Sunyani, May 23, GNA - A project to improve women's access and control of land has taken off in the Savelugu-Nanton District of the Northern Region. The project is aimed at mobilizing the power of female chiefs and liaising with them to improve dialogue between ordinary citizens and traditional authorities. This is to inform community debate on customary land policy assessment and will be implemented with the view of improving women's participation in land administration and management. The project, being implemented by Grassroots Sisterhood Foundation (GSF), a Tamale-based NGO, is part of The Mwananchi Ghana Project of the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), Mr Adam Awal, the Coordinator of GSF, told the GNA at a training workshop for journalists to broaden their knowledge on the project. In Ghana, GSF and 10 other NGOs drawn from across the country are implementing community and people centred projects toward the attainment of the goal of the Mwananchi Project.

The Mwananchi Project is aimed at finding ways of supporting citizens to express their views and hold governments to account for their actions. In Ghana, the Participatory Development Associates (PDA), a research organization, is the national coordinator of the projects of the various NGOs in implementing the Mwananchi Project. Mr Awal said the project would eventually guarantee women access to land use for both agricultural and property development purposes. He said the chiefs in the project communities had embraced the concept and expressed their readiness to lease-out or sell lands to women. Professor Audrey Gadzekpo, Lecturer at the School of Communication Studies of the University of Ghana who was the resource person, appealed to journalists to be entrepreneurial in gathering news stories. Prof Gadzekpo said about 99 per cent of media content in the country was replete with event-driven stories which often did not provide enough details and illustration on the subjects for readers. She called on journalists to be proactive and produce self-initiated stories, and also to develop sustained interests in the stories. Madam Celia Marshall, Director of PDA, urged the journalists to intensify their efforts to ensure the success of the Mwananchi project.