Yowe Launches Democratic Governance Project

Youth and Women Empowerment (YOWE), a Non-Governmental Organisation based in the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality of the Eastern Region has launched its Democratic Governance Project aimed at ensuring an increased participation of traditional authorities, women and vulnerable groups in governance at the local level.

Funded by the European Union, DANIDA, UKAID and USAID through STAR-Ghana, the project seeks to increase by twenty percent (20%) the number of representatives of minority groups appointed to the Yilo and the Lower Manya Krobo Municipal Assemblies as well as the Upper Manya Krobo District Assembly.

Through the project, YOWE aims to set out and institutionalize modalities for collaboration and effective consultation with traditional authorities and other interest groups in appointing the thirty percent (30%) membership to the assemblies and other sub-district structures. It also seeks to encourage women to contest local level elections and/or avail themselves to be appointed as Assembly women.

Speaking at the launch on Friday at Odumase-Krobo, the Programmes Coordinator of YOWE, Mr. Emmanuel Nuetey Siakwa said the project was born out of findings from their 2012 Election monitoring and sensitization programme which revealed a woefully low level of involvement of traditional authorities and vulnerable groups in local decision making in the municipalities and district.

Mr. Siakor indicated that “Ghana has a range of laws and policies that seek to promote inclusiveness in governance at every level of governance such as the 1992 constitution, Local Government Act of 1993 (Act 462) and the Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda (GSGDA) 2010-2013".

He however noted that “Most Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) do not have any institutionalized platforms or established working relationships with these traditional authorities (queen mothers, chiefs), minority groups such as Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) and market women, among others, as a means to promoting participatory local governance; this programme will therefore give practical effect to the concept of local governance and the range of laws and policies that seek to bring governance to the people at the grassroots”, he added.

He said his outfit would carry out field research in the MDAs to establish the baseline before embarking on a scoping visit to the three target project areas (Yilo, Upper and Lower Manya Krobo) to officially inform the MDAs about the commencement of the project and also to obtain buy-in from other relevant institutions and actors in the local governance circle.

The project will subsequently be introduced to the two traditional councils, opinion leaders and groups in the selected areas and this will be followed by a capacity building workshops on the local government system and the functions of the MDAs, ultimately leading to the drafting of an MoU between these groups and the MDAs for an increased collaboration and effective popular participation.

The event attracted participants from Lower Manya and Yilo Krobo municipalities, the Upper Manya Krobo District assembly, traditional leaders as well as representatives from identified groups.

Giving an overview of YOWE operation, Mrs. Mercy Fiorgbor, the Vice Chairperson of the organisation said “As a local based NGO, YOWE has been operating for the past thirteen (14) years with dedication toward promoting the course of women, the youth and all other disadvantaged groups and communities in the Krobo area particularly in areas such as Advocacy, Governance, Health, Education, Agriculture and Enterprise Development.

She said, the organisation has since spread its tentacles to 140 rural communities and is currently working with over one hundred community-based facilitators to support the communities with adult literacy, educational materials, vocational skills and micro credit, among others.

Buttressing her presentation with examples, Mrs. Fiorgbor indicated that on Thursday January 30 this year, YOWE commissioned a mechanized borehole valued at Ten Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty Two Ghana cedis (GHC 10, 782) for the people of Aplah, a peasant community near Oborpah Jekiti in the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality, to end their recurrent water problem and its attendant health issues. The project which was sponsored by Village AID UK was in response to an appeal made to YOWE by the community about two years ago.