Abease: The Women with Disability Development and Advocacy Organisation (WODAO), a not-for-profit entity, has conducted a sensitisation workshop in Ho to enhance the representation and participation of women with disabilities in Ghana's civil society. This initiative is part of the Disability Development and Accessibility Training for Women's Rights Organisations (DDATWROs) project, which addresses capacity gaps in understanding disability inclusion, accessibility, and the intersection of gender and disability among grassroots women's rights organisations.
According to Ghana News Agency, this training aimed to bolster advocacy efforts and fortify disability rights outcomes at the grassroots level. It is organised under the Strengthening Civil Society Representation of Women with Disabilities Project, an EU-funded initiative in partnership with Sightsavers. The overarching goal is to enhance the capacity of civil society organisations to engage meaningfully in development and decision-making processes, ensuring the inclusion of women with disabilities.
Madam Veronica Denyo Kofiedu, the Executive Director of WODAO, highlighted the enduring barriers faced by women with disabilities, driven by gender inequality, disability-based exclusion, poverty, and limited decision-making participation. She noted that despite national and international commitments, these women remain underrepresented in advocacy spaces, particularly at community and district levels.
The training promotes a shift from charity models towards rights-based, accountable programming that focuses on inclusive governance, political participation, and the prevention of gender-based violence against women with disabilities. The Executive Director emphasized the importance of accessible services and information, as well as collaboration between women's rights organisations and organisations of persons with disabilities (OPDs).
The project employs a rights-based, inclusive, and systems-strengthening approach, aiming to build civil society organisations' capacity for effective advocacy, development, and accountability processes. Although these organisations are pivotal in advancing gender equality, many lack the practical tools, organisational systems, and inclusive practices needed to include women with disabilities in their programmes and governance.
The grassroots training is part of the project's cascading capacity-building model, transferring learning from national and regional levels to community-based actors to ensure sustainability and local ownership. By integrating disability rights into advocacy and organisational practices, WODAO seeks to foster stronger, more inclusive women's movements across the Volta Region and beyond.
Zonal workshops in Ho, Hohoe, and Jasikan will reach 120 participants, equipping them with skills to identify accessibility barriers and mainstream disability inclusion. Madam Kofiedu explained the training's focus on models of disability, inclusive language, accessibility principles, and practical steps for mainstreaming disability inclusion in advocacy work.
Mr George Edem Kofiedu, the Project Officer of WODAO, identified structural challenges, enforcement gaps, weak data systems, slow infrastructure compliance, limited budgets, and low awareness among duty-bearers as significant obstacles. He recommended stronger enforcement, investment in disaggregated data, and capacity building for public servants and policymakers.
The training is expected to directly contribute to building an inclusive, representative, and effective civil society that advances the rights and participation of women with disabilities in Ghana, forming part of WODAO's cascading model for sustainable knowledge transfer to community actors.