Workshop to build capacity ends at Elmina
A five-day international training workshop on gender and agri-value chains on how to integrate men and women for capacity building and decisions that would translate into income growth for their benefit has opened at Elmina.
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Thirty-four participants drawn from Burkina Faso, Ghana, Liberia, Mali, Niger and Nigeria are attending the workshop organised by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).
AGRA is a partnership working across Africa to help millions of small-scale farmers and their families, lift themselves out of poverty and hunger.
Its strategic objectives include improving the effectiveness of its programmes in enhancing productivity, food security and incomes through gender integration and gender equitable implementation.
It builds staff and guarantees gender competencies to integrate, monitor and assess gender effectiveness in country programmes and projects.
Besides, it adapts organisational policies, procedures and system’s to support gender integration, monitoring and assessment in programmes, and promote a gender equitable working environment, and build and share knowledge on gender and agriculture, in order to advance knowledge, practice and advocacy in gender and agriculture.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Dr Margaret Kroma, programme officer, gender and agriculture, AGRA, said AGRA, the dream and brain-child of the former UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, operated in 16 countries across Africa to transform agriculture on the continent and contribute to gross domestic product (GDP).
Dr Kroma said the workshop was also aimed at bringing social and cultural changes to the target groups through education.
She stressed the need for partnership between AGRA and policy makers to ensure the implementation of projects.
The Communication Adviser at the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Mrs Mercy C. Adjabeng, said gender issues are global issues because of their cross-cutting effects.
She said government would support AGRA since it focused on gender, which is critical for growth and development.
Mr Sodah, for his part, was grateful to the members of the assembly for their full support since he took office four year ago.
Story: Joe Okyere / Daily Graphic / Ghana
