By Solomon Gumah
Tamale, Sept. 01, GNA – A total of 915 young girls and women have received mentorship training in the Northern Region to help maximise their leadership prospects.
This was made known at the third cohort graduation ceremony for mentees of the Female Leadership Mentorship Academy, held in Tamale.
The Academy is a flagship leadership initiative instituted by the Savannah Women Integrated Development Agency (SWIDA-GH), an NGO, advocating for women empowerment with support from Plan International Ghana and Global Affairs Canada under its Women Voice and Leadership Project.
Miss Khadija Abdul-Samed, Women Voice and Leadership Project Lead at SWIDA-GH, who announced this during the event, said the project became necessary because many young women in the region needed some form of guidance and direction to advance their dreams.
She said the first edition of the academy in 2021 was run in collaboration with the University for Development Studies’ Tamale Women Commission’s Office and the Girl Child International, where 100 mentees graduated after three months of intensive mentorship.
She said in the 2022 edition, 300 young women were mentored where 200 successfully graduated, and in 2023, 200 were mentored and 115 graduated.
Ms Abdul-Samed said attaining the Sustainable Development Goal five, which is geared towards achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls, required strategic coaching and mentorship platforms, hence the initiative.
She urged women not to relent in their efforts in seeking avenues that enhanced their growth and development.
Hajia Alima Sagito-Saeed, Executive Director of SWIDA-GH, said the initiative was intended to enhance the leadership capacity of girls to enable them to participate in key decision-making processes in the country.
She said mentorship was one of the surest ways to ensuring that women and other vulnerable groups were properly equipped to rise against any form of discrimination, injustice, and abuse.
Professor Adiza Sadik, Dean of International Programmes and Institutional Linkages at the Tamale Technical University, said strategic female mentorship had ripple effect on both global and national development, adding women must brace themselves for mentorship.
Professor Sadik emphasised need for women to amplify their voices on issues of discrimination, abuse and injustice and said their voices were catalyst for change in society.
Mr Eric Ayaaba, Northern Programmes Influencing and Impact Areas (NPIIA) Manager at Plan International Ghana, who was represented at the ceremony, expressed satisfaction at the impact of the project and pledged the organisation’s support towards sustaining the programme.
Miss Yakubu Memunatu Wumbei, who made a statement on behalf of the 2023 cohort mentees, commended SWIDA-GH and partners for the exposure and empowerment to achieving their goals and aspirations.
The graduands received certificates of participation while some mentors at the academy also received citations for their contributions to the project.
GNA