ABANTU @ 10

Introduction
ABANTU’s main thematic area of work is gender and governance. Since its establishment, the organization has had vision of a world where empowered women and men can work together to address gender inequalities and promote a transformational leadership and development for a just society. This means that the governance system, process and relationships in the country and in the rest of the sub-region as a whole must work to promote women’s rights and democracy. Given the history of the region where years of military rule has affected the nature and peace of our democracy, it is important that women’s rights organization work consistently to ensure an effective and increased participation in the governance process.

Aims
The gender and governance theme of ABANTU seeks to strengthen the capacities of women in advocating for policy actions that enhance their participation in politics and decision making and transforms the governance system to promote women’s rights and gender justice.

Objectives
The objectives of ABANTU’s gender and governance thematic area are as follows:

• To develop and strengthen the capacities of a critical mass of women across the West African sub-region on governance issues from a gender perspective.
• To strategically engage with women at all levels especially at the district assembly level to enhance their knowledge and skills of governance issues, especially its relation to decentralization and how they can access their rights and demand justice in terms of participation, effectiveness and accountability
• To engage with critical actors and partners through coalition building and networking to influence governance issues, processes and relationships from a genders perspective
• To institutionalise a mentorship programme that builds the capacities of young women for effective leadership, transformational change and democratic governance and women’s rights
• To institutionalise a relationship with women I political parties on women’s rights issues as a core feature of democratic governance.
• Develop relevant publication and other information materials on gender and governance for under dissemination to influence critical actors and audiences.

Target groups
The target groups of ABANTU’s gender and governance theme are

• Women
• Young Women/ Girls
• Political Parties
• Women Politicians
• Policy Makers
• NGOs/ CBOs
• State Organization
• Electoral Commission
• T he Legislation
• Media
• The Executive.

TYPES
The type of initiatives undertaken under ABANTU’s gender and governance theme are:

• Influencing decentralisation/ local governance system to promote gender responsiveness
• Influencing government policies such as those on poverty and HIV/AIDS to promote women’s rights and democratic governance
• Strengthen the capacities of women in political parties
• Engaging with political parties on women’s right issues
• Hosting of the women manifesto coalition for the implementation of the demands in the women’s manifesto.
• Institutionalization of a mentorship programme.
• Schools outreach programme on gender and governance
• Supporting women in elections at all level
• Election monitoring with young women with support from the electoral commission.
• Tracking of gender issues in parliamentary debates/ legislation
• Implementing an affirmative action campaign

Challenges
Similar to other initiatives of ABANTU’s gender and governance programme is confronted with the challenge of meeting high demands especially among women.
Another challenge is the entrenched nature of gender and other social inequalities which makes it difficult to achieve the vision of just world for women and men.

 

Achievements
Among the numerous achievements of ABANTU in relation to its gender and governance programme are the following:

• Successful hosting of four (4) Biennial Conference with women in local governance since 2004.
• Development of the gender and governance capacities of over 500 000 women at all levels of the governance system.
• Influenced critical governance policies including those on poverty, economics, political participation, and the national constitution.
• Active engagement with all political parties on non-partisan basis on women’s right issues.
• Successful hosting of women’s manifesto coalition (WMC) since 2004
• Development of relevant papers, documents, reports on gender and governance.
• Leadership on an Affirmative Action Campaign in Ghana.
• Development of at least thirty (30) young women as election objectives
• Institutionalized mentoring programme

Way Forward
ABANTU is committed to working on a consistent basis on gender and governance issues to address embedded inequalities and promote democratic governance.

 

PROGRAMMES

• Decentralisation/Local Governance
• Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy
• Strengthening Capacities of Women in Political Parties
• Engaging with Political Parties on women’s Rights Issues
• Hosting of the Women’s Manifesto Coalition
• Mentoring Programme
• Schools Outreach Programme
• Supporting Women in Electioneering Campaigns (National and District levels)
• Election Monitoring with Young Women
• Parliamentary Tracking on Gender Issues
• Affirmative Action Campaign