Current
Activities
Some recent and upcoming programmes and activities at the Gender Centre
include:
Nkyinkyim
Pilot Project on Violence Against Women
Visit to Northern Zone by Programme Officer
16 Days of Activism, November 25-December 10,
2002
Citizenship and Identity: Women's Leadership in the Latin American Diaspora,
MATCH Ghana Meeting, January 14-24, 2003
COMBAT Exchange between Northern and Southern Zones, February 2003 (coming
soon)
Research
As already indicated, the dearth of empirical data to support lobbying
and advocacy strategies for law and policy reform was one of the reasons
that led to the formation of the centre and consequently, research on
topical issues is one of the key activities of the centre.
Recently, the Centre has completed an extensive nationwide research on Violence Against Women. The research looked not only at domestic violence but other forms of violence such as sexual harassment, rape and other harmful traditional practices. This research was done with eight NGO partners whose members were trained to carry out the survey. Research findings have resulted in a number of very interesting activities, including sensitization work with the police and the setting up of a rural response system in three pilot communities in the country
The Centre also carried out a national survey on the prevalence and the social-economic factors affecting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). Even though the practice of FGM is carried out mainly by the ethnic groups of the three northern regions of the country, it was believed that migratory patterns to the south of the country may have spread the practice, hence the need for the survey.
Documentation Centre
On of the important activities of the GSHRDC is maintaining and coordinating
a Documentation Centre of both national and international publication
on gender and human rights. Access to materials on gender and human rights
is a real problem in Ghana. The Documentation Centre has become an important
source of materials, not only for NGOs, but for researchers and students
as well. The Centre is currently working on a proposal to create a data
bank on women and also create a web site which would have gender disaggregated
data.
Advocacy and
Networking
In its advocacy role, the centre has held a consultation of governmental
as well as non-governmental organizations on Article 22(1) of our Constitution
which enjoins Parliament to pass a law regulating the property rights
of spouses to properties acquired during marriage on the dissolution of
the marriage. The consultation was held to start discussion on the issues
with a view to pressuring government to send proposals to Parliament.
The Centre played a pivotal role in the setting up of a network of women’s rights organizations, NETRIGHT, to strengthen advocacy activities. The network was hosted at the Centre for the first two years until it moved in September last year.
The Centre continues to lead in activities aimed at the passage of legislation on gender violence.
Training
The GSHRDC also provides training in many areas such as human rights,
gender, project planning and implementation, lobbying, advocacy, rights
awareness etc. it also assists NGOs to organize workshops and seminars.
In 1997, the Centre co-hosted with the Human Rights Institute of South
Africa (HURISA) an intensive three-week training in Human Rights here
in Ghana.
The Centre, in collaboration with WiLDAF Ghana, also has an on-going training programme for women leaders to do legal education in their various communities. These trained women, who are called Legal Literacy Volunteers (LLVs) are trained on family laws, among which is the Intestate Succession Law, which regulates Intestate Succession in the country. Since women and children are the ones who suffer most at the injustices prevailing under the customary succession, it was found necessary to educate the public generally, but women in particular, on their rights to enable them assert their rights under the law.
Publications
To ensure that information reach as many people and organizations as possible,
publications and material development is one core activity for the centre.
The findings of the research on Violence (Nkyinkyim Project) were published
into a book which has been widely distributed throughout the country.
The publication is the definitive resource material on violence against
women in the country. The Centre is currently working on a number of other
materials.