The Savannah Women Integrated Development Agency Ghana (SWIDA-GH) on Thursday, 15 October, 2020, held a durbar in Tamale to commemorate the 2020 United Nations International Women’s Day and launch the Women Climate Justice Solutions in Agriculture Project in the northern region.
With funding support from Global Fund for Women, SWIDA-GH assembled about four hundred (400) rural women from various farmer base organisations in the Tamale metropolis, the Sagnarigu, Savelugu and Gushegu municipalities as well as the Mion and Tolon districts to observe the day in the region.
Underscoring the importance of the program in an interview with the CUSTODIAN, the Executive Director of SWIDA-GH, Hajia Alima Sagito Sa-eed said the celebration would recognise the contribution of rural women towards the transformational agenda to achieve the UN sustainable development goals at their households, families and communities at large.
Hajia Alima further highlighted on the theme of the occasion, “Building Rural Women’s resilience in the wake of Covid-19”, saying this is relevant because of the negative economic impact the pandemic has brought upon rural women.
She said lack of information and technology, issues of value-addition, lack of farm inputs and equipment and credit facilities to work with are already some major challenges confronting these rural women before the outbreak of Covid-19, adding, “Covid-19 has come and all the few gains that we have made as rural women has been eroded and we are building back to ensure that moving forward we also become resilient.”
The SWIDA-GH Executive Director disclosed her organisation with support from Global Fund to undertake a year Climate Justice Solution in agriculture to empower the rural women about climate change and its negative impact.
“We know that climate change is real and we cannot deny that because it is affecting negatively especially on agriculture – the rain pattern is changing, soil fertility issues, so what solutions that we need to bring on board to ensure that the rural woman can be resilient and that is what we are going to do” she noted.
Hajia Alima Sagito believes if the rural women are effectively mobilised and given the required capacity training to build their financial management and savings culture including the provision of mentorship and coaching opportunities, they can be a great catalyst to transform the rural economy of the nation.
However, she recommended the establishment of a special stimulus package specifically targeted at rural women who remain the anchor to the nation’s production base in an effort to revive the Ghanaian economy.
“We have noted in particular, that the requirements for accessing government’s stimulus packages has excluded the majority of rural women; we highly recommend the revision of these requirements to cater for the specific needs of rural women” she emphasised.
