Tamale – Empowering a people … preserving heritage

By Barbara Gardner, 2nd year MDP student

Women attending 1st aid training - Nanton-Kurugu

Working with the officers and the various local communities around Tamale is proving to be quite rewarding. By attending training sessions and workshops it has become clearer that women, while respecting their heritage, are becoming more empowered through the training provided by RAINS. For example, health information training with women was critical in highlighting unsafe  practices of first aid care for their children.  

I also had the privilege of assisting with the preparation of a project proposal aimed at improving use of essential health services including comprehensive family planning.  If funding is granted, it will target women and girls of reproductive age as well as children up to 5 years.

 

Camp counselor, Barbara (far right)

While my primary focus was working at Regional Advisory Information and Network Systems (RAINS), I did find some time to volunteer at an annual Kids Camp in Tamale.  The children came from all over the Northern region of Tamale and for the first time they catered to Muslim as well as non-Muslim children who are housed at a lodge and chaperoned by adults over a five day period. The main aim of the camp is to foster togetherness despite religious beliefs. They are engaged in craft, dancing and sporting activities as well as participating in spiritual activities. It was encouraging to see children of all backgrounds interacting and forming bonds of friendships during the course of the week as well as learning from each other.

Through these interactions, I have learnt so much more than I ever could from reading books which depicts the happenings both culturally as well as sustainable development within Ghana. It also reaffirmed for me, that while my ancestors may have been from Africa, the Caribbean and Western experience, which has shaped my development, is very different from anything observed during this placement. 

 

A gathering of the more than 400 children

Meet The Women Who Are Toiling Hard To Secure The Future Of Their Children And Community

By Nana Araba Asaam, 1st year MDP student

“No matter how you measure it, women and children bear the brunt of poverty. But it’s also clear that women are our greatest hope for ending it. I have long believed that if you change the life of a girl or woman, you don’t just change that individual, you change her family and then her community.” Dr. Helene Gayle, President/CEO of Care USA.

Giving out cash to women farmers at Zoosali for purchasing certified seeds

I have come back to my roots but this time to a different region and with a different purpose: to help create a world in which women are empowered to secure the future of their children and community. My first field placement is with the Regional Advisory Information and Network Systems (RAINS) in the Northern Region of Ghana. I have the opportunity to be working on the Integrated Community Empowerment (INCOME) program, funded by Canadian Feed the Children (CFTC), whose intended outcome is that children in vibrant, sustainable communities in northern Ghana have foundations to build a prosperous future. 

Since it is generally believed that women are the primary caregivers of children, the program to a large extent targets women in the rural communities to effectively address issues confronting children. The program directly supports over 1,000 school children by providing tuition fees, uniforms, learning materials and interventions to improve the learning environment. In recognition of their primary caregiver role, the program also supports women’s livelihood activities, such as crop and animal farming, and beekeeping. It also provides training for Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLA) among the women to boost their household income status and financial decision making capacity. 

VSLA group at Sang after distribution of share saving and profit

 The above-mentioned activities are intended to increase food security and the economic status of the women as well as enhance their participation in decision making processes, thereby putting them in a better standing to protect their children. This also ensures that women are better able to generate and use their earnings to feed their families, send their children to school and keep them there.

I have been incredibly impressed by the hard work done by most women in the Northern Region despite the many challenges they face. Besides issues of cultural and male dominance and gender inequality, the women labor under numerous daily tasks such as walking long distances to farm, collect firewood, cook, clean, get water, care for children and more. Whereas, the men only weed farm lands seasonally, and most of the days sit under trees to play board games with friends. It has become quite obvious to me that there is a long way to go toward achieving equal task distribution and gender equality in the rural communities of the Northern Region. It is however comforting to realize that the INCOME program among other intervention programs undertaken by RAINS are steps in the right direction. My hope is that with time and the ongoing economic empowerment of women, a way will be found for more equal distribution of labour at household and community levels.

Beneficiary of INCOME program proudly showing off her farm land

I have spent a lot of time in the Zoosali, Bidima, Kpachilo and Sang rural communities and walked many miles to visit farm lands and beehives of the women farmers. I must admit that I am highly impressed and inspired by their strength, selflessness, continuous persistence, hard work and resilience to lay a better foundation for the future of their children and communities. 

I am happy and grateful to be contributing to this program, learning from the RAINS team and my women friends whom I have formed beautiful relationships with. I pray and hope for the day when the children will thrive and be free from poverty and my friends will be totally empowered.

Tamale: A Mix of Modernity and Pastoral Life

By Barbara Gardner, 2nd year MDP student

My field placement this summer is in Tamale, a predominately Muslim city in northern Ghana, working with the organization Regional Advisory Information and Network Systems (RAINS).  The sights, sounds and smells of history and pastoral living is vibrant and ever present all around me. Witnessing the mix of modernity and traditional pastoral life coexisting side-by-side has been eye-opening for me.

Bob N-Nya Yaa (Unity is strength) Women’s Group, Nanton-Kurugu

The primary focus of RAINS is empowering and educating girls and women. I have had the privilege of meeting and interacting with women who, with the assistance of RAINS, have been formed themselves into a small entrepreneurship group.  They have developed a sense of pride in what they have been able to accomplish, assisting each other to both mentor and nurture their children, while embracing this new collective “voice” to advocate for themselves.

Community Coordinator & Animator of the children after school programme, Nanton-Kurugu

I also visited and worked with the children and community organizers who are a part of the Childhood Regained Project (CRP), which seeks to assist school age children, both in school and out of school, by providing additional teaching support after the regular school day has ended.  This includes homework, explaining things taught in school and extracurricular activities; for those not a part of the formal school system, help to improve literacy in their native language and support them to enter the formal system.    

So far, it has been an eye opening experience in human rights (country and/vs customary) and seeing first-hand what goes into empowering the poor! I look forward to attending advocacy meetings and learning more from the community personnel about how they envisage the future through improved partnerships with NGOs and the community leaders.