Gender Empowerment And Development In Ghana: How a Ghanaian Nun  advocates for women recognition as world marks Women Day

Introduction
As the World marks Women Day tomorrow March 8, Rev. Sr. Margaret Mavis Ankamah, SMMC, Co-ordinator of Gender and Development at the Ho Diocesan Development Office, in the Volta Region, is one of the many Catholic Nuns in Ghana, who have specialized in the area of advocating for women empowerment and Gender equality in Ghana through her Office.

Gender inequality as a matter of fact, remains one of the central challenges of the 21st century in spite of all the progress the world has made. Statistics from international studies indicates that two-thirds of all illiterate individuals worldwide were women and they own only one per cent of global assets.

Globally, women are poorer than men. As the main caregivers of children, poverty hits them the hardest of all. For women living in extreme poverty, every day is a struggle to survive. Consequently, they do not have the means or education to adequately consider negative repercussions on their environment, or the advantages of sustainable living.

The feminization of poverty is a change in the levels of poverty biased against women or female headed households. More specifically, it is an increase in the difference in the levels of poverty among women and men or among female versus male and couple headed households. It can also mean an increase of the role that gender inequalities have as a determinant of poverty.

To ensure that explicit, implicit, actual and potential gender biases are removed, there is need to embark on Gender and Development (GAD) as a priority programme in any meaningful and sustainable development work.

As a Catholic Nun, Sr. Ankamah feels that “The Church has the duty to contribute to the recognition and liberation of women, following the example of Christ’s own esteem for them...Giving women opportunities to make their voice heard and to express their talents through initiatives which reinforce their worth, their self-esteem and their uniqueness would enable them to occupy a place in society equal to that of men...Bishops should encourage and promote the formation of women so that they may assume ‘their proper share of responsibility and participation in the community life of society and ...of the Church. Women will thus contribute to the humanization of society.”

Gender and Development
The African Women’s Decade was launched in 2010 to advance gender equality by accelerating implementation of Dakar, Beijing and AU Assembly Decisions on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment at the top and grassroots.

In the general field of development studies, the need to focus attention on issues of gender has become increasingly clear in recent decades. There are some reasons for this. First, poverty itself is not ‘gender-blind.’ The situations of men and women in the poorest countries are often different, so that by most measures development outcomes are consistently worse for women than for men.

Secondly, interventions to promote development do not necessarily serve women and men equally. Projects which seem to have nothing to do with gender may benefit men more than women because of the way societies and economies are structured.

Gender and Development (GAD) is a development perspective that recognizes the unequal status and situation of men and women in society, and as an approach, GAD seeks to equalize the status and condition of and relations between them. Gender and Development (GAD) is concerned with women and men, their specific roles, responsibilities and expectations in the society.

It also analyzes the nature of men’s and women's contribution within the context of work done both inside and outside the household and reflects the public/private dichotomy that undervalues the work done/ role played by men and women. GAD focuses on the principle that development is for all.

Everyone in society, female or male, has the right to equal opportunities to achieve a full and satisfying life. Gender refers to the specific set of characteristics that identifies the social behavior of men and women and the relationship between them. Gender alludes not simply to women or men but the relationship between them and the way it is socially constructed. Since gender biases exist and these biases prevent people from attaining their full potentials, development is impeded.

Projects focusing on women and girls bring enhanced benefits for families and society as a whole so also is Gender, Children and Social Development’s programmes in the right directions towards gender equality. A 2012 World Bank report articulates a now widely accepted view that gender equality, as well as being intrinsically important, contributes to a range of ‘key development outcomes’ more broadly.

Women formation
When Damian Avevor, the News Editor of the National Catholic Weekly in Ghana, The Catholic Standard caught up with Sr. Ankamah in her office in Ho in preparation for the Mother’s Day celebration on May 8, this year, she said that giving women the opportunity to make their voices heard and to express their talents through initiatives which reinforce their worth, their self-esteem and their uniqueness, would enable them to occupy a place in society equal to that of men.

She called on the Church in Ghana to encourage and promote the formation of women so that they could assume their proper share of responsibility and participation in the community life of society and of the Church.

For Sr. Ankamah, she feels women should be able build up their self-esteem and be proud of themselves, since they had an important role to play in society to enhance the growth and development of the Church and the nation as a whole.

Advocating for support for women to play important roles in the Church, she said women have all it takes to contribute effectively to the humanization of society, noting that they formed the nucleus of society; beginning from the home.

She said when given the opportunity, many more women could equally deliver like other women who have taken up the challenge and are making significant sway or impact in the Church and society.

Sr. Ankamah said the Catholic Church in the past did a lot develop women and is continuing to empower them in the various fields of their endeavours, lamenting that most of the leadership positions being held by the laity in the Church and the country were male-dominated.

She, therefore, appealed to women to prepare and avail themselves of opportunities for Church and public leadership, stating further that the Government and other stakeholders should develop policies to reverse the trend through affirmative actions and by paying attention to strategic gender needs of women.

“When women are given the chance, they could play effective roles in national development just like their male counterparts, and even more. Women have more potential of developing themselves to contribute to the development of the Church and nation.”

To affirm her point with Holy Scriptures, she said, there were scriptural examples which clearly show strong, competent and God-fearing women fulfilling important roles just as men do.

Giving two examples in the Bible, she cited in the Old Testament, the role of Debora when she served as a judge in Israel (Judges 4 and 5). Thus, we find in Judges 4:4-5 that the children of Israel – not just the women, came to Debora for judgment (counsel).

In the New Testament, Priscilla worked together with her husband, Aquilla, in several ways, including taking the role of teaching the Scriptures to individuals (Acts 18:26), she added.

She said gender equality is both a goal in itself and a pre-requisite for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, noting that empowered women could bring new ideas and perspectives to decision-making and increase the chances of education and employment for the next generation.

The Ho Diocesan Gender and Development Co-ordinator said the women’s rights and empowerment and girl-child education were the priorities of her Office, recalling that the sensitization on girl-child education in 30 communities formed part of one of the five major areas under the six-year project of the Diocese entitled: Enhancing Human Resource for Growth and Development at Community Level.

In addition, a five-day teaching and learning session in Mathematics, English Language, Integrated Science and Social Studies was also held at the Mater Ecclesiae School at Sokode-Gbogame for 210 girls of selected basic schools in the Ho Diocese in 2015. She called for strategic ways of developing programmes for women for their spiritual, economic, social and physical growth.

On the forthcoming elections in November, Sr. Ankamah advised women to guard against electoral violence and malpractices since women were the bedrock of society, calling on them to discourage their husbands, brothers and children from similar acts.

She indicated that provocative words inflamed hearts and generate into violence, and appealed to all Ghanaians, especially her fellow women, to be charitable in their speeches.

She noted that when there is violence in a country, women and children suffer most, urging women to crusade against violence and to pray for a peaceful and violent-free election before, during and after the 2016 elections.

She advocated for the organization of peace marches and peace fora for women so that they would put Ghana first in whatever they do.

Sr. Ankamah encouraged Political Parties to ensure that women were exclusively involved in decision-making at the District levels and partake in Inter-Party Advisory activities to build their confidence and ensure that the party structure did not discriminate against women.

She said when women have access to finance, credit, technology and markets, they were more likely to expand their businesses and contribute effectively to the upkeep of the home as well as the growth and development of the nation.

Therefore, investing in women and mobilizing them to participate in the socio- economic development of Ghana `was not only the right thing to do but a good one which would inure to their own benefit and that of the nation as a whole, she added.

Sr. Ankamah’s role as Gender Development Co-ordinator

As the Co-ordinator of Gender and Development (GAD) Office of the Ho Diocese, Sr. Ankamah highlights that GAD Plans and designs programmes to empower women and address gender inequality towards achieving development for all, men, women and children. Originally the task of the GAD is to catalyze and facilitate the Institutionalization of gender mainstreaming and women's empowerment within the development office.

While GAD Office is clearly responsible for implementing programmes, activities and projects addressing women, it is the GAD Coordinator who advocates for, coordinates, guides and monitors the development and implementation of GAD plan and GAD-related programs and projects in the diocese.

Over the years however especially since 2008, the development policy of the Ho diocesan Development office of which the GAD OFFICE IS PART has changed in line with that of our partners, that of the national catholic secretariat and our own local needs. Instead of each office having specific programmes, the new approach was to have one big diocesan development programme with different thematic areas addressing the needs of the people (men, women, youth, children, people with disability and aged) in a more holistic way.

Another shift in policy was instead of targeting purely Catholics for our interventions, it has to be broaden to community based approach since development issues affects everybody in the society irrespective of sex, age and religion.

Hence, the GAD Office and the Diocesan development office develops and implement one main diocesan programme. The task of the GAD Coordinator is to design, implement and evaluate projects that addresses the needs of our people particularly women.

Except for Infrastructural projects like building projects, the GAD Coordinator has been one of the driving force leading development activities with the diocesan development coordinator in the Ho Diocese. With her background, the job description of the GAD Coordinator as she has come to experience includes the following.

• Mobilizes Resources for developmental programmes that will benefit (men, women, youth, children and minority groups) in the Ho Diocese

• Provide technical support for projects identification, design, implementation and monitoring & evaluation
• Provide technical support in project design, implementation and evaluation.
• Organize programmes, seminars, workshops for women and coordinates women irrespective of their religion or social status.
• Network with other organizations as a means of learning and championing the cause of women on behalf of the diocese at regional, national and international level or forum.
• In charge of gender and development and ensures gender is mainstreamed in organizations programme.
• Undertake programmes development, capacity development activities in the area of social and economic development focus on gender equality and social inclusion.
• Develop own capacity through networking and interacting with other officers, associations, organizations, training and short course local, national and international to update oneself for gender and development work.
• Be ready to work with other teams responsible for networking, and champions the course of gender and development and women in general at all levels.
• Carry out any other assignment given by the diocesan development coordinator.
• Accept and perform any other responsibility given by the diocesan bishop
• Work closely with the Catholic women association and provide technical support to the programmes.

Laurels chalked by Sr. Ankamah
Sr. Margaret Mavis Ankamah (SMMC) holds a Master’s Degree in Development Studies, BSc; Clinical Nutrition and Food Science, Post-Graduate Certificate in NGO Management, Post-Graduate Certificate in Office Management, and Post-Graduate Certificate in Project Management.

She has a Post-Graduate Certificate in Social Research and Post Graduate Certificate in Entrepreneurship from Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) and the Ghana Business School of the University of Ghana respectively.

She has rich experiences in Rural and Community Development; Gender and Development and Socio-economic Research. She has extensive knowledge in Project Development, Implementation, Monitoring & Evaluation, Strategic Planning; Logical Framework Analysis.

She as well has a practical skills in Development Project/Programme Identification, Planning/Design, Appraisal, Monitoring & Evaluation (Project Cycle Management), Nutrition, Agriculture and Food Security, Peace Building and Conflict Resolution. She equally has skills in training and facilitation, presentation (training cycle management), conducting needs assessment, participatory methodologies and visualization of participatory programmes (VIPP); developing organizational/institutional assessments.

She has worked with and is a member of civil society networks and alliance’s, at local, regional, national and international levels. She has championed several social and women’s interventions in communities in the Volta Region and in the Catholic Diocese of Ho with a strong team work spirit.

Sr. Ankamah has a maximum of 15 years’ experience in gender and social development as well as CSOs Networking; knowledge and skills on integrating GESI (Gender Equality and Social Inclusion) programme planning and monitoring; demonstrate skills in training management and experience in capacity building relating to Gender Equality and Social Inclusion and has experience and strong capacity to influence all stakeholders for GESI sensitivity.

Workshops facilitated and attended
She has facilitated many workshops on Gender Issues including the training of Religious Leaders in Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in 2014. As a Gender Advocate, she has attended several workshops and seminars both locally and internationally including Society of Africa Women in Africa and HIV/AIDS (SWAA) Forum in Burkina Faso. January 2009; Africa Lead/USAID, West Africa Leadership training programme for Champions for Change, Accra, Ghana. May 2010; IV World Catholic Congress on Rural Life, Rome (Italy) June 2012 and Post BUSAN Interfaith Consultation on Aid Effectiveness. Nairobi, Kenya July 2012.

Others were Africa Union Consultative Forum on Africa’s Green Revolution. Arusha, Tanzania, May 2013; STAR Ghana Leadership Development Programme Learning Workshops, Takoradi, Ghana 2014 – 2015; Global Forum on Agricultural Development. Berlin, Germany. January 2015; Women in Extractives Advocacy Training programme. Johannesburg, South Africa. March 2015; Biosafety and Biosecurity training workshop for Farmers / CSOs, Accra. Ghana. January 2016; Stakeholders Review School Feeding Forum, Accra, January 2016.

With the rich experience of Sr. Ankamah in championing the rights and empowerment of women especially in the Volta region of Ghana, she has this to say “Gender equality is more than a goal in itself. It is a precondition for meeting the challenge of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and building good governance.”