AfDB Supports Gender Issues

The African Development Bank (AfDB) is supporting the country’s gender responsive budgeting programme with US$12.46 million to benefit 50 district assemblies across the country.

The fund has a loan component of US$9.26 million and grant of US$3.67 million and the government of Ghana (GOG) is putting in a counterpart funding of US$1.70 million under a project dubbed Gender Responsive Skills and Community Development Project (GRSCDP).

This was made known at a programme to launch the GOG/AfDB funded GRSCDP in Accra. The project, which will run for four years, seeks to contribute to the promotion of gender socio-economic development through improving national and local development management, increase access to financial and non-financial services for sustainable development that equally benefit men and women.

A Director at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr Emmanuel Aaron Adjetey, who launched the project, said it would take on board all 13 vocational and technical institutes in the country and had training and capacity packages in both short and long-term courses locally and abroad.

Initiated by the government to promote gender equitable socio-economic development in the country, he said it was to improve national capacities for enhanced gender mainstreaming as well as improve access to quality skill training for gainful employment and entrepreneurial development of women.

Mr Adjeytey affirmed the government’s commitment to ensuring that women in the country were empowered adequately to contribute their quota to the national development agenda.

He said as a demonstration of the government’s commitment the gender responsive budgeting initiative would be scaled up, especially in the acquisition of skills in gender concepts by staff of ministries.

The Principal Country Programme Officer, Ghana Country Office of the AfDF, Dr Patrick Agboma, in an address said the bank, in line with the second pillar of the Ghana Country Strategy Paper; promoting Pro-poor Pro-Gender Equity Policies was supporting the project with an expected outcome of strengthening the institutional capacity of line ministries for gender mainstreaming as well as improving vocational skills training.

Dr Agboma said the project was also expected to promote community development and enhance access of women especially to financial and business development services.

The Minister for Women and Children’s Affairs, Ms Akua Sena Dansua, said although gender mainstreaming into national development began in 1975 under a United Nations directive, women continue to face subtle forms of discrimination in the form of socio-cultural practices, inadequate access to productive resources such as credit, land, technology and information.

She said the ministry would continue to address the challenges and obstacles that prevent women’s effective participation in the development process by working closely with government and UN agencies, development partners and Civil Service Organisations (CSOs) to empower and ensure equal rights for women in the country.

The Government Advisor on Gender Policy, Dr Christine Amoako-Nuamah, who chaired the programme, called on people to eschew gender stereotyping since that retarded the progress and development of women and the nation as a whole.