Accra, Sept. 1, GNA- At least 20 women leaders from community-based women's groups from the Greater Accra, Eastern and Volta regions have received training in several areas including leadership and management skills, book keeping and basic accounting to make them more efficient. The women who went through a three-day capacity building workshop generate group dynamism in their various localities and further expand their marketing and selling techniques, while raising funds to ensure sustainability of their businesses.

Ms Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi, Executive Director, African Women's Development Fund (AWDF), at the close of the workshop said it was the vision of the foundation to ensure that African women lived in a world of social justice, equality and respect for their rights to enable them to make the needed impact on society.

She said 179 women's organisations in 33 African countries had benefited from the AWDF Small Grants Programme (SGP) totalling 1.5 million dollars since its inception in 2001. Out of the figure, 38,000 dollars went to 25 women's groups in Ghana.

Ms Adeleye-Fayemi called on other donor organisations to make women's empowerment a priority, since investment in women could yield maximum benefits for the entire nation.

Mrs Abigail Burgesson, Programme Officer, Small Grant and Special Project of AWDF, said several programmes had been drawn to ensure that women who were not likely to have access to any financial support and could not access the AWDF's main funding programmes were catered for under the SGP.

"We would encourage these women to form smaller groups so that we can identify and support their efforts in diverse ways," she said. She stated that AWDF would hold a similar workshop for women in the Northern, Upper East and West regions.