The day is globally celebrated on the 8th of March. The celebration kicked off with a procession from the community centre, through the town and back.

Women from different social groups danced, sang and marched to the rhythm of the Ada Youths Organization’s brass band while carrying placards with text expressing their displeasure about the level of discrimination they go through as women in Ada.

Queen mothers and chiefs from the district graced the occasion while some school children lightened the atmosphere with poetry and talking drum performances.

“Press for progress” was the theme for this year’s women’s day celebration for gender equality. STAR-Ghana, the lead sponsor and its collaborators supported this cause to help women to be empowered to speak to the issues that marginalized them.

Gender Equality Social Inclusion (GESI) and Capacity building manager at Star Ghana, Eunice Racheal Agbenyadzi who spoke on the sidelines of the durbar, underscored the need to celebrate the rural woman and their achievement, using the first lady MCE of Ada East Sarah Dugbakie Pobee as an example.

“For the first time we have a female MCE in Ada, and the MP is also a woman, so we are celebrating the achievement of women with this two as models. When women come together like this, they find unity and strength to be able to address the challenges and obstacles to their development. First of all the decision of the cluster of collaborates to have the event in Ada is to make a shift from having everything in Accra, and to celebrate the rural woman, the other is about the participation of women in Ada, they still have challenges to address in terms of women’s participation and development.”

The women petitioned the President and their chiefs to bridge the gender gap in the district.

DCE of Ada East Sarah Dugbakie Pobee, the first woman to hold such position in the area, received the petition on behalf of the President.

Also speaking on the sidelines of the celebration, Sarah Dugbakie Pobee, pledged to fight for the inclusion of women in her district in developmental issues.

“When you look at the population, wise women are more as compared to men in Ada East and West districts. The challenges are that they are not getting the men to support them, and when you look at the queen mothers, they raised an issue about want is going on in the paramountcy. Before they gazette, there is a lot of money that you need to pay, so the women are not able to be gazetted. So they don’t call them when they are making decisions. In my tenure of office, I would like to arrange with the queen mothers to go to the paramountcy, plead with them to us the opportunity for the women to be gazetted in their midst when taking decisions,” she said.

The women were treated to a delicious meal after the event, the smiles on the faces of the women of Ada, showed how grateful they were to STAR GHANA for the gesture.

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By: Ann-Shirley Ziwu/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post STAR Ghana marks International Women’s Day with Ada women appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

He said there is nothing wrong with civil society organisations that are aligned with political parties, but “the challenge is where some civil society organisations say they are non-partisan but by their activities they are partisan.”

“Where civil society organisations do not declare their interest, it affects their credibility: their ability to speak on pertinent national issues”, he added.

Ibrahim-Tankoh spoke to Citi News at Cape Coast on Wednesday during a STAR-Ghana stakeholder consultative discussion on having an independent national entity (INE), to fund civil society organisations when foreign donor support for them ceases.

He explained that, citizens may be justified in their criticism of civil society organisations that go for funding for various projects, but end up using the funds for political agenda, warning that could affect future funding.

STAR Ghana is having a national tour to hold public stakeholder discussions aimed at soliciting contributions and observations from various stakeholders to devise a framework for a firm INE to fund civil society organisations.

The Central Region forum, held at Cape Coast, had a wide scope of representatives from traditional authorities, disability organisations, civil servants, trade unions, the media, security bodies and others.

Stressing the need for the discussion, Legal Practitioner and an official of STAR Ghana, Akoto Ampaw, revealed that, many donor bodies for civil society groups in Ghana, have stated their intention to end funding to such groups in the near future, because Ghana has assumed a middle-income status.

Mr. Ampaw warned that the quest for transparency and accountability, one of the pivots of civil society organisations, could be greatly weakened if well-carved strategies are not devised internally to strengthen the activities of such democratic bodies.

All stakeholders at the forum affirmed the urgent need for a national independent entity charged with the funding and better regulation of civil society organisations to engender stronger, transparent democracy in Ghana.

Though participants gave varying suggestions on the structure, resourcing and the proposed INE’s relationship with state, non-state and private national level actors, they all agreed that a collation of views across the nation could shape the final proposal.

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By: Joseph Ackon-Mensah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Clarify your interest if you’re political – STAR Ghana to CSOs appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Speaking at the STAR Ghana “End of Elections 2016 Call Partners’ Learning Event,” the Chairperson of the EC, Mrs. Charlotte Osei, thanked STAR-Ghana for helping to ensure a peaceful election.

STAR-Ghana prior to the election sponsored a number of civil society organizations, government agencies and the media who were interested in implementing projects aimed at promoting peaceful, credible, issues-based and inclusive elections in 2016.

[contextly_sidebar id=”PYJwklT2afEm4mIrPAolyq3Ykei4g7GO”]“On behalf of the EC, we want to commend STAR Ghana for this program,” Charlotte Osei added.

She also used the opportunity to “thank all the civil society groups that worked with us last year to ensure that the elections were successful.”

The EC Chair revealed that the activities of STAR Ghana contributed to the growth of the country’s Democracy and Stability.

She further stated that the EC will adopt solutions the organization recognizes to better Ghana’s electoral system.

“We look forward to learning from your experiences as you discuss them and we assure you that whatever challenges you identify, areas where you think the EC can do better, we will take those learning experiences onboard and also include it in our future programs.”

Former EC Chairmen, Dr. Afari Gyan and Justice VCRAC Crabbe were present at the learning event.

The two-day event will end on Thursday, March 16, 2017.

It is expected to bring together all project partners to highlight contributions they made towards a peaceful and credible 2016 election.

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By: Michael Tsatsu Axolu/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post EC commends STAR-Ghana’s role in December 7 elections appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.