The "We Know Politics" Project Launched
This article was written by Judith Cobbina for Womec. It can be found at http://www.womec.org/womec/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=114&Itemid=33
A new campaign project dubbed “ We Know Politics: Hearing Women’s Voices in the 2008 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections” has been launched in Accra, Ghana, by WiLDAF Ghana in partnership with FIDA Ghana, the Gender Center, the Hunger Project and the Coalition of Women in Governance (CoWIG).
“We Know Politics: Hearing Women’s Voices in the 2008 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections” has as its main objective to increase women’s participation in the 2008 election. The programme seeks to connect Ghanaians from all walks of life to ensure that women issues are raised during the campaigns towards the December general elections and beyond.
Under the project a national capacity building leadership workshop will be held for 40 leaders of women’s rights organizations as well as ten regional workshops for 500 women and gender advocates to include women’s concerns in the elections.
Other activities to be undertaken under the “We Know Politics: Hearing Women’s Voices in the 2008 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections” project include live television dialogue between the presidential candidates and women from all sectors and backgrounds from across the country as well as legal literacy training for volunteers from across the country to help educate the citizenry on how to lobby for gender concerns to be included in all debates and discussions on the elections.
A member of the Council of State, Mrs. Gifty Afenyi Dadzie, who performed the launch, encouraged all the partners in the project and all women in Ghana to lend their unflinching support to the programme since women’s numbers count during elections and no politician would want to ignore what they say.
The Minister of Women and Children’s Affairs, Hajia Alima Mahama, urged women to improve their skills in public speaking, lobbying and communication as these qualities were essential within the political arena. She also urged women in politics not to allow problems such as low education and lack of financial resources to deter them from politics.
H.E Ms. Lidi Remmelzwaal the Netherlands Ambassador to Ghana expressed optimism that the project will promote equality between men and women and also result in smooth and transparent elections in 2008.
Dr. Cherub Antwi-Nsiah the Board Chair of WiLDAF Ghana in her welcome address at the launch was hopeful that the project will set the agenda to direct the political arena to issues of women in the country and lobby for women in positions of influence in the country.
Also at the launch was Dr. Sonya Sultan the Social and Development Advisor DFID, representatives of all the partners in the project, NGOs in Ghana, the Christian and Moslem communities, WiLDAF members and members of the Media. The British Department for International Development (DfID) and the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Ghana are sponsoring the project.
