The platforms are formed under the Northern Ghana Governance Activity (NGGA) which is a  five-year initiative being funded by the United States Agency for International   Development (USAID) in Ghana.

The project is targeted at 28 districts in the Northern, Upper East and Upper West  Regions with CARE International Ghana, Action Aid Ghana, SEND Ghana and the West Africa  Network for Peace-building (WANEP-Ghana) serving as the implementing partners. Madam Ruby Wuni, NGGA Women in Agriculture Coordinator called on members to rise up and  advocate the improvement of agriculture in their districts.  She cited lack of access to inputs, farm land and reliable agriculture information as  some of the challenges that confronted women in agriculture.

Madam Ruby said the negligence of women at decision making levels explained the  importance of the NGGA which would put all women in agriculture in the three  beneficiary regions on a common platform to give them a stronger voice that would   enable them to articulate their views in agriculture.

Mr Malik Gbene, NGGA Monitoring and Evaluation Officer said the project’s primary focus  was on agriculture and would seek to partner with the District Assemblies, the Ministry  of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) and other NGOs in the sector in order to turn around the  dwindling fortunes of agriculture in the three selected regions.

He said the essence of the NGGA was to establish strong and vibrant platforms of women  in agriculture at the district and regional levels that would serve as platforms for  active  articipation in local governance and also to ensure gender responsiveness in   district agricultural policies and programmes.

Mr Gbene said it would also help build the capacity of women networks to empower them  to effectively engage government authorities and other agriculture sector actors for  improved livelihoods and food security. He added that the platforms would also facilitate the incorporation of gender issues  into district Assembly annual and medium term development plans and budgets.