Project profile — Women's Voice and Leadership - Ghana

• Ghana (100.00%)

• Government And Civil Society, General: Women's rights organisations and movements, and government institutions (15170) (100.00%)

• Gender equality (principal objective)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (not targeted)
• Participatory development and good governance (significant objective)
• Trade development (not targeted)
• Biodiversity (not targeted)
• Climate change mitigation (not targeted)
• Climate Change Adaptation (not targeted)
• Urban issues (not targeted)
• Desertification (not targeted)
• Children's issues (not targeted)
• Youth Issues (not targeted)
• Indigenous Issues (not targeted)
• Disability (not targeted)
• ICT as a tool for development (not targeted)

This project is part of Canada’s Women’s Voice and Leadership Program, which supports local and regional women’s organizations and networks that are working to promote women’s rights, and advance women’s empowerment and gender equality in developing countries. This is done by supporting their activities, building their institutional capacity, and promoting network and alliance-building as women’s rights and feminist organizations are critical agents of change. The Program also responds to the significant, globally recognized gap in funding and support to women’s rights organizations and movements around the world. Women's Voice and Leadership - Ghana is implemented by Plan International Canada and Plan International Ghana. It will support up to 24 small and medium-sized local women's rights organizations to deliver services to advance gender equality, and to better advocate for changes in policies and legislation that negatively impact women and their rights. In addition, up to 65 local women’s rights organizations will benefit from smaller grants designed to support innovative approaches that will create lasting contributions for women and girls and respond to emerging issues, such as challenging harmful and discriminatory practices and social norms in Ghana. The project will also support two national women’s rights networks -- WiLDAF and NETRIGHT -- to enhance their collective voice to advocate for Ghanaian women’s and girls’ rights and ensure sustainability of the women’s movement in Ghana.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) improved management, sustainability, performance and innovation of local women’s rights organizations in Ghana; (2) enhanced delivery of quality services and advocacy by women’s rights organizations to advance gender equality; and (3) enhanced collaboration, collective action and innovation of local women’s rights organizations and platforms to advance gender equality and the rights of women and girls in Ghana.

Results achieved as of March 2023 include: (1) supported 81 local, regional and national women’s rights organizations (WROs) and networks by providing 105 grants to enhance their institutional capacity, deliver gender-transformative and innovative programming, and lead collective action on a common advocacy agenda; (2) 21 out of 21 WROs supported through multi-year grants reported an increased ability to deliver quality programming; (3) supported 23 WROs through multi-year and organizational development grants, resulting in the creation of institutional Capacity Development plans highlighting the organizational areas of interest. This would allow them to develop further actions required that meet their capacity needs; (4) engaged 18 schools to train and sensitize girls to human rights, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and gender-based violence; and (5) held public education campaigns on COVID-19 and provided personal protective equipment consisting of 4,054 reusable face masks, 500 liquid soap, 500 hand sanitizers and 500 customized fabric handbags for 20 WROS, survivors and vulnerable groups in hard-to-reach areas.

• Proactive disclosure