By Anthony Adongo Apubeo
Bolgatanga, June 26, GNA – The Widows and Orphans Movement (WOM), an advocacy non-government organisation has encouraged Ghanaian widows to strengthen groups and develop confidence to enable them access existing opportunities offered by state and non-state actors.
Accessing existing opportunities would help widows live more dignified lives.
Ms Fati Abigail Abdulai, the Executive Director of WOM who made the call, noted that there existed several services and economic opportunities that had the potential to improve the lives of women particularly widows, but some were not aware.
Even those who knew, she said, lacked the confidence and courage to access those services and opportunities, compelling them to continue to live in poverty, injustice and abuse and underscored the need for the situation to be addressed to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
The Executive Director made this disclosure at the commemoration of the International Widows Day held at Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region.
It was organised by WOM in collaboration with The Network for Women’s Rights in Ghana (NETRIGHT) and Plan International Ghana with funding support from Global Affairs Canada.
The celebration, on the theme, “Innovation and technology for gender equality”, brought together widows from the various districts in the Upper East Region including Bolgatanga, Kassena-Nankana and Builsa North Municipalities, Garu, Bongo, Bawku West, Bolgatanga East and Kassena-Nankana West Districts.
As part of the celebration, the capacities of the widows were built to ensure that they strengthen the groups in their various communities to enable them access opportunities that would boost their lives and livelihoods.
The widows were grouped according to their districts to identify some of challenges confronting the growth of their groups in their respective communities and with help the stakeholders proposed solutions to strengthening them for improved and effective performance.
Ms Abdulai mentioned the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit, the District Assemblies, the Ghana Enterprise Agency and the Departments of Agriculture and some NGOs as institutions that provided varying services and opportunities that had not been tapped by many women and widows.
“As women and as widows, they mostly isolate, lose their confidence because of the kind of trauma that they are going through so they hardly relate or interact with these organisations to take advantage of available opportunities.
“So, we are making them aware of these opportunities and trying to encourage them to build that confidence to be able to seek these opportunities so that together as groups that can impact their lives and community at large,” she said.
Ms Abdulai explained that although substantial progress had been made with regards to getting some traditional authorities to modernise some dehumanising widowhood rites, a lot still needed to be done to promote women’s rights and achieve gender parity.
She said the world was going through technological advancement and there was the need for government to work with the technological companies to make friendly some digital platform for women to access to improve their livelihoods.
Ms Mary Anafo, one of the widows, commended WOM and its partners for their support over the years and noted that through the women groups formed by WOM in their communities, their capacities had been built to advocate their rights.
She said the Village Loans and Savings Association groups had not only encouraged the culture of savings among the women but had also offered them a platform to access financial assistance to start and expand their businesses.
International Widows Day, celebrated on June 23 each year, is a United Nations ratified day of action, to address the poverty and injustice faced by widows and their dependents in many countries.
GNA