WIN (Women In Need) a local non-Governmental organisation engaged with Social Justice Institutions and other key stakeholders in the Gomoa West and Ajumako/Enyan/Essiam districts and Mfantsiman Municipal Assemblies to introduce the organisation’s new project which is the PERD project to them at the Ajumako GNAT Hall.

The PERD project, which is the Promoting Equal Rights for Women and Girls with Disabilities was introduced in a presentation by Alswell Serwaa Akosah Appiah, the field coordinator of WIN. The project is meant to promote the fundamental human rights of women and girls with disabilities particularly the rights to employment and protection from Sexual Gender Based Violence (SGBV) in Ghana.

The PERD project which is a project funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ghana is being implemented by WIN in the southern zone, Planned Parenthood Association Ghana in the Middle zone and Africa Centre for Human Rights & Sustainable Development (AfCHuRSD) in the Northern zone of Ghana. It is a three-year program that is expected to run from September 2021 to August 2024. 

Ms. Susie Arku the executive Director for WIN assured stakeholders of the organisation’s maximum corporation and resources but also solicited for their support in implementing the PERD project successfully “we hope that with all of us coming together to work, we would be able to achieve our target and as well as support and empower women and girls with disabilities in our communities. 

Ms. Maggita Ama Mill who is the Gomoa West district Special education officer expressed her appreciation for the introduction of such a project and pledged to support the implementation of the project in any way she and her office could. She expressed, “one of the major challenges WGDs face is inclusion in all aspects of their lives especially in education or in learning a trade.” She mentioned that most of the government schools do not have disability friendly infrastructure in their schools to support the education of PWDs and WGDs. Some heads of schools refuse to accept some children into their educational facilities because of their disability, others refuse such children because they do not have the capacity to support the children with their special needs. She encouraged that as part of the advocacy activities of the project, implementing organisations, they should advocate for more inclusion in the educational sector for WGDs. 

The representative for the health directorate of Gomoa West assured that WIN could fall on the directorate anytime they needed personnel or health related consultation for the successful running of the PERD project. 

Mr John Tetteh the GFD chair for Mfanstiman Municipal Assembly shared an incident that happened in Saltpond. A girl with disability was sexually abused at Saltpond, “I together with the victim’s mother reported the case to DOVVSU and the offender was arrested and prosecuted.” He added that when sexual violence is committed against women and girls with disabilities we should stand behind the victim and help bring the culprit to book.

The DOVVSU unit of the Mfantsiman Municipality affirmed the story and expressed that they were happy the family assisted in the process to arrest and prosecute him. She assured that they are ready to support WGDs and incriminate perpetuators who commit sexual crimes against WGDs. The traditional leader of Enyan Maim, Nana Odziadowa who was present at the gathering assured the support of traditional authorities in any way they could to help eliminate sexual and gender-based violence against WGDs and support their development. He called on traditional and community leaders to enact by-laws to protect WGDs from sexual and gender-based violence among other discriminations and injustices faced by WGDs.

The EROP project which is Equal Rights and opportunities for Women and Girls was brought to a close. Madam Abigail Addo-Quaye the programs director of WIN highlighted the achievements, the lessons learnt and the challenges of the just ended EROP project. The EROP Project was implemented as a response to numerous human rights challenges women and girls in particular continue to face and as a result do not realize their rights and take opportunities for the advancement of their ambitions and to live fulfilled lives. Through the EROP project WIN gave financial literacy skills and livelihood skills training to women in communities and enrolled about 10 girls who has dropped out back into school and seven girls were enrolled into apprenticeship programs of their choice. The engagement of Chiefs on the project even encouraged the Chief of Mumford in the Gomoa West District, Nana Edey XI, to personally report his niece’s husband for beating her every now and then.  The team thanked all the stakeholders for their support and collaboration on the project, “congratulations to us all for the impact we have made in the lives of girls and women who benefited from the programs on the EROP project.”