Northern Sector Action on Awareness Centre (NORSAAC)
Northern Ghana is the third poorest region in the
country and recent research shows that only 60% of young people under 15
years of age living in the north qualified to enter secondary school.
Regional education disparities have health impacts: 23% of young women
age 15-19 with no education in Ghana’s Central and Northern regions have
begun childbearing compared with 7% in the Western and Greater Accra
regions. There is an unemployment rate of 42-46% among out of school
youth in these areas. While 70% of the population relies on bicycles for
transport; bike repair services are only available in cities.
Organization: The Northern Sector Action on Awareness Center (NORSAAC) was founded in 2002 as a gender focused community-based advocacy organisation mobilizing youth to discuss and find ways of addressing sexual and reproductive health issues in schools. Since then, NORSAAC has taken a greater interest in sustainable livelihoods for youth and women, while integrating reproductive health issues and women’s rights and participation.
Mission
To work with communities and community structures to build the capacity of the marginalized in order to empower them to access their needs on a sustainable basis.
Vision
To have a society in which every human being enjoys equal rights including their sexual rights.
Women's Rights and Governance
The Magazia Project
The Magazia Project is aimed at strengthening the capacities of community women leaders popularly called Magazias. This is necessary for them to effectively participate in decision making processes at the community level and also lead campaigns against violence on young girls and women. This project is implemented in 36 communities in urban and peri-urban communities in the Tamale Metropolis of the Northern region.
The Magazia Project has mobilized 36 magazias who have now formed an association of magazias. The 36 magazias have each formed a community level association of magazias made up of all the organized groups of magazias in the 36 communities. An estimated 210 magazias including the primary target group of 36 are benefiting from the project.
The project is being funded by Action Aid Ghana.
Young Female Parliament Project
The Young Female Parliament (YFP) developed and adopted by Action Aid Ghana (AAG) and NORSAAC to address a broader challenge of low participation of women and girls in leadership and decision making. It serves as a platform for young girls in the Northern Region to deliberate on various developmental and governance issues particularly those affecting the growth, education and development of young girls and women in general.
This is to enable them appreciate the issues, conduct advocacy, proffer solutions and get their voices and opinions across to officialdom. The YFP also seeks to serve as a launch pad for young girls with qualities, skills and ambitions to assume leadership positions to build their confidence and knowledge.
The Parliament has 40 member parliamentarians constituted by representatives of young female from Senior High Schools in AAG Development Areas (DA), 15 districts (out of the 20 Districts in the Northern Region) and of all tertiary institutions in the Northern Region.
The parliament also has a well defined leadership structure, standing orders and constitution defining the structure of parliament, roles and responsibilities of key members, leadership and requirements for membership and affiliation as well as an outlined schedule for sittings/proceedings. The leadership is made up of the a Speaker, 2 Deputy Speakers, Majority Leader and Chief Whip, Minority Leader and Chief Whip, Parliamentary Administrator and 3 Clerks of Parliament.
NORWACGG
Northern Region Assembly Women Caucus on Good Governance (NORWACGG)
The Northern Region Assembly Women's Caucus on Good Governance (NORWACGG) is a caucus of assembly women in the Region. The process was facilitated by NORSAAC after the 2006 district assembly election to ensure that both appointed and elected assemble women in the implementing districts were brought together to form a body which will facilitate and spearhead the activities of women in the various districts, ensure accountability of community activities and identify priority areas and also to develop common plans among others.
It has a membership of 80 out of which 21 are elected from the 10 districts of north western part of Northern region since 2006 where the project has been implemented for the past years. Interestingly it also has a seven 7 member executive committee who stir the affairs of the caucus.
The caucus was later decentralized in the various implementing districts with a three member executives who serves as an advocacy group at that level to ensure that challenges of women in their respective districts and communities are effectively addressed so that issues that needs Regional level intervention will be channeled to the Regional caucus for necessary redress.
Women's Right Advocates Project
The Women's Rights Advocates Project which is funded by Africa Women's Development Fund is implemented in six communities in Tamale Metropolis and Tolon/Kumbungu District.
The project is aimed at promoting the fundamental human rights of women in the implementing communities using community members as advocates. Five Women's right advocates 3 female and 2 men are trained in each of the communities on the fundamental human rights of women, reporting violence cases and managing rights abuses in communities.
In all, the organization trained 30 women rights advocates from 2 districts in 6 communities to serve as women advocates in their communities. Most women in the communities are now aware and are demanding their rights. Traditional and religious leaders are key allies of the project in the communities
Women Participation in Leadership and Decision Making Processes
The organization works to ensure that women representation in decision making both locally and regionally is improved tremendously. The project was launched in 2006 and contributed greatly during the 2006 district level elections in increasing the number of women in the 10 operational districts of the organisation.
In other to have quality representation of women, several strategies were developed to ensure that women had a total build up of knowledge and skills to represent people in leadership places qualitatively. The project was put in to three phases;
Organization: The Northern Sector Action on Awareness Center (NORSAAC) was founded in 2002 as a gender focused community-based advocacy organisation mobilizing youth to discuss and find ways of addressing sexual and reproductive health issues in schools. Since then, NORSAAC has taken a greater interest in sustainable livelihoods for youth and women, while integrating reproductive health issues and women’s rights and participation.
Mission
To work with communities and community structures to build the capacity of the marginalized in order to empower them to access their needs on a sustainable basis.
Vision
To have a society in which every human being enjoys equal rights including their sexual rights.
Women's Rights and Governance
The Magazia Project is aimed at strengthening the capacities of community women leaders popularly called Magazias. This is necessary for them to effectively participate in decision making processes at the community level and also lead campaigns against violence on young girls and women. This project is implemented in 36 communities in urban and peri-urban communities in the Tamale Metropolis of the Northern region.
The Magazia Project has mobilized 36 magazias who have now formed an association of magazias. The 36 magazias have each formed a community level association of magazias made up of all the organized groups of magazias in the 36 communities. An estimated 210 magazias including the primary target group of 36 are benefiting from the project.
The project is being funded by Action Aid Ghana.
Young Female Parliament Project
The Young Female Parliament (YFP) developed and adopted by Action Aid Ghana (AAG) and NORSAAC to address a broader challenge of low participation of women and girls in leadership and decision making. It serves as a platform for young girls in the Northern Region to deliberate on various developmental and governance issues particularly those affecting the growth, education and development of young girls and women in general.
This is to enable them appreciate the issues, conduct advocacy, proffer solutions and get their voices and opinions across to officialdom. The YFP also seeks to serve as a launch pad for young girls with qualities, skills and ambitions to assume leadership positions to build their confidence and knowledge.
The Parliament has 40 member parliamentarians constituted by representatives of young female from Senior High Schools in AAG Development Areas (DA), 15 districts (out of the 20 Districts in the Northern Region) and of all tertiary institutions in the Northern Region.
The parliament also has a well defined leadership structure, standing orders and constitution defining the structure of parliament, roles and responsibilities of key members, leadership and requirements for membership and affiliation as well as an outlined schedule for sittings/proceedings. The leadership is made up of the a Speaker, 2 Deputy Speakers, Majority Leader and Chief Whip, Minority Leader and Chief Whip, Parliamentary Administrator and 3 Clerks of Parliament.
NORWACGG
Northern Region Assembly Women Caucus on Good Governance (NORWACGG)
The Northern Region Assembly Women's Caucus on Good Governance (NORWACGG) is a caucus of assembly women in the Region. The process was facilitated by NORSAAC after the 2006 district assembly election to ensure that both appointed and elected assemble women in the implementing districts were brought together to form a body which will facilitate and spearhead the activities of women in the various districts, ensure accountability of community activities and identify priority areas and also to develop common plans among others.
It has a membership of 80 out of which 21 are elected from the 10 districts of north western part of Northern region since 2006 where the project has been implemented for the past years. Interestingly it also has a seven 7 member executive committee who stir the affairs of the caucus.
The caucus was later decentralized in the various implementing districts with a three member executives who serves as an advocacy group at that level to ensure that challenges of women in their respective districts and communities are effectively addressed so that issues that needs Regional level intervention will be channeled to the Regional caucus for necessary redress.
Women's Right Advocates Project
The Women's Rights Advocates Project which is funded by Africa Women's Development Fund is implemented in six communities in Tamale Metropolis and Tolon/Kumbungu District.
The project is aimed at promoting the fundamental human rights of women in the implementing communities using community members as advocates. Five Women's right advocates 3 female and 2 men are trained in each of the communities on the fundamental human rights of women, reporting violence cases and managing rights abuses in communities.
In all, the organization trained 30 women rights advocates from 2 districts in 6 communities to serve as women advocates in their communities. Most women in the communities are now aware and are demanding their rights. Traditional and religious leaders are key allies of the project in the communities
Women Participation in Leadership and Decision Making Processes
The organization works to ensure that women representation in decision making both locally and regionally is improved tremendously. The project was launched in 2006 and contributed greatly during the 2006 district level elections in increasing the number of women in the 10 operational districts of the organisation.
In other to have quality representation of women, several strategies were developed to ensure that women had a total build up of knowledge and skills to represent people in leadership places qualitatively. The project was put in to three phases;
- Identify and target potential and interested women and build their capacities in a diversified manner to make them fit for a representation.
- Target community level education to facilitate a change of perception about women leaders and engaged community stakeholders to facilitate a change of cultural practices which were hindering women's participation in governance
- Target regional political leaders, civil and public servants in
districts and the region to acknowledge the gap and facilitate women
representation in their districts and the region as a whole. This was
also aimed at building a force of NGOS and CBOS to support the process. Rafiu fishbone meets the girls - Rafiu fishbone in the blue and black outfit Sexuality and Reproductive Health
NORSAAC currently runs programmes in two broad areas namely, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Women's Rights and Governance with livelihood and skill training as a cross-cutting issue.
Various evidence-based strategies are employed in programming mainly including advocacy, partnership and collaboration, coalition building and networking, research and BCC. Rights-based approach forms the basis of programming in NORSAAC. These strategies are used to achieve the dual objectives of increasing coverage and impact of programme interventions.
PROJECTS UNDER SEXUALITY AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
- Community Based Sexual Education Project (CBSEP)
- Innovative Sexual Education Project (ISEP)
- Society Tackling AIDS through Rights (STAR)
- Project Resource Mobilization and Awareness (Project - RMA)
- Act Right and Stop HIV
- Global Fund Round 8 HIV/AIDS Project
Community Based Sexual Education Project (CBSEP)
CBSEP is a partnership project of NORSAAC and DANIDA through AXIS a local NGO in Denmark. The project was to develop and integrate dialogue-based educational methods and materials to strengthen the knowledge and attitudes of youth in the operational districts of the Northern Region of Ghana on SHSR (Sexual Health and Sexual Rights).
The project trained 28 teachers who served as facilitators in schools and 18 youth group leaders to facilitate sexual education in their schools and communities respectively. About 2,100 youth in and out of school were reached with the information and have themselves used the participatory tools to discuss their sexual issues.
14 schools and 9 communities from 3 districts are currently covered by the project.
Innovative Sexual Education Project (ISEP)
The idea behind the project arose with basis in the experiences from the Community Based Sexual Education Project (CBSEP). During CBSEP, tools for dialogue-based teaching methods were developed and Axis, NORSAAC and a great of number of stakeholders from CBSEP and the present project and have come to an understanding of which focus-areas to include in a new project on SRHR in the programme area. The s project in all the implementing districts will help curtail the issue of sexuality among the youth aged 10-25 in the region and also have a realistic majority of the youth understanding and embracing their sexuality and making positive choices that will help build the region. Especially among the females, the youth will come to understand how to deal with certain issues that confront females in the society.
Society Tackling AIDS through Rights (STAR)
TNORSAAC partnered with Action Aid to implement this project in selected districts of the Northern region. 5 communities were used as pilot. The project was to empower communities in the face of HIV and AIDS. Communities were able to see HIV/AIDS as a development issue and related it to other development areas like education, health, agric among others using participatory tools. 12 facilitators from 6 communities were trained during the first phase.
Project Resource Mobilization and Awareness (Project - RMA)
NORSAAC has become a member of the National Strategic committee on Reproductive Health commodity security and has been working with International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) through the Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG) to step up advocacy strategies to ensure RH commodity security in Ghana. The project among others is to ensure functioning budget lines for Reproductive Health commodities with special emphasis on contraceptives. The project is run in 4 districts within the Northern region targeting government agencies especially health sector actors.
Act Right and Stop HIV
Act Right and Stop HIV is a Ghana AIDS Commission supported project aimed at preventing HIV in communities with outreach programmes such as community sensitization durbars. Counseling and testing, film and video shows among others. 20 communities are beneficiaries of this project from Savelugu Nantong and Central Gonja districts. 30 volunteers and peer educators on the project leading activities at the community level. Formation of new HIV/AIDS and Gender Clubs are also integrated in this project.
Global Fund Round 8 HIV/AIDS Project
NORSAAC is a sub-recipient of the Global Fund round 8 HIV/AIDS programme working closing with PPAG. The Program addresses gaps in the national response such as
- Community Based Sexual Education Project (CBSEP)
- Innovative Sexual Education Project (ISEP)
- Society Tackling AIDS through Rights (STAR)
- Project Resource Mobilization and Awareness (Project - RMA)
- Act Right and Stop HIV
- Global Fund Round 8 HIV/AIDS Project
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