Gender Equality, Public Health & Welfare in Ghana

Over the last quarter, the GVI Ghana team has strategically moved towards providing a broader safety, welfare and social protection net for the women and children of the Ga South region of Accra. Building on our previous work in first aid training, menstrual hygiene awareness, and mental health support, we have introduced training models, workshops and activities across a broader range of gender-critical subjects. These include domestic violence, gender based violence, building appropriate and effective relationships, confidence, bodily autonomy and consent, and many more, and they have been delivered to women and children across multiple communities and through more than a dozen local partner organisations. GVI Ghana has worked with the Ghanaian Government’s Department of Social Welfare to better understand local legal and procedural structures and actors, seek improvements in case reporting, communication and confidentiality, and to pass all of this knowledge on to community leaders, head teachers, and other key stake holders.

In addition, and as a staff team consisting of more than 90% female staff, we continue to fund and support the individual care, treatment and protection of many local women and girls on a case-by-case basis. From rehousing families who have become evicted due to lack of employment, to facilitating professional mental health and trauma support to children who have been the victims of abuse, to providing the funding to deliver longterm medical care to women who are suffering from a broad range of gendered and often critical health concerns. This work is complex, sensitive and has required that we forge contracts and relationships with a broad range of professional medical and psychological clinics and experts. To this effect, on Friday 18th March 2022 we will be the primary sponsor of the launch of a brand new Women & Children’s Healthcare Clinic in Oshieye, Greater Accra, a clinic we will work in partnership with to provide geographically closer and better specialised healthcare to local women and children.

Over the next quarter, our team will seek to expand our social welfare net even further, and to forge relationships with new community groups, new medical partners and new communities. The most vulnerable women and children in the 6 communities we currently work in number into the thousands, and a considerable investment in time, energy and finances are required to protect them. This work absolutely changes, and sometimes even saves, lives, and we are incredibly grateful to all of our friends at GlobalGiving, our past donors, and any future donors or partners who have made this possible and/or would like to continue to support our mission.

Heartfelt thanks.

From the GVI Ghana Team and the women and children of Ghana.