbar in Nanton

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As part of the project activities in the WVL funded by Plan Int. Ghana, CIWED-GHANA organized a community durbar to enlighten it project communities on positive gender norms, roles and responsibilities in the Nanton District. This activity was done by the Women Leaders Network (WLN) wing of CIWED GH. The WLN used the platform to sensitize the community members on the prevention on teenage pregnancies, curbing drug abuse, preventing early child marriages and curbing youth migration to the south. The community members were encouraged to enroll their children/ward in school and provide their needs to them whenever they are in need especially the girl child. The assembly members of these communities were much impressed about the programme and made commitment form watchdogs or volunteers in their various communities to fight violence against children and also fight against drug abuse.  During this meeting, the Gender and child protection officer of CIWED, Miss Bashiru Mardia shared information urging the community members to be good parents to their wards in order to prevent all the dangers mentioned and to bring out future leaders in the district. The community leaders were very happy and thanked the WLN and CIWED for the programme

ALTERNATIVE NON-AGRICULTURE LIVELIHOOD TRAINING FOR VSLA WOMENS IN NANTON

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As part of effort to empowered vulnerable women VSLA groups in Nanton District, under the project Funded by Plan Ghana, a Programme under WVL Project, CIWED GH on the 13th of July, 2023 undertook a practical hand on livelihood capacity building training for women in the VSLA groups in Kparigilanyili and Jihan Juri-Kukuo (JJK) communities in the Nanton District. The idea to compliment the earnings of the women was a recommendation from the first phase of the project to include livelihood activities in subsequent phases. The women were taught how to make liquid soap, cake soap, Bar Soap and “tie and dye”. This is the first cluster of the trainings and was supervised by the business advisory center of the district assembly in the person of Alhassan Fiter. In all, fifty (50) women had their capacity strengthened on the respective livelihood interventions in this training and the second cluster will be follow in the coming weeks.

 In his remarks, the Executive Director of CIWED GH, Mr. Baako Abdul-Fatawu, urged the women to use the knowledge gained to supplement their existing earning streams. This he said will drastically improve their weekly contributions during their VSLA meetings. The representative of the women leaders, the Magazia of kparigilantili thanked CIWED and its partner, PLAN Ghana for the training given them. They assured the team of making good use of the knowledge gained to become financially sustainable.

Hold refresher community entries in 5 communities in Nantong districts on the new phase of the project

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A refresher community entry in the five selected communities was held on the 29th of March, 2023 with the help of two focal persons in each of the communities. This entry was done in two days by the gender officer and her team in which they visited members in groups in their various communities. The gender officer Miss Bashiru Mardia as meeting with the community members presented how the project is going to be implemented in the District and the immediate goals for the next few months to come. The purpose and objective of the community entry was to familiarize project staff with the community members and stakeholders which will support the project during its implementation, another one is that, the community entry was done to detail the roles, support services and complementary responsibilities of the newly project and the project team.

CIWED GHANA holds a district level dissemination of results and action planning

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As part of leading community advocacy work, CIWED GH commerce a meeting to disseminate results on level of inclusion of PWDs on political activities. The was held yesterday as a result of the evidence gathered/data collected on the level of inclusion of persons living with disability in political arena.  Results gathered indicates that, PWD have much interest in contesting for leadership position, but challenges and other social factors prevents them from coming out publicly to show their interest for these positions when they are available.

In his word to the PWD in a form of advice, the executive director Mr. Baako Abdul-Fatawu challenged them without narrowing their minds to critics from others, as those ones are happen one way or the other and they must prepare for them. Stigmatizing is also a factor they look out for and they will call them sort of name, but what they do need to do is to remain focus on the taxe a hered and in the end, the will get what they are looking for.

The leadership of the PWDs in ziong community called for the authorities of the Assembly and NGOs to help the PWDs federation with a resource center. In his remarks, the director of Social Welfare Alhaji Osman called the PWDs to stop begging on the streets. This activity is part of the of the WVL project funded by PLAN Int. Ghana and implemented by CIWED-GHANA.   

Undertake evidence gathering (data collection) on the level of inclusion of persons living with disability in community political activities and decision-making processes

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CIWED undertakes evidence gathering (data collection) on the level of inclusion of persons living with disability in community political activities and decision-making processes in the Nantong District. The evidence gathering included many disability categories including the physically challenged, visually impaired and hearing impaired. Very useful recommendations were harvested including the having a quota for PWDs in unit committee leadership. Subsequent activities will engage district stakeholders on the findings and further action planning

CIWED and GE-NET LEADERS IDENTIFY YOUNG FEMALE OUT-MIGRATION AS SERIOUS COMMUNITY CANKER

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As part of project activities, CIWED organized quarterly review meetings for Ge-net group leaders. The Gender Network Groups (Ge-net) is a group of identified community leaders from various sectors of the community who lead advocacy on gender equality and gender transformation. The review meeting was to identify and discuss in details some gender and human right issues bordering their communities. The meeting was also to create a platform for action in tackling the identified human right issues.

The Ge-Net leaders in Zoggu reported that one key gender issue was youth out-migration from the community. They further reported that the issue is serious because it is predominant among young girls of school going age. A teacher among the leadership reported that, after the directive by the government for all schools to resume (after COVID-19 close down), about 50% of the females in his school did not return. He further explained that some got married off and some migrated to Accra and Kumasi to do petty jobs (popularly called Kayaaye). Similar issues were reported from Ge-net leadership from Nantong communities. It was found that child marriage and youth out-migration were the common issues in most communities.

As follow up actions, the leadership of the Ge-Net committed to discussing the issue with the entire community stakeholders for collective action. On her part, the Gender Coordinator for CIWED, Madam Basiru Mardiya pledged commitment to the course of the Ge-Net and promised for capacity support to the networks.

TWO DAYS TOWN HALL MEETING ON ENDING GENDER INEQUALITIES

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CIWED ORGANIZED TWO DAYS TOWN HALL MEETING ON ENDING GENDER INEQUALITIES

CIWED with funding support from the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) seeks to increase the effective participation of women in decision-making roles and leadership positions and to empower them to have access and control of resources in two districts in the northern region. As part of the “women voice and Leadership” project, CIWED convened a town hall meeting on ending gender inequalities in the project districts. The theme for the town hall meeting was “Leave no Female Behind”.

Addressing the participants, the Executive Director of CIWED, Mr. Baako Abdul Fatawu reaffirmed that CIWED seeks to have visibly empowered women, girls, men and boys groups leading the campaign for gender transformation in the communities. He assured that CIWED will continue to work towards empowering women and youth at the community level to advocate for their rights.  He added that the project will build community structures to lead the campaign and sustain the gains. He concluded that women and their groups in the communities will be supported more to make specific demands for their rights including access to resources, representation and participation in decision-making.

The town hall meeting was attended by various district and community stakeholders including the district coordinating director, the department of social welfare and community development, the Ghana Education Service, the Ghana Health Service, community chiefs and elders, the honorable assemblymen and women, students, youth groups and women groups.

The two days town hall meeting increased the confidence of community women and girls towards seeking community leadership positions. It also created platform for increased commitment from traditional leaders to support women with lands to farm.