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Dr Rose Mensah-Kutin (4th from left), Executive Director, ABANTU for Development; Kathleen Addy (5th from left), Chairperson, National Commission for Civic Education; Angela Lusigi (6th from right), UNDP Resident Representative, and other dignitaries launching the NCCE Gender Policy.  Picture: EDNA SALVO-KOTEY
Dr Rose Mensah-Kutin (4th from left), Executive Director, ABANTU for Development; Kathleen Addy (5th from left), Chairperson, National Commission for Civic Education; Angela Lusigi (6th from right), UNDP Resident Representative, and other dignitaries launching the NCCE Gender Policy. Picture: EDNA SALVO-KOTEY

NCCE launches gender equality policy

The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has launched a gender policy document on the theme: “Gender mainstreaming for effective delivery of civic education,” in Accra today.

The goal of the policy is to ensure the comprehensive and systematic adherence to the NCCE’s commitment to gender equality at all levels of the organisation and in its programming, partnerships and collaboration.

The four-year policy to be implemented from 2022 to 2025 was supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The Executive Director of ABANTU for Development, a women’s rights organisation, Dr Rose Mensah Kutin, who launched the policy, commended the commission for the bold step it had taken to launch a gender policy to guide its work.

She said the work of the NCCE in every nook and cranny of the country could not be overemphasised and their coming on board the ‘gender agenda’ was welcome news.

Advocacy

Dr Kutin recalled how the NCCE contributed to the advocacies that led to the passage of the Domestic Violence (DV) Act in 2007 and the release of the Women’s Manifesto of 2004.

She said with the track record of the NCCE in the areas of education and advocacy, the Affirmative Action Gender Equality Bill (AABill), which had been in and out of Cabinet and Parliament for over a decade, would receive the needed attention.

The UNDP Resident Representative, Dr Angela Lusigi, in a statement, said Ghana had committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and research showed that gender equality was key for the achievement of all the SDGs.

She, therefore, said the effort by the NCCE to deepen gender mainstreaming through the launch of the NCCE Gender Equality policy would be essential for progress.

Giving some statistics, she said the share of deputy ministers increased to 27 per cent in 2021 from 14 per cent in 2020. However, the share of ministers and chief directors had declined, saying all the 2021 targets for women participation in public sector leadership were not achieved.

She, therefore, recommended that an effective strategy for addressing gaps in gender equality should be through civic education, saying a vibrant civic life in which male and female citizens were engaged in all aspects of society was critical.

The Chairperson of the NCCE, Kathleen Addy, said the policy was to ensure a comprehensive and systematic adherence to NCCE’s commitment to gender equality at all levels of the organisation.

She said the policy also aimed at equipping staff with the necessary skills in the decision-making process to ensure gender-inclusive communication and enhance equitable delivery of gender-inclusive civic education.

Gender parity

Ms Addy explained that the policy was based on the government’s effort to address gender parity designed to promote gender equality which included the 1992 Constitution, the National Gender Policy Framework, the Domestic Violence Act and others.

The Director of the Department of Gender under the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Ephraim Tetteh Kwablah, said the policy would increase the achievements of the country in promoting gender equality.

Presenting the highlights of the policy, the Director, Research, Gender and Equality, of the NCCE Dr Henrietta Yemidi, said the policy would help address the existing gender gaps within the commission as well as ensure the conduct of gender-specific sensitive research and the production of gender statistics to inform policy and interventions, among others.

Writer’s email: [email protected]

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