Fred N. Binka School of Public Health, UHAS — in collaboration with St. Francis College of Education, and Nursing and Midwifery Training College, Hohoe — marked this year’s International Women’s Day with a symposium, webinar, radio discussions and a float in Hohoe. There were radio discussions on Voice of Volta (VOV) Radio Station in Hohoe from March 6 to March 8 on various aspects of the theme “DigitAll: Innovations and Technology for Gender Equality”. This included phone-in sessions for listeners who asked questions and contributed to the discussions.
There was also a webinar held on March 7 to discuss “The role and challenges of women in a rapidly changing world”. Panelists for the webinar were Dr. Theresa Larteley Adu, the UHAS Librarian; Dr. Jamilatu A. Bako, Medical Practitioner, Volta Regional Hospital; Adele Acolatse, Mama Dzidoasi I, Founder of Dzidoasi Community Development Projects; with Dr. Mary Akua Ampomah, Clinical Psychologist and Lecturer at Binka School, as the Moderator.
The celebrations were crowned with a symposium, held in the Auditorium of St. Francis College of Education on March 8, that brought together women from all walks of life including queens, market women, health practitioners, other professionals, faculty and students of UHAS, St. Francis College of Education, and Nursing and Midwifery College, Hohoe. Students of St. Francis also staged a drama on the theme.
There were two panel discussions during the symposium. The first session was moderated by Dr. Faith Agbozo on the topic “Leveraging technology to improve women’s access to education and career achievement”. The panel comprised Dr. Adwoa Kwagyiriba, Principal of St. Francis College of Education; Dr. Joyce Der, Lecturer, UHAS; and Faustina Dofui Desewu, Reproductive Health Tutor at Nursing and Midwifery Training College, Hohoe. The second panel tackled the topic “Impact of mobile money as an example of technology for everyday people”. This was moderated by Dr. Joyce Komesuor. The panel consisted of Mama Dzitri Norvitorwo II, Queen of Wli Agorviefe and Vice President of Hohoe Municipal Council of Queens; Madam Marujanatu Iddrisu, a trader and Forgive Awo Norvivor of Binka School.
Panelists advocated for support for women to acquire the necessary skills to keep up with technology. They called on women of all ages to show interest in technology. ‘’Women need to empower themselves with the requisite technological tools to surmount the challenges of the ever-changing world,” Dr. Joyce Der stressed.
They also called for mutual support among women in areas of technology. “It is in supporting each other that we can make our way up in leveraging on technology for our own growth in our various fields of endeavour,” Dr. Adwoa Kwagyiriba emphasised.
Panelists also encouraged exposing both boys and girls to technological gadgets to increase their interest in technology. “Don’t only buy a doll for the girl child and buy the gadgets for the boys,” Faustina Desewu told the audience.
The Symposium was preceded by a float through the principal streets of Hohoe amid music, singing and dancing.
The International Women’s Day programmes were supported by the Bank of Ghana. Other collaborators were the Volta Regional Hospital and VOV Radio.