The National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG) in collaboration with the Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF) , has organized a capacity building training for female assembly women from the five regions.
The training session was held in Tamale.
It had assemblywomen from Upper East, Upper West, North East , Savannah and Northern regions.
They were taken through the structure of the assembly, the role of assembly members, leadership training and advocacy.
The theme for the training was “Advancing women’s political participation and leadership in local governance”.
Hajia Alima Mahama, the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, who was the guest of honor for the occasion, said it was important that assembly members are supported with necessary capacity building to enable them impact their work actively.
She revealed that there was only 8.1% women’s representation in the district level elections, adding that only 3% won elections with 21% of appointed assemblywomen.
“We have very few assemblywomen in the various assemblies and it’s definitely unacceptable with women population about 51%so we should be doing well where it matters”.
She urged the assemblywomen to ensure that the needs of women are represented at the various assemblies and mobilize women in the various areas to partake in decision making.
The West African Regional Programmes Officer for the Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF) , madam Joyce Akufo, told journalists that the purpose of the training was to strengthen the capacity of the assemblywomen to ensure that they have the necessary skills to help them work effectively.
“We are interested in the women because we have realized that their number very low in terms of representation so we decided give them skills to encourage other women to come onboard”.
She however lamented about cultural practices which greatly affect women to come out boldly to partake in active politics.
Some of the assemblywomen who spoke to DGN Online, expressed their joy for the capability building training , indicating that it has given them more insight on issues regarding the structure of the assembly as well as their roles and how to contribute for the development of their electoral areas.
FROM Eric Kombat, Tamale