The Nadowli-Kaleo District Directorate of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has engaged identifiable women’s groups in the district to strengthen their participation in the fight against corruption and respect for the rule of law.
The engagement followed a similar activity organised for the women as part of the Participation, Accountability and Integrity for Resilient Democracy (PAIRed) programme implementation by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), in partnership with Ghana’s Ministry of Finance through the NCCE.
The initiative by the German’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), co-financed by the European Union and the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, sought to empower women to identify, resist and report corrupt practices while promoting transparency and accountability in public institutions.
Addressing the participants at Nadwoli, Mr Emmanuel Der Tambile, Nadowli-Kaleo District Director of the NCCE, indicated the engagement was to enable the NCCE and its partners to assess how the participants had applied the civic knowledge acquired during the previous engagement.
The engagement employed an interactive format which allowed the participants to share their experiences, challenges and successes in applying the knowledge gained from the earlier engagement.
Some participants acknowledged that the previous engagement had equipped them with the knowledge of how to report suspected cases of corruption and the appropriate institutions to which such cases could be referred.
Ms Felicia Ankara, a participant, indicated that nepotism and favouritism at some health facilities had significantly reduced due to increased resistance from people who understood that such practices constituted corruption.
She called for fairness and transparency in public service delivery, and urged public institutions to establish clear criteria for accessing services and apply uniform rules to all citizens.
The participants stressed that consistent and impartial application of service delivery procedures was essential to promoting accountability and building public confidence in state institutions.
Madam Celine Sungdong, also a participant, identified fear of victimisation and retaliation, limited knowledge of formal reporting procedures, and social pressure as some issues that discouraged them from speaking out.
The participants, therefore, called for sustained civic education to help address the barriers and empower women to become active participants in the fight against corruption.
A total of 56 people participated in the engagement, the majority of them being women.