Accra, June 3, GNA - The Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) on Monday opened a Gender Development and Resource Centre to build capacity on gender mainstreaming. The Centre would also provide an avenue for research activities focusing on sector specific analyses and planning.

Professor Stephen Adei, Rector of the Institute, said the project was a collaborative effort with the Commonwealth Secretariat, Office of the Head of Civil Service, Ministry of Public Sector Reform, Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs (MOWAC) and other stakeholders. He said the Centre would be at the forefront of academic and community initiatives to address gender development issues in an African perspective.

"Our primary aim is to work in unison with all stakeholders to mainstream gender equality into Ghana's public sector, thus ensuring that gender considerations become an integral part of Government's decision making process," Prof Adei added. The Rector said the Centre would help develop a cadre of gender experts, especially in the public service and non-governmental organizations acting as catalyst for change. Prof. Adei also stated that the Centre would commit to appropriate advocacy and work at identifying impediments in terms of attitudes, culture and other societal values hampering gender mainstreaming. He expressed the hope that the Centre would transform GIMPA to become a more gender sensitive environment as it continued to be a centre of excellence in providing training. Dr. Esther Offei-Aboagye, Director of the Institute of Local Government Studies, expressed regret that despite several decades of gender advocacy, progress in the area was still low. She said this called for serious questions on why the desired progress had not been achieved.

Dr Offei-Aboagye called for the adoption of strategies tailored to Ghanaian experiences in dealing with gender issues, instead of borrowing from foreign theories. She urged GIMPA to work at creating its own resources to run the Centre in order to achieve intended objectives. Mrs Francesca Pobee-Hayford, Acting Director of MOWAC, tasked GIMPA to use the Centre to act as a mouthpiece against policies lacking gender mainstreaming.

She said Goals one to seven of the Millennium Development Goals all had some implications on gender and as such leaving gender out would affect their attainment. Mrs Angela Dwamena-Aboagye, Executive Director of Ark Foundation, called for networking between the Centre and other tertiary institutions to make a positive impact.