Oxfam Empowers Communities in Upper East Region

The Oxford Committee for Famine Relief (OXFAM), an international Non-Governmental Organization in collaboration with a Ghanaian based NGO, Participatory Action for Rural Development Alternatives (PARDA), has been working to increase awareness of citizen’s rights regarding maternal and child healthcare in six communities in the Upper East Region.

The program known as the “Top Project” was implemented in Tanga, Sapeliga in the Bawku West District, Zuarungu, Sumbrungu in Bolga Municipal and Naaga and Gia in the Kassena Nankana East District. The intervention which began in 2011 also worked with the Ghana Health Service, Assembly members, Chiefs and Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs).

At an end of project review meeting held in Bolgatanga the Project Officer for PARDA Mr. Kampim Aaron, said the project was successful at empowering communities through education and training for various groups to enable them demand their health rights and services particularly in areas of maternal and child health. The program also trained TBAs to provide education and community based support services for pregnant women and nursing mothers.

Mr. Kampim stated that TBAs and Community Health Committees (CHCs) were supported with two hundred phones with call units to aid their communication for the purpose of emergency referral. He added that the project also provided 1,347 households with first aid training and nutritional education by CHCs through door-to-door campaign. The intervention according to him redefined the role of TBAs to focus on household education and referral support for pregnant women and mothers. He said this was achieved without conflict despite taking them from the job from which some of them derived a lot of benefits both material and non material. Mr. Kampim added that through the intervention some communities have enacted by-laws making it an offense for women to deliver at homes as a way of encouraging facility delivery.

Representative of GHS, Mr. Emmanuel Ayire thanked OXFAM and PARDA for the initiative and said the efforts have contributed to increase community participation and contributed to the region`s best performance in ante natal attendance, skilled delivery among other indicators.

An evaluator of the project, Mr. Alhassan Andani, who is a lecturer at the University for Development Studies said, “TBAs still played important roles in communities but most of them are aged and are not able to work in their new role hence the need for training new generation of TBAs in communities”.

OXFAM Country Director, Mr. Sebastian Tiah said OXFAM will continue to relate with the communities in many ways as part of efforts in monitoring the impact of the intervention. He tasked the beneficiary communities to take ownership of the project and work to sustain the gains in maternal and child health. He also thanked all the partners and the community leaders for their support and commitment to the project.