MASO is a five year programme, focused on creating employment opportunities for the youth (aged 18-25) in Ghana’s cocoa communities.
The MASO Programme works with women and men who have made gender equality and women’s empowerment a commitment in their communities. MASO promotes equal participation and engagements with both young men and women.
The programme targets 40% female participation in all its interventions. As a strategy to promote equal gender participation and to curb gender stereotypes in the programme, MASO appoints gender champions in all participating communities.
The Gender Champions are change agents who act as ambassadors of gender equality and women empowerment in their various communities. Through this, they facilitate an enabling environment within their communities for young women who want to go into cocoa farming or associated businesses. They also inspire the next generation of cocoa farmers especially the young women through constant education of their community’s members to reorient their minds on women’s participation in cocoa.
A training session was recently held for over 90 Gender Champions from all communities participating in the third cohort of the MASO programme. The Champions were trained to understand the social and cultural constructs of gender that shape the experiences of women and men in society.
According to Stephanie Donu, who is the Youth Network and Gender Coordinator of Solidaridad West Africa, the training was to enable the Champions to align with the programme objectives and sharpen their gender advocacy skills. The Gender champions will support their communities for the lifetime of the programme.
Voices of some Gender Champions
Felicia Asare is a 28-year-old Senior High School graduate and a native of Nkrankese a cocoa growing community in the Assin North Municipality. Felicia owns a 3-acre cocoa farm. She hopes to impact her experience as a cocoa farmer in the community to the young MASO recruits.
“It is not easy for women farmers. We face many challenges but with support and guidance, I think we can be successful at work we do”, she said.
Felicia was grateful for the training which will help her create awareness in her community.
Thomas Inkoom is a 34-year-old MASO Community Facilitator, who also doubles as Gender Champion. His role as a Community Facilitator is to organize youth farmers and train them in the MASO Agro-Academy. He also has a 6-acre cocoa farmer and plays a mentor-ship role in my community.
“I believe that when women are trained to be cocoa entrepreneurs, it will help reduce the unemployment rate among the youth in my community”, Thomas said.
He reiterated his mission as a Gender Advocate in his community.
“As a gender champion, I will advocate for gender equality. I want my fellow men to support our women. The women do not have to continue playing the same role as our grandmothers. When they contribute to economic activities in the community, we all gain”.
A long way to go but gender inclusivity is possible
Both Felicia and Thomas are mindful of the challenges ahead. They both agree, it will be a gradual changing process because the stereotypes in their communities have been there for ages. They are however committed to see their community’s gain knowledge in gender for a better future.
About the Gender Champions
Gender champions are men and women committed to promoting gender inclusivity in the MASO communities. They are local influential persons in their communities who have a voice and make use of their voice. The Gender champions were selected to be advocates, ambassadors and representatives for gender equality and speak against gender stereotyping in their communities. The role of these champions are to learn, gather, mentor and educate the youth and also other people in the community on gender equality. To date over 170 Gender Champions have been recruited and trained in five regions of Ghana.
