NANANOM
ALL PROTOCOL OBSERVED
It gives me great pleasure to be invited to be part of this great occasion today, more so coming from the Western Region of Ghana, where we always say the best comes from the West. I bring you greetings from the oil Region.
I believe the aim of this gathering is to empower women (the Queen Mothers) to take on leadership roles in their families, communities and societies in order to realize their own visions of a better future for national development. Leadership skills enable women to participate fully in public life, shaping processes of social change and democratic development. We strive both for a quantitative change in the number of women in formal leadership roles, and a qualitative change in the type of leadership women exercise.
When Women moves, the whole World moves with them
Traditional rulers play a pivotal role in the socio-economic development of our dear nation. Both Chiefs and Queen Mothers are esteemed in their respective communities as the door keepers of tradition and change. In times past they determined and sanctioned the norms and values of society and instituted measures to monitor their use and application. With the introduction of modern laws and policies however, Chiefs and Queen Mothers now play the unique role of ensuring effective harmonisation of the old and new for the betterment of society.
I (Nana Kofi Abuna IV) with the support of other partners have instituted a scholarship to the girl child education within and around Essipun Community to ensure that all children go to school. Nana Abuna V Education Fund was also launched to cater for the needy but brilliant children from Basic school to the University level
Our leadership workshops at Esiipun and Sekondi Takoradi has actually position women in the rightful place in the society, women in our society set up can now think of what to do to help the family and also aspire to political office in the land. In many cases, workshop participants have mobilized collectively to address shared challenges.
Advocacy
We engages in a wide range of advocacy and networking activities in order to raise awareness about women's human rights issues, influence policymakers and public opinion, and increase the visibility and impact of our work for gender equality.
In cooperation with our partners, we implements campaigns to advance women’s rights. We support partner organizations’ advocacy for policy and legislative change at the local level. We hope to move ahead by joining other women in Ghana and other International Women Organizations to raise the level of women and use our forum to campaign for the rights of women and publish developments on our website, as well as hosting events for activists, policymakers, media, and the public.
We are currently developing a forum for Women and Development which will be a resource centre on international women's issues and a co-ordinating organ for women's organizations in Ghana.
Women around the world are challenging cultural, social, political, religious and economical barriers and are actively contributing to a better future for themselves, their families and society in general and we are expected to play a greater role to see to the upliftment of women in our society. Women empowerment is one of the millennium development goals, which all women must come together to fight for and this can only be achieved through networking and advocacy and through the institution of Queen Mothers like the one we are having today.
I therefore challenge the organizer and the leaders of Afigya-Kwabre Queen Mothers Association to continue to build the leadership of strong women’s groups and other key civil society sector organizations and provide advocacy skills training that will give the Queen Mothers a greater voice in developing the political and economic agendas of their communities that will affect our dear nation, Ghana.
The association should also embrace the concept of Queen mothers and support their installation to play supportive roles in the development of their communities because most prominent chiefs owed their successful tenures to the inspiration of their Queen Mothers who gave advice and support to them behind the scenes without notice.
The Queen Mothers should also brace up for the task ahead and be ready to perform all functions as Members of the Association to ensure an effective development.
Queen Mothers are traditionally responsible for the welfare of women and children in their respective communities. They do home visits and help to solve problems that they identify during their visits.
They always try to change the behaviour of children to fit into modern society especially through education of the girl child, having realized that education is the key to quality life.
They are now acting as role models for the women and especially children who are the window of hope in the traditional area and in Ghana as a whole.
Once again, I salute the purposefulness of the organizers as I welcome all to this important gathering of inauguration of a vibrant Queen Mothers’ Association.
Thank you and God bless you all.
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