Continue reading »]]> A press conference organised by NORSAAC on the 13^th of December 2012 revealed some key outcomes of the election process on the 7^th of December 2012 from the perspective of the Civil Society platform observation team.

The failure of the verification machines and the delay in the start of voting by the polling officials were some of the issues identified as major hindrances to the process.

The Civil Society platform in the Northern Region facilitated by NORSAAC worked with other partners and trained 214 people from CSO platform, women groups and CBOs to serve as local observers in about 30 constituencies in Upper East, Upper West and Northern Regions to critically observe the 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections.

Participating in the conference were 20 print and electronic media groups, 25 representatives from the CSO body and 7 women from women groups in the Region.

This process will issue a comprehensive report covering the whole election in the three Regions. In the mean time, a copy of the press release which contains some of the findings can be found on the NORSAAC website.

Continue reading »]]> Over 400 copies of an innovative sexuality Education toolkit was launched in Northern Ghana by the Hon Deputy Northern Regional Minister to open new chapters of sexuality education.

The launching ceremony brought together 40 teachers, 20 youth leaders, 10 NGOs, 7 government institutions, 10 media, 3 traditional and religious leaders and some selected women groups in the Region.

The ‘Alternative choice for young people’s sexuality manual’, was developed by NORSAAC and AXIS with funding from DANIDA to help equip young people with the requisite knowledge and skills to be able to control their sexuality

The manual has very participatory tools to give sexuality education a ‘positive look’ without associating it with only the negatives. Some of these tools have been used in some countries and communities in the Region and proven to suit the Ghanaian environment.

The toolkit contains informative games and exercises which can serve as a resource to the trainer and can also be used as an ice- breaker to encourage participation of young people through entertaining teaching and learning situation to better suit their learning style

Forty (40) schools and twenty (20) communities in four implementing districts in the Northern Region of Ghana were selected to test the workability or otherwise of the tool to ensure its effective use and practice.

Testimonies at the launch revealed that most young people and parents were changing their lives because of the education. However, more of this achievement is expected considering the numerous commitments from stakeholders.

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Outcome of a research conducted by NORSAAC, CODAC and Ibis revealed the electorates perspective of voting a candidate. The research report was conducted in the 3 regions of the North and has prescribed candidates to the abysmal performance of women in district level elections.

The electoral commission and the chieftaincy institutions were the hardest hit with the findings and their presence at the launch ceremony on the 15^th of November 2012 further challenged them to improve their activities to enhance the chances of women during elections

The research which was partnered by lecturers of the University for Development Studies was carried out to examine the strategies used in the past and also to build strong evidence on the slow progress in increasing women participation in local governance process especially after the 2010 district level elections

40 women groups, 20 traditional leaders, 10 political party representatives, 30 representatives from NGOs and Government agencies and 10 media houses from the three regions participated in the launch.

The report is considered as very significant and will go a long way to influence advocacy processes of most gender based organizations in the Regions and re-strategizing towards the next District level election which will further go to increase the numbers of women in the district assemblies and other major decision making platforms

A copy of the research report can be found and downloaded from the NORSAAC website

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Young females from four Regions in the country met on the 30^th of October 2012 at a National Young female forum in the Northern Region to share experiences, lessons and possibly adopt best practices to improve the situation of young females in the various Regions. The forum which was supported by NORSAAC and Action Aid Ghana provided a unique opportunity for the young females to share their diverse experiences on the major issues affecting them and also enhanced networking amongst them.

The National forum which was dubbed “Breaking Leadership and economic barriers of young females in Ghana; the role of a female menthee’’ brought together young females from four Regions in the country specifically Upper East, Upper West, Greater Accra and Northern Region. The event began with a very educative presentation from Madam Esther Ekua Amoako, lecturer at the University of Development Studies (UDS), who spoke passionately to the young women about some of the leadership and economic barriers affecting women to succeed, techniques on how to overcome them and how to be an effective and powerful leader.

Some very meaningful and insightful stories were shared after regional level presentations and discussions and it was found that despite the differences in their geography, a lot of the issues facing young women were cross-cutting and affected them all in different ways.

Issues ranged from poverty, school dropouts, peer and social influence, teen pregnancies, forced and early marriages, sexual harassment, cultural and religious barriers, leadership structures in various institutions and lack-of female decision-making opportunities amongst others. Appropriate wayforward and solutions were suggested and further discussed.

The Young female forum was considered as a very important step in nurturing and supporting young females in the country.  NORSAAC however intends to use it as a starting point to continue to bring young females across the country together to share experiences and focus on priority issues that will make a difference towards promoting female leadership in Ghana.

Continue reading »]]> NORSAAC is vigorously working to ensure that youth in the Northern Region especially those out of school have a sustainable source of income and also equipped with the requisite skills and knowledge to be able to effectively manage their trade and businesses with funding from Empower- a US based organization. In view of this a two day financial management and literacy training programme was conducted for 25 youth, 14 female and 11 males from 13 communities in the Karaga District as part of continuous measures to improve financial literacy of young people.

This initiative emerged from the fact that many young entrepreneurs and business owners suffer so many difficulties in their quest to succeed in businesses and trade. Coupled with this, financial and working capital management has not been the best among these young entrepreneurs which leads to the inevitable collapse of many businesses and render others bankrupt due to huge debts incurred.

The intervention which was supported by EMPOWER was therefore seen to be in the right direction as it will go a long way to help mitigate and curb these challenges and enhance a more sustainable business for the youth.

The training which was facilitated by an expert consultant in collaboration with NORSAAC amongst others touched on the basics of business management, financial management and record keeping. The illiteracy level of some participants was critically taken into consideration and different methods and approaches were therefore used to facilitate a proper understanding and adequate participation of all.

Interestingly, this initiative which happens to be the first of its kind is expected to benefit 50 youth, 25 females and 25 males in the district by the end f the project implementing period. It will also provide the youth with some loans to support them in their trades and businesses which will go further to raise their income levels and make them more independent.

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As part of NORSAAC’s 10^th anniversary, a forum was organized to exhibit some achievements and successes of the organization over the years of hard work. The forum which was dabbed “celebrating 10 years of hard work in improving the lives of women and young people in Northern Ghana” came off on the 6^th of September 2012 brought together district and regional level partners and beneficiaries alike.

The event had several presentations and messages from partners and beneficiaries commending the work of NORSAAC in the Region. Notable amongst them were the speech made by the Regional coordinating council which was delivered by Mr Nuhu Musah, a representative of the Regional Minister. He requested for the support of everyone present to join hands in commending the founding members of NORSAAC for their foresight and helping to improve the conditions of women and young people in the Northern Region.

These were some significant issues he raised as part of his delivery: “The government welcomes your intervention aimed at increasing female representation in leadership and decision making levels as it remains one of the key areas to address under the Better Ghana agenda. As indicated in the 2008 manifesto of the NDC, government intends to ensure women’s representation in key decision making levels and we are still pursuing that agenda and if NORSAAC alone is able to facilitate participation of over 400 women in various leadership and decision making levels, I would take the lead in commending them and urge them to collaborate more effectively with the regional coordinating council to increase this impact in the future.

The strategic work of NORSAAC in promoting sexuality education of young people in the region is another area of concern to my outfit. I remember my outfit launched a research report some few months back conducted by the organization title “Youth and Sexuality; the ideal orientation in Northern Region. Some of the findings were frightening and I wish to urge stakeholders here to read the report so that we can collectively develop strategies to address the numerous challenges facing the young people in the region. If NORSAAC devoted part of its 10 years to addressing some of these challenges that young people in the region are facing, then our presence here today is of great essence and productive”.

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The Northern Region Assembly Women Caucus on good Governance (NORWACGG), a group of past and current assembly women held their General Assembly meeting within the year which was very much appreciated because such an opportunity hasn’t been created for them for the past two years.

In attendance were the women leaders, District Chief Executives, District directors and planning officers from some implementing districts. In all, about 80 people participated in the all important meeting.

NORSAAC facilitated the formation of the caucus in 2006 to lead advocacy activities and initiatives in the Northern Region to promote conditions of women. The General Assembly meeting which amongst others sort to strengthen the collaboration and working relationship between NORSAAC and the women leaders in the Region for improved performance also created a platform for the women to interact with key duty bearers at the district level on possibly ways they could support and facilitate NORWACGG’s activities at that level. One prominent issue discussed was the gender component of the district assembly budget and the potential they had in assessing it to support women activities in the districts.

During these discussions, the stakeholders acknowledged the existence of such a component in the budget but urged the women to take it up at their various district levels for an effective decision to be taken. NORWACGG members were also advised and encouraged to strengthen their collaboration with the assemblies on all aspects rather than going to them when the need arises.

Several reflections were done regarding their individual performance, what went on well, what didn’t go on well and what can be done differently. They pledged to take up their advocacy issues seriously and also strengthen their engagements with both District and Regional level stakeholders to achieve their objectives.

Another significant thing that took place was the election of new executive for the caucus to lead regional level interventions. The positions of President, Vice president, Secretary, Vice secretary, Treasurer, Financial secretary and organizer were opened up for nomination for the interested persons to be voted for. This exercise ended successfully with all the positions obtained by very active and committed assembly women.

knowing me knowing you(introduction session)

Experience sharing time among the NORWACGG members

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one of the passed out trainees recieving his tool box

On the 30th of August 2012, NORSAAC passed out eight trainees at the bicycle training center in the tamale metropolis.

Over the years NORSAAC had passed out not less than thirty young people who are now actively working in their communities. This therefore happened to be the fifth batch of trainees passed out in the center.

The project amongst others is aimed at ensuring a better livelihood to the youth especially out of school youth by creating self employment for them without them necessarily idling with the excuse of lack of jobs.

This initiative is anticipated to help ease the unnecessary economic challenges and also improve the economic status of young people within the beneficiary communities and thus reduce poverty.

The trainees after being passed out are supported with sheds and tools as part of establishing them though the parents are always encouraged to provide space for them whiles NORSAAC provides the shed with support from Tool For Self Reliance. Aside this, the trainees are also taken through literacy classes to enhance their reading and writing to enable them make better accounts of their proceeds.

Interestingly, these trainees are usually accommodated and fed whiles undergoing the training until they are confirmed by an expect to be passed out after going through a maximum period of six month intensive training on bicycle repairs and maintenance. The sixth batch of trainees is currently being recruited to be equipped with the skills.

During the ceremony, the Project Manager commended the trainees for their commitment and enthusiasm throughout the period and added there wasn’t any drop outs unlike some of the previous batches

She concluded by mentioning that a manual has been drafted for use by bicycle mechanics in the Region and country at large which she believes is the first of its kind to facilitate bicycle repairing and maintenance in the country. She applauded Tools for Self Reliance, NVTI and EMPOWER for their dedication and support to the project.

Cross section of participants during the ceremony

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The Northern Regional House of Chiefs on Thursday 26th of April, 2012 pledged overwhelming support for the government to disband all alleged witch camps in the Northern region.
The decision was arrived at an ordinary session of the house when Association of Magazias in the Tamale Metropolis with support from Northern Sector Action on Awareness Centre (NORSAAC) and Action Aid presented a position paper on witch craft allegation in the Northern region. The women bemoaned the increasing violence against women especially “old women” who demand equal treatment from community members. According to the women, women who appear assertive and vocal were easily labelled as witches and extricated from their communities.
The women indicated that Northern region was the only part of the country where official camps existed for women alleged to be witches. They also lamented that the existence of the women in the camps violated a constitutional provision of fundamental human rights which must be enjoyed by all. The paper added that the alleged witches were in the camps with their children and grandchildren and they equally suffered from wide range of issues including denial of right to education.
The magazias named Gambaga, Kukuo, Gnani, Gushiegu, Kpatinga and Naabuli as recognized areas in the region with the camps and called for collective efforts to immediately abolish them.
The leadership of the magazias also used the opportunity to express appreciation to the leadership of the house of chiefs for accepting them to share their difficulties with them and called for immediate attention to the following issues.
• The chiefs lead a process to establish community level teams to ensure reintegration and safety of the women
• Lead a process in their traditional authorities and communities to prevent new cases of alleged witches being banned from their communities
• Endorsement of all members of the house of the position to disband all the camps in a manner that will not deepen the woes of the women
• A system is established with Security agencies to ensure that recalcitrant in the communities who beat up alleged women are given the necessary punishment.

Responding to the concerns of the women, the members of the house debated the issues raised by the women and condemned the practice. They all agreed that sending women alleged to be witches out of their communities was not part of their culture and that there was urgent need to work to protect their tradition by ensuring that it was sanction. The chiefs particularly challenged their colleagues from Dagbon traditional area to do more since the practice was common in the area. They also suggested scheduling a period to extensively discuss the issue and develop action plan and monitor its implementation to address the shameful practice in the region.
The Chief of Kumbungu Naa Iddrisu Abu who is the Chairman of the research committee of the house represented the president of the house and assured the women of swift action from the house.
The Director of the Northern Sector Action on Awareness Centre (NORSAAC) expressed gratitude to the chiefs and indicated that they were going to monitor progress of the house plans to address the issues and responded positively to a request to develop a specific strategy to target chiefs within the Dagbon traditional area and ensure rapid abolishment of the situation.

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The Northern Region Assembly Women’s Caucus on Good Governance(NORWACGG) has reminded government of its 2008 campaign promise to allocate 40% of executive positions to women. The caucus thus expert government to appoint women as district chief executives for the six newly created districts in the Northern region.
The president of the Northern regional chapter of NORWACGG, Hajia Azara Telly, made the call at a conference held in Tamale under the auspices of Northern Sector Action on Awareness Centre(NORSAAC).the conference sought to draw government’s attention to the widened gender disparities recorded in the public sector in terms of appointments.
The executive Director of Norsaac, Alhassan Mohammed Awal, lamented over the low reprsentation of women in the nation’s decision making processes. He gave the assurance that his outfit in collaboration with Action-Aid Ghana will soon publish a research finding on the dwindling fortunes of women contesting elections in the Northern Region.