The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection has launched 20 market women executives in Bolgatanga as paralegals to help identify, report, and support the handling of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) cases within local markets in the Upper East Region.
The group, made up of both men, women and youth, was trained over a two-day period under the national paralegal initiative introduced in 2019 in Accra by the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection as part of the annual 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign.
This year’s campaign is being commemorated under the theme: “Unite! End Digital Violence Against Women and Girls in Ghana.”
Mr James Twene, the Acting Upper East Regional Director of the Department of Gender, explained that the programme aimed to empower market leaders to recognise and respond appropriately to various forms of abuse occurring in market spaces.
“This initiative started in 2019, and so far, we have trained paralegals in more than four regions. We selected 20 leaders here in Bolgatanga so they can help address issues of gender-based violence in the marketplaces,” he said.
Mr Twene noted that market environments were frequent hotspots for verbal, emotional, economic and sometimes physical abuse, yet most market actors lacked the knowledge to identify what constituted GBV or how to report it.
“For the last two days, we have taken them through basic gender concepts, fundamental human rights, marriage laws, and the different forms of abuse. They now understand what to do when such cases arise,” he stated.
He emphasised that the paralegals were not lawyers and were not expected to take the law into their own hands or create parallel structures in the markets.
“There are guidelines for paralegals. They are only to identify cases and report to us or link victims to the appropriate authorities. We have the institutions responsible for handling these matters,” he said.
The newly inaugurated team was introduced to the broader market community during the launch, signalling the start of their role in supporting peaceful, safe, and gender-sensitive market operations.
Mr Twene revealed that apart from the Upper East Region, similar paralegal groups existed in the Greater Accra, Volta and Western Bono Regions, adding that the Ministry planned to scale the initiative across all the 16 regions.
Madam Linda Anamzoya Akupa, the Chairperson of the Bolgatanga Market Women Association and head of the newly launched paralegal team, described the training as an eye-opener.
“We didn’t know and we used to think that if someone wronged you in the market, you had to take matters into your own hands. But now we know that beating or forcing someone is not the way,” she said.
She added that the workshop taught them proper reporting channels for market disputes, domestic issues, and child welfare concerns.
“Now we have ideas. We know where to go and what to do if something happens. Before, we didn’t know,” she said, expressing gratitude to the Ministry for the intervention.
Madam Akupa said the Association was committed to cascading the knowledge to other market women and traders to improve peaceful coexistence and safeguard rights within the market environment and their families.
