RUWA-Ghana, a women’s rights not-for-profit organisation, has launched a campaign to promote Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) in the Upper West Region using gender transformative tools such as social media.
RUWA-Ghana, through the ENOUGH campaign, sought to ensure equal opportunities for all persons in all spheres of life – education, leadership and participation in social activities such as decision-making.
The German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) funded the campaign titled “ENOUGH! Empowering Girls, Boys, Women and Men through Creativity and Social Media to Break the Silence on SGBV for Gender Transformation”.
Speaking at the campaign launch in Wa, Mr Masud Aziz Rauf, the Executive Director of RUWA-Ghana, said the campaign had become necessary due to the increasing silence towards issues of Sexual and Gender-based Violence (SGBV) in the communities.
He explained that rural regions, including the Upper West Region, continued to grapple with gender-related challenges such as SGBV despite the availability of laws against such issues.
Mr Rauf said: “Despite progress in legislative frameworks aimed at protecting the rights of women and marginalised groups, deeply rooted cultural norms and patriarchal structures perpetuate discrimination and violence.
Through targeted interventions, the (ENOUGH) project will engage various stakeholders to challenge harmful gender norms, enhance gender-sensitive communication, and build capacity for gender-responsive programming”, Mr Rauf explained.
He indicated that the region was characterised with remote, underserved communities that faced high poverty rate, low literacy levels, and limited access to basic services such as healthcare and social support which were drivers of gender-related violence.
The project is being implemented in Wa and Busa communities in the Wa Municipality and the Dorimon and Vieri communities in the Wa West District which, Mr Rauf said, experienced high instances of gender inequalities and SGBV.
Mr Sebastien Ziem of the Upper West Regional office of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) observed that the silence surrounding SGBV, discrimination and stigmatisation had emboldened perpetrators to commit such injustices while the survivors “suffer in shame and fear.”
He, therefore, said: “ENOUGH! to the silence that hides injustice; ENOUGH! to harmful beliefs that excuse violence; and ENOUGH! to “Tijaa Bunyeni” that allows rapists and paedophiles to go Scot free.”
Mr Ziem stated that the campaign was a reminder that gender transformation should not only be seen in policies, but manifested in all aspects of human lives, including the homes, educational and religious institutions and workplaces.
Pognaa Rosemary Bangzie Mumwilma, the Queen Mother of Duong in the Nadowli-Kaleo District, who chaired the program, observed that the ENOUGH campaign by RUWA-Ghana was in line with the provisions of the Affirmative Action Act.
She encouraged traditional leaders and all members of society to support the campaign to ensure it yielded the expected results of reducing SGBV issues to the barest minimum if not end them entirely.
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