The role of women in many Ghanaian societies has often been limited. This unfortunate trend is prevalent to the extent that it’s viewed as a norm, especially in rural communities. Often, women are exempted from significant aspects of communal life, particularly in leadership and decision-making capacities.

At CorpsAfrica, our core emphasis is on community-led initiatives, and we believe every project should be something agreed upon by all community members. To achieve this objective, we carry out focus group discussions. In these discussions, we encourage everyone, men and women, to freely express their opinions to ensure everyone’s voice gets heard.

However, we find that women often shy away from voicing their concerns. This lack of engagement isn’t due to a lack of ideas but rather an ingrained belief that their opinions need to align with the men’s ideas. This is due to a history of being undervalued to the point that they unintentionally relinquish their power as they fail to recognize they have any.

Similarly, when it comes to community levies for projects, women are often overlooked. Since a community member’s ownership of a project is in line with their contributions, women essentially miss out on claiming ownership due to non-involvement in the funding process.

This has been the case in my community as well until a remarkable incident reinforced the importance of all-inclusive, community-led projects.

In my community’s project committee, I noticed the female members seldom voiced their opinions during meetings, causing concern about their capability to represent their gender. However, once the project implementation commenced, two women from the committee spearheaded an initiative to collect contributions from other women in the community. 

They planned to use these funds to prepare meals for the engineers working on the community project site, embodying the spirit of Ghanaian hospitality to motivate them further. During the period of Ramadan, however, it was impossible to cook meals for the fasting engineers. Undeterred, the women used the funds to buy two large guinea fowls and eggs as a token of appreciation for the engineers.

This act not only confirmed the growing confidence and involvement of women in community affairs but also reinforced that the community prioritizes this project. More importantly, it showcased the essence of CorpsAfrica’s initiatives — to ensure community ownership to enhance sustainability.

This is a small but empowering step for the women in our communities and an inspirational example for other communities across Ghana. We remain committed to fostering such community-led environments that value the opinions and contributions of every member, men and women alike.