SIAKON MEDIA

Sunday, October 18, 2009 08:36:09 PM

Are donors fatigued? - The Ark wishes to know

The Ark Foundation, Ghana is an advocacy-based human rights non-governmental organization. It began full operations in February 1999 with a vision of "A society in which men and women are truly equal in all spheres and endeavours of life..." Its primary purpose is to seek the protection and promotion of the human rights of women and children.

In April 2010, the Ark (as its workers affectionately call it) will lose its biggest donor, the CORDAID of Netherlands. The donor's pull out will mean a 90 percent drop in funding.

When I met a five-member team of the Ark for an interview leading to this publication, they hazarded a guess as to the reason for the withdrawal . Yvette Osei Bediako, Financing and Reporting Officer, was certain that there is donor fatigue. She explained: "Everybody is writing to the same donor."

Joseph Andoh, Program Coordinator, Finance and Administration, was of the opinion that "Donors look out for economic stability and democratic governance. So they move to more vulnerable places."

There was also the opinion that a lot of donors now give support to coalitions and networks of organisations which pursue similar interest rather than individual organisations. Marian Atta-Boahene, Director of Programmes, who shares this opinion believes there should be more collaboration.

Founding Philosophy

The Ark is founded on Biblical principles of love, mercy and justice. It recognizes the ideals enshrined in the universal declaration of Human Rights and other major United Nations Treaties and Conventions speaking to equality, dignity and social justice for all men and women.

Its mission statement reads: Providing a 'refuge' and 'strength' to many through advocacy, training and direct service delivery. The Ark strives to create empowering spaces for individuals to rise above gender inequality, violence and oppression.

It was established in response to the pressing need to increase the awareness of the Ghanaian public, decision makers and Government, primarily on the human rights of women and children and other disadvantaged groups, and to actively promote these rights through advocacy, training, public education and service delivery.

As a women's human rights organization, the Ark's deliberate policy has always been to work from a women-centered perspective with a strong focus on women's leadership and empowerment through affirmative action in both internal processes and external programming.

The organization therefore is primarily women led with a majority of employees being women. The Ark also works with men, albeit in lesser proportion in relation to women, and actively promotes engagement with men as partners in the quest for gender equality and women's advancement.

There are three broad objectives and goals guiding the Ark's work. The first is ensuring respect for, and protection of the human rights of persons, particularly women, and children, through advocacy, public education and training.

Following that is bringing about the dismantling of systems, practices and attitudes that dehumanize persons, particularly women, and children, through policy advocacy and engagement with active civil society groups that have similar goals.

The last objective is working to support women, and children who are survivors of gender-based violence and abuse within the domestic or public sphere through the provision of integrated services to such survivors.

Uniqueness

The Ark is set apart from its peers in many respects. Atta-Boahene says "The selling point is that the Ark Foundation runs shelters around the country." In addition, it has a team with a succession plan. "We are very participatory" and every member of staff gets a sense of ownership of the Ark's programmes.
"Staff are not dictated to.

"The executive director is not just a mentor but also a friend," says Blessing Agboada, Advocacy Officer. Petra Adu-Parkoh, Program Officer, WLHRI, adds that "We have an ED who is a leader."

The Ark has a rich blend of human resource. Its workforce comprise of core staff, interns and volunteers. They include lawyers, clinical psychologists, social workers, a retired commissioner of police, medical officers, students and other administrative personnel who are scattered at the four work sites of The Ark.

For Osei Bediako, the Ark's strength lies in a unique service provision and evidence based advocacy. "We have strength in training women for leadership." Her colleague Adu-Parkoh says "One of our strengths is in networking." The Ark joins forces with others for better results rather than addressing issues on its own for fame. "We are very down to earth."

The Ark also has grassroots, national and international recognition and appeal.

But then, how much do you my dear reader know about the Ark? You may not know the Ark because as Atta-Boahene puts it "We don't blow our own horn...you've done so much yet people don't know about it. This actually becomes a weakness."
Besides, like many other institutions, the funding base is a major weakness.

This means "We are not able to do much more than we would want to do," Adu-Parkoh points out. For Andoh, the Ark is very attractive but has lost a lot of its experienced hands as a result of people wanting to further their education. This has become a weakness.

The work of the Ark is threatened by the apparent fatigue on the part of donors. But government's commitment to women's issues remains questionable and therefore constitutes a threat. Atta-Boahene also mentions the lack of commitment from corporate institutions to women's rights issues as a key threat.
In the midst of the weaknesses and threats, there abound many opportunities.

The first is that the Ark has couched a niche for itself; it is peerless in the area of ender violence. Its physical structure and presence creates a lot of opportunities. It has the head office at Queen Street - Haatso, the Legal and Crises Centre at New Town / Malam Atta, the Shelter, and the Centre for Women's Leadership and Empowerment both in the Eastern Region.

Besides, it commands a great deal of credibility. The declaration of intent by the Gender Unit of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration to partner the Ark attests to this fact.

Today's political environment also creates opportunities for engagement; with the passage of time, government officials have become more accommodating that before.

Networking and Collaboration

The Ark, at the national level, collaborates with governmental agencies including the Department of Social Welfare, the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU), GNCC, NCWD.

It also works with other organizations like Women Initiative for Self-Empowerment (WISE), FIDA-Ghana, International Needs, Central Aid, Gender Studies and Human Rights Documentation Centre, ABANTU for Development, Amnesty International, LAWA Ghana, AWLA and WiLDAF-Ghana.

At the international level, the Ark is a member of organizations such as Child Rights Information Network of Save the Children's Fund (UK), InterMundia (UK), Pan African Collaboration on Violence against Women, International Network for Girls, NGO Coalition for the International Criminal Court and GAINS/INSTRAW of the UN.

The Ark again is also a member of networks and coalitions like Sister's Keepers, Network for Women's Rights (NETRIGHT), Gender Violence Survivors' Support Network (GVSSN), Ghana NGO Coalition on the Rights of the Child, and Domestic Violence Coalition.

Programmes/Projects

The Ark runs two broad programs namely the Women's Law and Human Rights Institute (WLHRI) Program and the Support to Survivors of Gender Violence and Child Abuse Program. The WLHRI, "the first of its kind in Ghana", engages in capacity building of young women and advocates through Training and Advocacy on Women's Human Rights, Women's Leadership Development, and Social Development.

Activities under this program are carefully crafted with the aim of drawing attention to the human rights and human development issues of women, and children in Ghana to engender the necessary policy, legislative or societal action for change.

The Ark has through this Program built the capacities of over 500 young women drawn from tertiary institutions, NGO's, Civil Society groups, human rights and gender advocates.

On the other hand, the Support to Survivors of Gender Violence and Child Abuse Program, which is executed through the Crises Response Centre (CRC) Project, responds to violence against women, and children through the provision of integrated services support to survivors of such violence.

These include counseling, legal aid and representation, temporary shelter and rehabilitation, capital/subsistence support, 24-hour hotline counseling, medical and other referrals to appropriate institutions.

It is under this Project that The Ark in 2000, set up the first shelter/crisis center for victims of intra-family/gender based violence in Ghana.

In addition, the Ark runs a Legal Center, which provides free legal services, and three Counseling Centers, which provide sex-based and gender-based violence support services in different locations in the Greater Accra and Eastern regions.

In addition to the two programmes, the Ark runs the following special projects: Campaign 101, which involves Institutional Capacity-Building and In-House Seminars on responding to violence against women and children; Community Outreach; Gender, Gender Violence and HIV/AIDS Project; Churches' Project on Domestic Violence; Manuals and Toolkit Development for Service Providers; Rights, Empowerment, Access and Participation Project; and the Ambassador Girls' Scholarship and Mentoring Project.

Funding

CORDAID has been a consistent and the biggest donor. At various points in its history, the Ark has received funding from the African Women's Development Fund, United Nations Fund for Population Activities, United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), Action Aid Ghana, Womankind, World Education Incorporated as well embassies and high commissions including that of the United States, United Kingdom, French and the Netherlands.

Over the last three years, it has enjoyed funding from the Ghana Research and Advocacy Programme (G-RAP). Current funding is core funding worth 200,000 dollars. It has an18-month duration which will run up to the end of 2009.

The Ark, according to the five-member team who spoke with me, has pushed these resources into overhead expenditure, capacity building and recruitment of one senior management staff. Atta-Boahene summed up: "It has helped in team building."
Impact
Atta-Boahene says "Impact no dee bebree," meaning, the impact is incalculable. According to Adu-Parkoh, the WLHRI has added to the stock of women in rights advocacy. And, "alumni are more feminine-friendly."
For instance, the most recent program review of the WLHRI shows that the beneficiaries are creating waves in their communities, tertiary institutions and organizations, affecting decision making for gender sensitivity, human rights protection and contributing to advocacy on women's rights in the country. Most of these women now occupy various leadership positions in both state and non state institutions.

Besides, three alumni successfully went through a campaign process and got elected as District Assembly members in their various Districts during the District Assembly Elections in 2007.
For the past nine years, the Ark's Shelter has been a safe haven for survivors and their children by providing confidential lodging facilities and a supportive living environment that allows for healing and recovery.

In 2007 alone, the CRC Project provided assistance to 634 persons (113 males and 521 females), the Legal Centre provided services to 133 clients (9 male and 124 females), and the Shelter handled 37 clients (8 males and 29 females), among others.

Over the period of operation, about one thousand three hundred (1300) women have benefited from these services. The Project has also offered capital support and resettlement packages to about sixty (60) women to enable them engage in different economic activities as a means to economic empowerment.

The Ark has also had impact on the work of the DOVVSU offices in Madina and Kasoa, churches, traditional authorities, community-base organizations, students, researchers, and many more. Andoh says, "We've been like a big sister to smaller organizations."

Source: Public Agenda

Global economic crisis aggravates Feminization of poverty

By Ama Achiaa Amankwah

The global economic crisis, which continues to affect economies, may be worse in Africa with women bearing the brunt. The World Bank has stressed that women in 33 countries, almost half of them in sub Saharan Africa, are highly vulnerable to the effects of the economic crisis and predicts increase in infant and child mortality; less girl child schooling; and reduced earnings for women.

This, according to the Bank, is intensifying the already growing feminization of poverty. Also under these conditions, achieving the widely acclaimed MDGS is becoming even more difficult with MDG goal 3 on gender equality making the least progress.

Making these remarks at an Africa-wide dialogue on Gender in Accra, which was organized by the Third World Network Africa (TWN Africa), Ms Sheila Bunwaree, a gender rights advocate and participant at the programme, admitted that judging by national responses, which include bailouts and equity loans being negotiated between governments and the private industry, women stand to be profoundly disadvantaged by the global recession.

In addition were a number of channels/transmitters through which the global recession will affect African economies, some of which were falling foreign direct investments, falling remittances, falling aid flows and falling commodity prices.

Figures emanating from the World Bank seem to indicate that the crisis will reduce remittance inflows to sub Saharan Africa by between $1 billion and $2 billion dollars in 2009 relative to 2008".

According to Ms Bunwaree, women's weaker control over property and resources, their overrepresentation in piece rate and or vulnerable employment, lower earnings and lower levels of social protection make them and their children more vulnerable.

Consequently, women and children were in a weaker social and economic position than men in terms of their ability to cope with the recession. Also, women may have to work longer hours and take on extra forms of employment and still maintain primary household core responsibilities.

The second set of impacts, she noted, can be related to human development. In crises when resources go short, it is women and girls who become the first victims.

Girls are often made to drop out of school. Women and girls come second when it comes to health resources with disparity in food consumption and nutrition when resources are scarce."

Since development implies freedom from diseases and hunger among others, she added, extending the idea of human development to encompass women's empowerment and gender justice placed social transformation at the centre of the agenda for human development and progress of women.

"Women's situation cannot be improved unless there is a change in relations between women and men as well as in ideologies and institutions that preserve and reproduce gender inequality." She stressed, "This does not mean reversing positions, so that men become insubordinate and women dominant.

Rather it means negotiating new kinds of relationships that are based not on power over others but on mutual development of creative human energy...it also means negotiating new kinds of institutions, incorporating new norms and rules that support egalitarian and just relations between men and women."

She said there is therefore an urgent need to recognize that women stand at the crossroads between production and reproduction, between economic activity and the care economy- the care of human beings and therefore between economic growth and human development.

Ms Bunwaree concluded by stating that given the persistent depression of underdevelopment and poverty that Africa continues to experience, it is important that a multi pronged approach which is global, regional and local model be urgently put in place.

"There should be commitment to ensure the sustained mobilization, generation and channeling of resources to Africa so that growth and demand in Africa can be boosted. Rich countries should intensify and multiply their efforts to meet their commitments on aid and debt reduction. The latter should be linked to specific gender oriented schemes, impact of which should be assessed."

Adding his voice, the Executive Director of the TWN Africa, Dr. Yao Graham, dismissed talks of the end of the crisis saying that it is not so in most countries in the south. He said unlike other regions, Africa needs to rethink on the concept of gender and focus on making demands, since there is a question mark on the effectiveness of most of our regional institutions.

Thirty participants from across Africa attended the Africa-wide dialogue on Gender to discuss and develop shared perspectives on issues of gender and the social and economic needs and interests of women in Africa in the context of the global crises and its effects in Africa.

Source: Public Agenda