2014 District Assembly Election-Women in UE strategize to capture more seats
The Past and Present Assembly Women Association(PPAWA) drawn from all the
Districts from the Upper East Region on Tuesday at a capacity building training
workshop adopted number of strategies to enable them win more seats come, the 2014
District Assembly Election.
The Programme which was organized by the Regional Inter-Sectoral Gender
Network(RISEGNET) and sponsored by Ibis Ghana was aimed at building the capacity of
women and women’s networks and coalitions at the District levels to enable them win
more seats in the upcoming District Assembly Election.
In speech read for her, the President of PPAWA, Madam Agnes Atayella expressed
regret about the low representation of women at the Assemblies level and said this
time they were not going left any stone unturned in winning more seats .
She said among some of the strategies they would embark upon would include
working to support their aspiring colleague Assembly women who would be
contesting in the upcoming District Assembly Election.
She said they would also educate their colleagues’ women not to compete together
by contesting one another but to come into compromise to support only one candidate
to stand for the election.
The PPAWA also agreed together that they would encourage their husbands who
refused their wives to stand for election to reconsider their decisions by allowing
them to contest for election.
The Chairman of RISEGNET, Mr Daud James Abang-Gos said his outfit with support
from Ibis Ghana would implement lot of activities aimed at building the capacity
of PPAWA members before the year’s ends to empower them win more seats.
He mentioned more programmes in the area of community mobilization, advocacy and
networks, Radio Programmes, engagement of the ruling government on its policies and
manifestoes towards women, follow up traditional leaders to ensure that they follow
their commitment of supporting more women to contest for elections and as well as
eliminating certain negative cultures that inhibited women from participating in
politics.
A Gender Development Officer from the Community Development, Madam Victoria took
the participants through Community Mobilization Skills, Characteristics of
Community, and Barriers to Community Entry and Mobilization, Advocacy Concepts,
Tools and Strategies and among others.
She impressed upon the women to be bold and confidence when contesting for any
election and said it was of the surest ways of winning elections.