UPPER WEST WOMEN STRUGGLE FOR A LIVING (PAGE 11, AUGUST 19, 2010)

Amina Issifu (not a real name) is a young woman who lives in a rural community, precisely, Gbache, near Wa in the Upper West Region.
Every market day, she walks for over eight miles to the Wa Market to sell firewood, with her baby strapped at her back, in the scorching sun. As a result Amina has an injury at the sole of her feet which needs attention but she sees her situation as very normal.
For this entire tortuous journey to Wa, Amina only earns GH¢1.00 for her effort all in an attempt to feed her children and herself, but the routine continues every market day.
Market days in Wa are the busiest in the municipality during which people from various villages troop to Wa, considered as a city in a rural region.
The people, mostly women and children, carry heavy loads on their heads and walk for hours to sell their goods which are mostly charcoal, baskets, firewood, among others. Those who are lucky board Kia trucks and other rickety cars to also transact their businesses. In addition to this they brew pito, a local alcoholic beverage, and engage in farming during the rainy season with their husbands
The little money earned is used to purchase items like salt, dried fish (Keta school boys), in preparing food to feed their families.
Although a number of interventions were introduced by governments and non-governmental organisations to empower these women, their situations have not changed.
One of the reasons attributed to the failure of these interventions is the lack of involvement of the people during the implementations of such programmes and projects. A story was told of some women farmers in a rural community whose farm produce started dwindling yearly as a result of outmoded farming practices and other factors.
However, they had the strong belief that the problem was due to the work of the gods who were punishing them for some wrong-doings. Instead of being educated on the benefits of using fertilisers, the agricultural extension officer never took the traditional beliefs of the women into consideration and went ahead to start applying the fertiliser on the farm. The end result was that the women resisted and that ended the whole process.
Another example was the establishment of a shea processing factory in another community in the Upper West Region, by a non-governmental organisation, to assist the women. They were not in favour of the project, and when it was completed, they started complaints that the amount of shea oil being extracted from the factory was not much as expected.
The people then went back to their old ways of using manual method to undertake this tedious work which at the end of the day affected their health.
There are a lot of ways to ensure that these programmes succeed and these include allowing the people to identify their own problems, find their own solutions and involve them in the implementation of programmes and projects.
The socio-cultural background of the people must be taken into serious consideration while various modes of communication should be adopted to send the right message to the people. The use of local radio stations, role models from beneficiary communities of such projects and other traditional mediums of communications, must be encouraged, since they go a long way to sensitise people effectively. These should include drama, festivals, and community durbars, among others.
For example, the use of community members who have braved the storm and acquired education could be used to change the psyche of the people.