SOCIO-CULTURAL BARRIERS, CAUSE OF POVERTY AMONG WOMEN IN THE NORTH

A demographic finding from the United Nation Decade for Women (2000) describes the situation of women in statements such as; “Women constitute half of the world’s population, perform two-thirds of the world’s work, but receive only one-third of its income and own less than one–hundredth of its property”.

The situation described above is generally true for all women globally, but its proportions, dimensions and effects, in the socio-cultural setting of the women of Northern Ghana, is very worrisome and thus calls for action in finding ways of removing these limitations, which are inhibiting the growth of the Northern Ghana women in their lives functions.

Women in the area believe they have the potential to own their own business enterprises and also have the strong will to grow them to prove their worth in various endeavours, as they are the major source of labor of their societies.

It is the insistent contention of women that, giving equal opportunities to women through practical interventions and policies must be at the heart of initiatives aimed at addressing not only poverty rates but also reducing the numerous causative gender disparities in the distribution of wealth.

Unfortunately, certain negative traditional and cultural practices continue to limit women and tend to sway them in their attempt to grow in business in the Northern Region as they continue to suffer from male dominance and abject poverty.

The women believe that the institution of marriage in the Northern Region poses one of the stiffest limitations to the growth of their business. Some women believe that some men use supernatural powers (juju, in African parlance) or other ways to truncate their wives flourishing businesses to ensure their (husbands) hold.

While women single parenting and women headed homes are fast becoming the norm rather than the exception in the Northern Region, (either they are widowed, divorced or married to poor or irresponsible husbands) they are at the same time denied the right to land, inheritance, credit means, enter the professions or rise in business.

The marriage institution, the traditional system of inheritance and the traditional leadership system were the main socio-cultural vehicles over which men in the Northern Region do not only have absolute dominance but also are used as denial, exclusion and limitation tools to inhibit the growth of women in many life’s functions.

A married woman, who is also a successful business entrepreneur, owning landed property is a rare phenomenon in the Northern Region.

Sex stereotypes, defining male/female traditional roles which the women themselves, unaware of their rights, accept readily without question is largely responsible for their own inferior portrayal, even though it is clear that female headed homes are no longer an exception but a norm. About 40% of households in the Northern Region are headed by women and invariably single parenting as well.

The issue of “Child brides” continues to deny girls the right to education and it feeds into the low Gender Parity Index (GPI) at basic school level in the Northern Region. Thus the women are stripped of many skills and capacities in life’s functions. The end result is poverty.

The way forward is for women to come together as one global force to fight this global phenomenon with a sustained and determined fight. This war can never be won in small fragmented groups. The situation calls for more ‘Beijing Conferences’ on regional and sub-regional basis.

Women should know that, freedom has never been voluntarily given by any slave master. It is always won the hard way. After all, there is a lost ancient precedence to be recaptured.

Civil society organizations and Religious organizations should lend themselves to the fight and help build linkages and the necessary networking in facilitating the removal of gender disparities.

The challenge is now thrown to our revered Traditional Rulers who are the custodians of the culture, traditions and usages, which is established, to be posing various forms of barriers to women entrepreneurship and economic empowerment.

The financial institutions must design soft credit facilities for women entrepreneurs while the women themselves must be encouraged to go into Susu (micro finance) savings with the financial institutions as a way of recovery.

The Traditional Authorities in the Northern Region should appreciate the part they play in this situation and be prepared to make the necessary concessions that will effect structural changes in customary land holdings, marriage contractual vows (to make the parties equals) and the Traditional Skinship setup to bring on board the women as pertains in other traditions in other parts of Ghana.

By this singular concession, the face of women’s enterprise and fortunes in the Northern Region will change.

Education holds the ray of hope in eradicating the gender biases from the mindset of both men and women in the region. Therefore, the government, civil society organizations, traditional authorities and all stakeholders should spare no effort in ensuring that education reaches all corners of the region to quicken the dynamics of culture.

It is only when women, who form more than half the population and are also responsible for domestic management and other vital socio-economic roles are empowered, that will impact holistically on the economic development of the Northern Region.

This article was carved out from an earlier one jointly written by Edmond Gyebi, Northern Regional Correspondent of The Chronicle & Mohammed Kwaku Doku, Exe. Dir., Centre for the Empowerment of the Vulnerable (CEV) published in 2007 in The Chronicle under the title “Removing Socio-cultural barriers to women entrepreneurship is key to reducing poverty in the Northern Region.”

The UDS Medical School – A Redeemer To Hospitals In Northern Ghana

The existence of the School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS) of the University for Development Studies (UDS) in the Northern Region is beginning to present enormous opportunities to the entire populace of Northern Ghana and the once seriously understaffed District and Regional Hospitals especially the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH), the only referral centre in the area.

It’s been 15 years now since the establishment of the School in the Northern Region and many people including lecturers who without any shroud of doubt say the school has brought considerable improvement to healthcare delivery at the TTH as well as other district hospitals where there are a small number of health personnel available to address the health needs of people.

The UDS Medical School like other medical schools in Ghana had been using traditional curriculum to train her medical students since it was established in 1996, but there had been a change over to the Problem Based Learning (PBL) methodology since September 2007. The rationale for this change over to PBL lies in the mission statement of the University, "A School of Medicine and Health Sciences Situated in Northern Ghana with a unique mandate to prepare health professional and scientists, with the right beliefs and attitudes to work in deprived rural communities, using the Problem Based Learning and the Community-Based Extension Service approaches. A crop, who can, and are apt to adapt to, initiate change and collaborate within interdisciplinary teams to contribute significantly to humane and cost effective healthcare".

The PBL allows for some interactive teaching and moulds a holistic medical student beginning from year one. The programme involves the use of several district hospitals and their consultants/specialists and exposes students as well as takes medical care to the rural communities.

A statement currently on the university’s website said “There are plans to partner with some institutions in Africa that use the PBL model in the training process and may involve students’ exchange in critical areas. Adjunct Professors from some of these and other institutions have already indicated their intention to be part of the UDS programme”.

Thus, with the TTH now serving as the centre for conducting clinical training for medical students of the UDS who hitherto travelled to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and University of Ghana Medical Schools in Kumasi and Accra respectively for their clinical training, it would also lend more supporting hands to help medical doctors there to carry out their duties more efficiently.

Also, the presence of quite a significant number of specialists’ ranging from urologist, obstetric gynaecologist, physician, neuro-surgeon, ophthalmologist, paediatric, psychiatrist and among others, has attracted many young medical doctors and other categories of health personnel to the institution to work and also acquire some expertise from these crop of professional doctors.

Currently, medical students from the UDS, KNUST, UG and some from Europe are doing their housemanship with the TTH and some district hospitals. As a result, this is steadily increasing the capacity of medical doctors and further reducing the patient to doctor ratio, culminating in improved healthcare delivery.

Additionally, nurses in the region who wanted to go back to school for further studies mostly outside the region can now enroll at the UDS Medical School to read degree in nursing while still working.

Thus, as Dr. Kolbilla David, an obstetric gynaecologist specialist reflects, “It’s worth mentioning that the existence of UDS medical school has brought improvement to health services delivery to the people of Northern Region most especially Tamale. As at 2006, maternal and infant mortality rates at TTH was 1,800 per 100,000 live births. But by the close of 2010, the figure dropped to 419 deaths per 100,000 live births”, he told The Advocate in an interview during the launch of the UDS MSA Annual Health Week Celebration at the TTH.

According to Dr. Kolbilla who is also a senior lecturer at the UDS Medical School, five years from now, he sees the TTH becoming a centre of excellence and cancerous cases which are among few cases that are still being referred to Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital for treatment would have been treated here (TTH) by then. “There are preparations underway to build the next radiology centre (cancer treatment centre) at the TTH. Also, very soon the UDS Medical School will start a postgraduate program in medicine”, he disclosed.

All these arrangements coupled with the increased in number of nurses and doctors as well as improvement in laboratory services place the TTH in the right path to deliver the most excellent medical services to the people in a few years to come, he stressed.

Presently, the TTH has about 70 midwives out of over 700 nurses and this is a boost to its efforts to improve healthcare.

Delivering a lecture on maternal mortality, Dr. Kolbilla attributed the consistent increase in maternal cases in the Northern Region to unnecessary delays that pregnant women continue to go through right from the home to the hospital, adding that postpartum haemorrhage, severe anaemia and particularly sepsis were now the leading causes of maternal deaths in the area.

He, like other speakers, did not also rule out the fact that the region has poor roads network, ill-equipped medical facilities in most districts, lack of critical health personnel and among others as factors which were further worsening the situation.

Under the theme “Reducing Maternal and Infant Mortality; The Role of Primary Healthcare”, the UDS Medical Students Association (MSA) Annual Health Week Celebration is one event that afford students the opportunity to take stock of activities over the previous year and also, renew their commitment to go into poor communities and districts in the Upper West, Upper East, Northern and sometimes the Brong Ahafo Regions – to embark on free medical outreach programs in line with their academic training requirement.

For instance in 2009, 96 women died in the Northern Region during childbirth, 91 in 2008 while 115 women died in 2007, according to the Ghana Health Service. But as the deadline (2015) for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs 4 and 5) targets approaches, the situation becomes more worrying to all stakeholders in the health sector including the UDS MSA.

Goal four and five of the MDGs is aimed at reducing by two-thirds the ratio of under-five mortality rate and reducing by three-quarters the maternal mortality ratio. How each nation is working to attain these goals is very important and as the former UN Secretary-General Busumburu Kofi Annan once stated: “It is not in the UN that the MDGs will be achieved. They have to be achieved in each of its member states, by the joint efforts of their governments and people.”

It is not therefore surprising that the UDS MSA decided to pick the objectives of the MDGs 4 and 5 to form its campaign message as it celebrated its health week, a flagship programme of the group. With a select number of members coming from different health background such as medicine, nutrition and nursing totaling about 50, they further formed groups of 4 people and travelled to 12 districts in the Upper East, Northern and Brong Ahafo Regions to partner with district and regional hospitals to render various kinds of health services to hundreds of people within a one week period of stay in those areas.

Dr. Ken Sagoe, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Tamale Teaching Hospital who officially launched the UDS MSA Annual Health Week urged the students to provide adequate support to the nurses, doctors and other health personnel when they go to the districts.

He noted that their success in the districts and communities would be determined by the testimonies that the people would give after they had finished with whatever they went there to do and returned to school.

Meanwhile, the President of the UDS MSA Khaliq Mohammed, expressed gratitude to authorities of the university for providing students with lecture halls at the TTH to enhance their clinical studies.

He however appealed to the authorities to endeavor to add hostel facilities to the lecture halls to save students frequent travel from town to the TTH to attend clinical lectures.

DEVELOPMENT WORKER CALLS FOR RECOGNITION, RESPECT FOR WOMEN

The Executive Director of the Grassroots Sisterhood Foundation, Madam Fati Alhassan has called for the full recognition, respect and equal opportunities for Ghanaian women especially those in the rural areas.

She is of the view that Ghana would have been a better place than it is now; if indeed the potentials of the women who constitute over 51% of the country’s population had been harnessed over the years.

Madam Alhassan was particularly worried about what she described as the “unacceptable trend” in the northern region where women are always denied the right to possess lands, inherit their husbands’ properties or have access to some natural resources- all in the name of socio-cultural practices.

The Renowned Gender Activist was speaking at a Special Durbar held by the Chief and people of Wamale, a farming community in the Tamale Metropolis to celebrate the contribution of rural women towards national development and food security. It was also to advocate for women’s equal access to land and other natural resources. The Durbar which was organised by the Grassroots Sisterhood Foundation, with support from the Huarion Commission and Mwanachi, was under the theme: “Women’s Access to Lands and Natural Resources is critical to national development”.

She estimated that over 70% of northern women live in rural areas and they constitute the backbone of subsistent farming in the region. Even though they earn very little from their hard work, majority of the rural women, she noted, still make efforts to put food on the table, cater for their children’s education and the general household needs.

“Majority of the our men in the north are only interested in giving birth to any number of children but they women are always responsible for their upkeep, education and feeding, yet they hardly get access to land to cultivate adequate food crops to support their families. Even with all these restrictions and disadvantages, our rural women still continue to making significant impact in the lives of their families, communities and the nation as a whole”.

Madam Fati Alhassan therefore called on the government, traditional authorities, financial institutions and other donor agencies to prioritise the interest of women, especially at the local level to enable to contribute their quotas to the development of Ghana.

She complained bitterly that the rural women were also largely in charge or are at the forefront of the development and promotion of the shea and cotton industries which are the mainstay of the region, but they were always refused support from the various financial institutions to expand their businesses.

The Executive Director of the Grassroots Sisterhood Foundation also a former media practitioner, who worked with the Rural Media Network (RUMNET) for several years, however encouraged the women to continue to persevere to make Ghana proud.

She further encouraged them to educate their children especially the females to also become responsible and useful citizens.

The Chief of Wamale, Naa Alhassan Abu commended the NGO for the initiative and pledged to offer the women in his area with any piece of land they may need for farming or other development activities.

However, the women used the occasion to showcase some of the indigenous dishes of the north including tubaani, wasawasa and kulikuli among others.

West Mamprusi Gets Support to Fight Land Degradation, Climate Change

Efforts by the West Mamprusi District Assembly of the Northern Region of Ghana, to combat land degradation, desertification and contribute to the ongoing global attempt in the fight against climate change, has been given a significant boost by the Hans-Seidel-Foundation (HSF) through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), that seeks to implement a nine-month climate change adaptation and mitigation project in two communities, with a total grant of GH¢80,000.00.

Fighting climate change is a key objective outlined in the Medium Term Development Plan (MTDP) of the West Mamprusi District Assembly. Thus, the Assembly identified two communities namely; Zua and Mishio as areas for the implementation of the project.

According to a summary of the MoU contained in a report and made available to Savannahnews, the project seeks to increase tree population to ensure effective combat of desertification, and further raise awareness and strengthen civil society capacity to take up their own initiatives in the fight against climate change.

“Zua and Mishio are two communities along the White Volta River prone to climate change variability and its associated risk. They are also seriously experiencing desertification due to intensive farming activities carried out all year round along the river banks”, the report said.

The two communities which are expected to own the project shall provide land, labour and other necessary assistance to support the project implementation and its sustainability.

The report also explained that HSF, a German based Foundation, on the other hand is expected to provide financial, logistical, institutional and human support towards the project implementation while the West Mamprusi District Assembly and other decentralized departments would provide administrative and technical support to that effect.

The MoU which was signed by Mr. Ralf Wittek, Director of HSF West Africa and Alhaji Inusah Abubakari, the West Mamprusi District Coordinating Director was witnessed by Mr. Abu Iddrisu, the Northern Regional Director of Environmental Protection Agency, District Chief Executive, District Planning Officer as well as the Project Coordinator Mr. Issifu Sulemana and Deputy Project Coordinator Mr. Samual Orison.

The DCE, Mr Yusif Adam, welcomed the project and gave accounts of some of the serious environmental challenges including annual devastating bushfires and the efforts being made to address them.

Whilst pledging the support of his office towards the implementation of the project, he also called for the cooperation and support of both beneficiary communities, stressing on the need for residents to put an end to bush burning, indiscriminate tree felling and farming along the White Volta Banks.

Mr. Wittek also stressed on the partnership that has been created between his organisation and the West Mamprusi District Assembly and how important it is to utilise funds provided for the project appropriately. Adding that, “the project stakeholders must work hard to ensure that German tax payers monies are used judiciously to alleviate the suffering of poor rural communities in the West Mamprusi District.”

He stressed the need for more transparency and accountability in the process of the project implementation, promising the district of much bigger projects/funds from the Hans-Seidel-Foundation if the current one succeeds.

In the meantime, sensitisation programs are being rolled out in both communities towards the successful implementation of the project. About one hundred and twelve (112) people from both communities (56 from Zua and 56 from Mishio) have been sensitized on the project goals.

The sensitization workshop was also aimed at creating a platform for the two communities to discuss and contribute to the success of the project and to seek the full cooperation and collaboration of community members.

The people who participated in the sensitization programs comprised of chiefs, elders, opinion leaders, women, men and children, farmers, fisher men and women, dry season gardeners, petty traders among others, considered as target groups. These groups of people sensitized are also expected to take up the process to sensitize other community members within and beyond their various communities on the West Mamprusi District re-forestation project.

Key topics that were discussed during the community sensitization programs included the current state of the West Mamprusi environment and its natural resources; the challenges of managing their environmental resources; the impact of the depletion of the environmental resources; the overview of the West Mamprusi District environmental policy among others.

Other issues also discussed include the issue of community ownership; land sourcing – land tenure systems; common benefits sharing and project sustainability.

The members of the two communities upon understanding the project goals and what it seeks to achieve, demonstrated their willingness to own and manage the project to its successful end. They however express their worry about the current threats being posed by the Fulani herdsmen, lamenting that their own food crops are sometimes destroyed by cattle owned by these alien Fulani herdsmen.

They expressed their fear about the success of the tree planting project if the current threat being posed by the Fulani herdsmen, still continued. They appealed to the Paramount Chief of the area (Wungu Naba), DCE for West Mamprusi and Chiefs of the two communities to put in place measures to curb the situation.