Overall targets
This project aims to help women in six (6) selected communities in the Volta and Oti regions of Ghana receive their inheritance upon the death of their husbands. The project will target existing widows, since they are the ones most immediately facing these problems and are the most at risk of becoming destitute. We do however think, that if the widows are given the proper legal knowledge and social tools, they can form the basis of a support network, that will help other women in the future. To make the it easier for the widows to challenge the local traditions on inheritance, we will undertake a small number of supporting awareness-creating activities
Immediate targets
1. By the end of the project, 360 widows from the 6 communities, have a working knowledge of Ghana’s laws on property and especially inheritance 2. By the end of the project, 360 widows from the 6 communities, have been given social tools and ideas on how to influence their community and help other women when they become widows 3. By the end of the project, Local Chiefs and Elders and the people in the 6 communities have been exposed to information and debate about the problem of inheritance, through local radio station broadcast spots and debates, and though meetings with the village Elders
Target groups
The Primary Target group: 360 rural widows from 6 communities. The Secondary target group: 20.000+ women from the 6 communities. All women in the communities (and in Ghana) share the risk of their husband dying before them, and therefore losing the rights to the family property. It is hoped that this intervention will help the local women, both through the example of the widows successfully fighting for their rights, and through some of the widows in the project, being able to support any future widows in asserting their rights. A stronger focus on property rights for women will also help in other situations where women are at risk of losing their property. For example , divorced women, because their ex-husbands will keep all assets from the marriage, with even the children being seen as the the sole property of their fathers
Resume
This project aims to help women in six (6) selected communities in the Volta and Oti regions of Ghana receive their inheritance upon the death of their husbands. The project will target existing widows, since they are the ones most immediately facing these problems and are the most at risk of becoming destitute. We do however think, that if the widows are given the proper legal knowledge and social tools, they can form the basis of a support network, that will help other women in the future. To make the it easier for the widows to challenge the local traditions on inheritance, we will undertake a small number of supporting awareness-creating activities