A day's capacity building forum for women contesting the December 28th District Assembly and Unit Committee elections, in three Ashanti districts, had been held at Obuasi.
Organized by Kaleo Area Women Development Association, an NGO committed to the development and protection of women and children rights,
the workshop brought together 44 participants.
The acting Director of the Department of Women in charge of Ashanti, Mrs Augustina Gyamfi, in a speech read for her, urged more women to fight for elective positions to influence policy decisions in their favour.
She said, to achieve this, the Ministry was collaborating with civil society organizations, development partners and other institutions to run capacity building programmes to enhance their participation in local
governance.
The Ministry would continue to work hard and sustain its efforts at increasing the numbers of women in the assemblies, she added.
Mrs Christiana Kagya, a member of the Obuasi branch of the Coalition of Women in Governance (CoWIG), encouraged the aspirants to work harder in their electoral areas to win the mandate of the people.
Women, she noted, were already playing various roles towards the development of the nation and their families and could therefore contribute meaningfully to make the assembly concept more functional.
Ms Magdalene Obeng Toku, the Director of Programmes for KAWDA, said there was the need to improve women's representation in the Obuasi, Bekwai and Adansi North district assemblies.
Madam Evelyn Sabogu, the Project officer, said it was the vision of the NGO to help to combat discrimination of any sort against vulnerable women and children in the society.