Project on women empowerment in politics launched in Ghana
On 27 and 28
November 2010, the Akosombo Continental Hotel in Atimpoku, Ghana, hosted the
launching event of "Towards increased Women's Participation and Representation in
Parliament", a project organised by the Institute of Economic Affairs Ghana, the European Partnership for Democracy and DEMO Finland, with the support of the European Commission.
The
launching workshop was attended by a number of women MPs and dynamic women
leaders, including Mrs Betty Mould
Iddrisu, Attorney General, who gave the key note address and Hon. Mrs Julianna Azumah Mensah, Minister
for Women and Children Affairs. At the conclusion of the two-day programme, representatives
from women's wings of four Ghanaian political parties adopted the Akosombo Declaration in which they laid
out aims and objectives of the project.
The aim of "Increased women
participation and representation in Parliament", is to further consolidate
Ghana's democracy by ensuring gender equity and fairness in democratic
representation in Parliament and making sure that there is gender balance in
the governance institutio
ns in the country and that the number and quality of
women representatives in Ghana's Legislature is significantly improved.
Women constitute
50.5% of the total national population of Ghana, but there is a gross
under-representation of women in the country's legislature, with only 19 women MPs out of 230 total seats. This
under-representation constitutes a major deviation from the United Nation's
objective of at least 40% women representation in decision-making in national
governance institutions (Millennium Development Goal 3 "Promote
Gender Equality and Women Empowerment", Indicator 3) and the African Union's
goal of achieving parity between men and women in decision-making by 2020.
Through cooperation
with all four parliamentary political parties, the project aims to increase the number of women MPs up from
the present 
19 out of 230 to 40-60 out of 230 in the 2012 parliamentary
elections and to build the capacity
and the confidence of elected women MPs after the 2012 parliamentary elections to enable them to be more visible, audible and effective in Parliament.
The launching workshop will be followed, over
the next 30 months, by joint workshops
with Women's Wings under the Ghana Political Parties Programme, established with the support of the Netherlands
Institute for Multiparty Democracy, and
women CSOs, as well as pre- and post-primaries workshops for women
parliamentary candidates. There will also be a post-election capacity building workshop and mentoring programmes for women MPs. The project will lead to the publication of a women's manual, exchange programme of international best
practices with women MPs from other African and European countries, and an advocacy and media campaign with a broader group of Ghanaian women
organisations.
Sari Varpama, Executive Director of Demo Finland,
is very pleased to be 
co-operating with EPD and IEA on this important effort and
remarked that "democracy can only ever be functional if women are fully
included and actively participate in political decision-making. We hope to
enrich our collaboration by bringing in the Finnish experience as well as that
of our Tanzanian partners for mutual learning".
For more information:
mariekevandoorn@epd.eu