The Centre for the Promotion of Democratic Governance (CENPRODEG), a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) based in Wa, has advocated positive attitudinal change towards women to enable them achieve their dreams.

Attitude that relegates the woman’s place to the kitchen and discriminates against the girl child by way of education are among the lot that the local NGO believes must be changed for the empowerment of women to take their rightful position in society.

Madam Edith N. Dery, the Executive Director of CENPRODEG, made the call during a community durbar to mark the International Women’s Day Celebration at Danko in the Wa Municipality.

She said as they celebrated the day in recognition of how far women had come, it was her wish to see an end to child marriage and teenage pregnancies affecting the future of many young girls in the Region.

“I also want to see that today’s woman will become a bold and influential character and is able to press for progress in her community”, she said.

Madam Edith said it was based on that CENPRODEG was implementing a project known as ‘Girls Advocacy Alliance’ which is being sponsored by the Coalition of NGOs on the Rights of the Child.

The five-year project is expected to contribute to ending child marriage and teenage pregnancies by 2020 and encourage Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) among young girls to enable them gain employable skills to better themselves and their families.

Miss Monalisa Obo-Mends, National Programmes Officer, Ghana National Coalition on the Rights of the Child (GNCRC) noted that women have so much power and influence; unfortunately many of them have been oppressed and pushed into positions that made it impossible for them to access that power.

Despite the oppression, she said, other women proven that if given the opportunity, they could make it to the top.

Several mothers have dedicated themselves to raising their children and protecting them from the many harmful social-cultural norms that affect the wellbeing of their children, Miss Obo-Mends said: “These mothers, for me are heroes.”

The Programmes Officer encouraged women living in rural communities to take advantage of the community sensitisation and awareness creation programmes organised by CSOs in their communities to empower themselves.

“These sensitisation programmes teach us the harm that can be caused in indulging in some social norms we felt were acceptable and a part of our culture; how to manage our homes properly; how to manage our finances; how to save money for ourselves; and how to sustain ourselves as women,” she said.

CENPRODEG celebrated the International Women’s Day under the local theme: “Empowering Girls and Young Women to become Role Models in Society”.