WiLDAF Aid Effectiveness Project

Project: Aid effectiveness and gender equality in Ghana

Location: Ghana: Western, Volta & Central Regions

Duration: 2010-2012

Partner: WiLDAF

participants of aid effectiveness workshop

The situation

Whilst levels of international aid to Ghana have been increasing in recent years, there have been concerns about:

• how effectively this aid is being used and
• what difference this aid is making to people’s lives.

Gender equality and women’s empowerment are acknowledged as key elements to tackling poverty. Numerous agreements have been signed by international donors which highlight how important addressing women’s empowerment is.

However, these commitments often do not translate to action. In Ghana, there are questions about:

• How much aid is reaching the districts?
• How much of the aid is being spent on gender equality and women’s empowerment?
• How much of a say do women get in deciding how aid should be spent in their communities?

Read more about the aid effectiveness agenda and what it means for gender equality and women’s rights here.

What Womankind is doing

Womankind and our partner WILDAF are:

• Carrying out research to examine:
  • how much funding is received by 3 district government offices,
  • how much women are involved in the budget setting process, and
  • how much of the aid money is used for women’s empowerment activities.
• Providing training for 22 people across three districts to raise awareness about aid effectiveness and gender equality. Working with them to develop action plans to persuade decision makers at district level to ensure gender equality is a part of their development plans.
• Supporting civil society in three districts to lobby their district government for women’s empowerment.
• Using the research and experience from this project to tell donors around the world more about how aid should be used for addressing gender equality and poverty.

What we have achieved so far

The training has been delivered successfully and the participants have developed concrete action plans.