PROPOSAL ON FEMALE AND WIDOWHOOD RIGHTS
Organization Name:Resource Link Foundation (RLF) - NGO
Address:P.O. Box WC 371 Wenchi
Country:Ghana
Telephone: 233-244-547-417
Website: Under construction
Primary contact Person: Secondary Contact Person:
Title: Mr. Title: Mr.
Name: Christopher Dapaah Name: Fred Kumah
Email: Email:
Project Information
Project Title:Eliminating Violence (FGM &Widowhood Rites) against Women and Children through capacity building on Human Rights issues (Women &Children's Rights) to promote development among the Nafana people in Banda Traditional Area in the Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana.
Background of the Problem:
Violence against Women and Girls is a serious developmental issue that has impeded the development of women and girls and societies in general world wide, especially in least developed and developing countries like Ghana. The UN Has put in a lot of strategies and has involved countries worldwide to implement them to put an end to all sorts of violence that are human rights violations, to promote development and improve human welfare and survival. These strategies have not fared well in the least developed and the developing countries due to poverty and ethnic and racial violence that has dominated in these countries for decades.
As explicitely mentioned above,women and children especially girls are the most maginalized in society, and arethe most affected by cultural practices, especially in the under-developed world where poverty is at its pick, as most people live on less than a dollar a day, leading to deprivity, maginalisation and suffering in the society.
The Ghanaian situation and strategies put in place to address them:
Ghana which is a developing country is not left out. The issues of violence against women and girls are predominant, especially in ruaral and urban poor areas which this project is aiming to address. FGM and Widowhood Rites practices cut across the country, especially in the Northern sector of the country.
The Ghanaian constitution in (articles 12-23) states the Foundamental Human Rights and Freedoms of every body lawfully staying in the country. It explicitly explains that;
No person shall be deprived of his life intentioanly except by the order of a court as punishment for a stated offence, every person shall be entitled to his personal liberty, has the right to be treated with dignity and respect under all conditions, has the right to information, has the right to food and shelter, has the right to education and many more.
A number of laws, ligislations and bills have been passed, especially the "Domestic Violence Bill", the "Inheritance and Property Rights law" etc, which seeks to protect women and children from being multreated in homes and at work places.
The Government of Ghana has put gender and children’s issues at the fore of the national development agenda and is manifested in the establishment of the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWA). The Ministry has two implementing departments- the Department of Women and the Department of Children, and it exists to promote the welfare of women and children in Ghana. It is the entity designated by Government to initiate, co-ordinate and monitor gender and child responsive issues. The mission of MOWA is to enhance its contribution to the development of Ghana by achieving equal status for women and promote the rights of children especially girls. The ministry also seeks to promote the survival, development and protection of women and children, through:
• The formulation of gender and child specific development policies, guidelines, advocacy tools, strategies and plans for implementation by MDA’s,District Assemblies, Private Sector Agencies, NGO’s, Civil Society Groups and otherDevelopment Partners.
• Monitoring and evaluation of both the implementation process and impact of specificdevelopment plansand programmes on women and children.
Purpose (Goal):
The goal of this project is to eliminate all sorts of violence against women and girls (FGM&Widowhood Rites) in our target communities in the target Districts to pave the way for proper and effective involvment of women and girls in development issues to promote their welfare and development.
Expected Results:
By the end of the project in the targeted communities, it is expected that;
- Women and Girls welfare become the priority of our target districts, and activities to promote them included and working in the district's strtegic plans implementation.
- Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)which is the practice of some parts of the Districts stopped and become an issue of the past past.
- Women and girls overcome infuriority complex and taking key positions at the grassroot level and fully participating and making effective contribution to the decision making process.
- Husband share household chores with their spouses at the domestic level.
- Widowhood Rites stopped and widows living normal lives and participating in community activities as other women in the community.
Women/girls given the due recognition in property inheritance at the traditional leve.
- More girls go to school as equal to boys.
- Women get equal employment opportunities as their male couunterparts.
- Stakeholders in the area acquire more knowledge in human rights issues and are committed to putting them into practice
Strategies:
The strategies to be pursued to address Violence against Women and Girls (VWG) issues include the following;
- Collecting, collating, analyzing and disseminating data on (VWG) issues, desegregated by gender in the target communities as baseline information.
- Sensitization and building the capacity of women and girls in the local communities on Basic Human Rights and gender issues (FGM, Widowhood Ritesetc.) at all levels.
- Promoting a Gender and Development (GAD) approach that is based on theunderstanding of gender roles and social relations of women men and girls as well as theWomen in Development (WID) approach which focuses on women specifically through advocacy.
- Ensuring the dissemination, translation, and implementation of gender policies in the Districts.
- Promoting appropriate education, sensitization and creation of awareness on theresponsibility of all concerned parties including Traditional Authorities in the districts to address the specific genderconcerns (VWG) within the area. This should entail consultation with women/girlsand menin specific areas of relevance to identification of gender concerns.
- Building the capacity of women to take key leadership roles at both the local and District levels to participate in the decision making process
- Strengthening the capacities of personnel who work in VWG related areas in an integrated manner to handle women and girls-related issues efficiently.
- Establishing effective mechanisms to monitor and evaluate project activities on gender issues undertaking in the target area
The promising and innovative aspect of the project will be building the capacity of the primary beneficiaries (women & girls) to adequately respond to violence (FGM &Widowhood Rites) stuations against them by calling on trained authorities to respond and take immediate action to address their need. The innovation will involve training selected community leaders (women & girls) to be the mouth piece of all violence against women and girls issues to adequately communicate with trained counselors (Lawyers) to give advice and direction for immediate action to address the issue. This capacity building will involve the the use of the phone, that is, Text Me! Flash Me! Helpline initiative, to help these less resourced women and children in the rural communities to easily communicate their needs to trained professinals for support.
Capacity Development:
The project is going to employ the following capacity development strategies to achieve objectives set;
- Organize capacity building/training programmes for community volunteers, preferably women and girls to collect and collate basic information on "VWG" for documentation to be used as a learning document and for evaluating the project's activities.
- Mobilizing women and girls leaders in the target area and building their capacity through focus group discussion/workshops on basic human rights issues and laws as well as educating them on institutions established by the Government and other Civil Society groups that promote and protect their rights
- Orgaizing community leadership sensitization programmes for Traditional Authorities, Unit Committes, Area Councils etc. on human rights issues in relation to VWG and how to address them at the community level to improve the livelihoods of women and girls.
- Collaborating and networking with departments especially the Department of Women and Children Affairs, institutions and civil societies especially NGOs and District Assemblies to foster sensitization and training programmes in the communities and at the District level.
- To bring together personnel who work onwomen and girls related issues in a round table discussion in an integrated manner to handle women-related issues efficiently in the target Districts. Departments that would be involved in this programme will be. Department of Women and Children Affairs, Department of Community Development, District Assemblies, Department of Social Welfare, Commission on Human Rights and Administration Justice (CHRAJ), Ghana Police Service, Women and Juvenile Unit, Traditional Authorities and all those who matter in the welfare of women and girls in society. The objective of the fifth strategy stated above is to mainstream gender concerns in the national development process in order to improve the social, legal/civic, economic and cultural conditions of women and girls in advancing the implementation ofnational and local laws, policies and actions plans at the local level.
- Carring out effective monitoring and evaluation of both the implementation process and impact of
development plans and programmes on women and girls.
Sustainability:
The achievement of effective social protection machinery for the poor, vulnerable and marginalized especially women and girls is pre-requisite for them enjoying basic rights and effective participation in social development issues in improving their social, cultural and economic well being. This requires a concerted effort from a wide array of stakeholders and of course with a plan budget to support it. Any single organization or institution can therefore not be able to achieve this. For this reason Resource Link Foundation (RLF) intends to involve all stakeholders in decision making on all aspects of violence agaist women and girls in the target Districts with the view to creating a sense of ownership for the project among all those involved.
Through training and awareness creation, the spirit of ownership will be inculcated in the various concerned stakeholders (CSOs and District Assemblies, Department of Social Welfare, Traditional Authorities, Women and Girls etc.) in the target Districts to ensure their personal commitment and also motivation to campaign for the achievements of the objectives of the project.
As the political authority and chief development agency in the districts, the commitment of the District Assemblies (DAs) to the project will be sought by RLF. Of much importance will be the commitment of the DAsto contribute financially or in kind to support in building the capacity of stakeholders to fully involve in the implementation of the project.
Organisational Capacity:
a. Technical Expertise;Resource Link Foundation (RLF) is a Ghanaian Non-Governmental Organization founded in 1999 and registered in 2001. RLF has a philosophy of maximizing human potential for sustainable development in Ghana.
Since its establishment, RLF has supported a number of development interventions through development education, advisory services, research, training, advocacy and networking; and has achieved a credible status as a service-oriented non-governmental organization. Over the years, RLF has adopted a cross-sectoral approach to poverty reduction, human resource development, gender equity and sustainable development working in various sectors and with different actors. RLF believes in the power of collective action and therefore has worked with a number of development partners including GTZ, Ghana AIDS Commission, Centre for the Development of People (CDP), Resource Link Foundation - Netherlands and other credible national NGOs.
RLF comprises a Board of Trustees, which is the governing body, a management team headed by an Executive Director that sees to the day-to day business of RLF and programmes and support units are headed by Programmes Managers.
RLF currently has a staff strength of 5 qualified and experienced professionals with varied backgrounds, who form a disciplinary team. In addition, RLF maintains a directory of very experienced professionals as resource persons whom it falls on to assist in the implementation of projects, should the need arise. This crop of professionals has varied backgrounds as well and include university lectures, and technocrats
b. Partnership and Coordination; Our key partners in the implementation of the project will be the Department of Women and Children Affairs, District Assemblies, departments directly involved in women and girls issues, Traditional Authorities, other community leaders like the Unit Committees and Area Councils as well as women and girls groups in the area, preferably their leaders.
Leaders of these groups would be invited to a number of round table discussion at the onset of the project to assess violations against women and girls issues in the area and the extent of impact on them (women/girls), and as the project progresses to review and make inputs for efficient advocacy activities to produce the desired impact to eliminating violence against women and girls in the target districts (FGM&Widowhood Rites)
The Departments of Women and Children Affairs (DWCA) under the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs working in the Districts would be major partners in the implementation of the project. Since they are the key promoters of the rights and welfare of Women and Children especially girls, their ongoing activities related to eliminating violence against women and girls in the Districts and in the Region would be linked to the project for the good practices and lessons synergized with initiatives of the project to achieve desired objectives.
The DWCA will facilitate the project, and since they are already working in the Districts, they partner and collaborate with the key stakeholders on women and children issues, and would therefore use their expertise to facilitate for the achievement of the projects desired goals.
Monitoring and Evaluation:
Monitoring would be done with the view to achieving efficiency of the project, while evaluation would be done to test the effectiveness of the project to achieve the desired objectives. As such monitoring and evaluation would be taken seriously when executing the project. RLF would monitor its own activities on the project to ensure efficient delivery of service.
RLF monitoring and evaluation style has always been participatory. That is, it will involves as many key stakeholders at various levels of the project implementation, as possible. Those to be Involved in the monitoring and evaluation would be RLF project staff, Traditional. Authorities., Target group (Women/girls), selected staff of DA, CSOs and other community leaders. The staff of RLF would put together reports and submit them to all stakeholders so that they would also know the status of the project at all times and be in a position to make input into the implementation process. All the entities listed above would meet quarterly to review the project progress.
The monitoring would start right from the entry into the Districts. Issues such as acceptability of the project by the communities, especially the target groups (women/girls), DAs, Traditional Authorities/community leaders, CSOs etc would be key in the monitoring process.
Project Budget
Budget Description / Qty / Unit / Unit cost(US$) / Total Cost (US$) / Location
Consultation Fees, Facilitation, Labour
Mobilizers/Programme Manager / 14Days / 10 / 30.00 / 4200.00 / Banda Ahenkro/Bui Camp
Project Coordinator / 3 Months / 1 / 500.00 / 1500.00 / Banda Ahenkro/Bui Camp
Accountant / 3 Months / 1 / 400.00 / 1200.00 / Banda Ahenkro/Bui Camp
Secretary / 3 Months / 1 / 350.00 / 1050.00 / Banda Ahenkro/Bui Camp
Cooks/Water Carriers / 14 / 8 / 10.00 / 1120.00 / Banda Ahenkro/Bui Camp
Sub total / 9,070.00
2. Training Resources/ Materials
Flip Charts / 14Days / 5 / 12.00 / 60.00 / Banda Ahenkro/Bui Camp
Flip Chart Stand / 14Days / 1 / 40.00 / 40.00 / Banda Ahenkro/Bui Camp
Masking Tapes / 14 Days / 4 / 1.00 / 4.00 / Banda Ahenkro/Bui Camp
Scissors / 14 Days / 2 / 1.05 / 2.10 / Banda Ahenkro/Bui Camp
Felt tipped makers / 14 Days / 15 / 1.02 / 15.30 / Banda Ahenkro/Bui Camp
Glue / 14 Days / 3 / 1.00 / 3.00 / Banda Ahenkro/Bui Camp
Digital Camera / 14 Days / 1 / 69.00 / 69.00 / Banda Ahenkro/Bui Camp
Television monitor / 14 Days / 1 / 208.00 / 208.00 / Banda Ahenkro/Bui Camp
Video-cassette recorder/LCD hiring / 14 Days / 1 / 97.00 / 97.00 / Banda Ahenkro/Bui Camp
A generator / 14 Days / 1 / 762.00 / 762.00 / Banda Ahenkro/Bui Camp
A variety of video tapes / 14 Days / 30 / 35.00 / 1050.00 / Banda Ahenkro/Bui Camp
Plastic Chairs (hiring) / 14 Days / 45 / 00.20 / 126.00 / Banda Ahenkro/Bui Camp
Tables (hiring) / 14 Days / 4 / 1.40 / 78.4 / Banda Ahenkro/Bui Camp
Bill boards / 5 / 200.00 / 1000.00 / Banda Ahenkro/Bui Camp
Printing of HIV/AIDS Booklets / - / 1000.00 / Banda Ahenkro/Bui Camp
Printing of T-Shirts / 14 Days / 100 / 11.00 / 1100.00 / Banda Ahenkro/Bui Camp
Sub Total
/ 5,596.83. Transportation
Hiring of vehicle / 14days / 1 / 100.00 / 1,400.00 / Banda Ahenkro/Bui CampFueling/maintenance of motorbike / 14days / 1 / 15.00 / 210.00 / Banda Ahenkro/Bui Camp
Traveling allowance TOTs/Peer Educators / 3 months / 40 / 80.00 / 9,600.00 / Banda Ahenkro/Bui Camp
Sub Total / 11,210.00
Feeding and Accommodation
Accommodation for facilitator and staff
/ 14 / 5 / 25.00 / 1,750.00 / Banda Ahenkro/Bui CampFood costs
/ 14 / 3000.00 / Banda Ahenkro/Bui CampCooking equipments
/ 352.93 / Banda Ahenkro/Bui CampLocal food purchase
/ 1500.00 / Banda Ahenkro/Bui CampSub Total (Food and Accommodation)
/ 6,602.00Other Direct Costs
Publications and airtime
/ - / 4 / 50.00 / 200.00 / Banda Ahenkro/Bui CampSub Total (Other Costs)
/ 200.00Monitoring and Evaluation