Visionary Buluk Organization in Partnership with TreeAid Ghana and MOFA organized a two weeks community durbars in 20 communities in the Builsa South District. These durbars were to promote women access to fertile land for farming and sensitize the communities about women’s rights on child-bearing. This was done as part of the European Union funded Northern Ghana Integrated Development Project (NGIDP).
Objectives of the Project
Bringing stakeholders: chiefs, husbands, Government etc to find strategies to get women access to fertile land for farming
To demystify the notion that farming is meant for men
To educate women and men about the rights of women on child-bearing
To identify obstacles to women access to fertile land and how to mitigate them.
The activity covered a total of over 723 people consisting of 487 women and girls and 236 men.
Impact:
The program activities were impactful as many women learnt for the first time that they have rights with regards to child-bearing
Women’s right to Child-bearing was generally appreciated
Women also were very happy to also learn that there is government policy for women access to land and incentives for farming and they pledged to make good use of the opportunity
Men and women openly discussed the reasons why more often than not women are denied access to fertile lands and the solutions to that effect
Concerns Raised
The men were concern that the women any time they have access to fertile land, the produce from the land is mostly for sale whilst theirs is for consumption. Mean the financial support from the women is almost nothing to worth mentioning
Some women become financially independent and don’t respect them anymore and worse other women turn to drinking and hence neglecting their core duties at home.
When lands are given to women, they still expect the men to do almost all the farming on these lands for them.
Recommendations
Follow-up durbars should be organized to get women to be committed to their families as they get economically independent
Campaigns and advocacy through community-based durbars and radio talk shows to get all on board
