WEACT project leaves lasting impact on women’s economic empowerment in Ghana

Oxfam Ghana has commended the achievements of the Women’s Economic Advancement for Collective Transformation (WEACT) project, which has tackled structural and systemic barriers to women’s economic empowerment.
Speaking at the project’s closure event, Oxfam Ghana’s Country Director, Mohammed Anwar Sadat Adam, noted the project’s impact and stressed the need for sustained efforts to build on its successes.
The five-year initiative, funded by the Government of Canada, has been instrumental in promoting legal literacy, gender-responsive entrepreneurship, and improved land access for women.
According to project evaluations, 126 legal literacy volunteers were trained, reaching 15,000 community members with crucial information on women’s rights, inheritance laws, family law, and child protection. As a result, numerous widows successfully reclaimed land, several child support disputes were resolved, and at least eight child marriages were prevented.

One of the project’s standout interventions was the Gender Model Family initiative, which enrolled over 550 couples and contributed to a significant reduction in women’s unpaid care work.
With household duties becoming more equitably distributed, girls gained nearly 30 extra hours per week for their studies, leading to noticeable improvements in academic performance and fostering a shift toward more balanced gender roles within households and communities.
In business and leadership, the project trained 900 women in gender-responsive entrepreneurship, resulting in increased productivity and higher profit margins.
More than 40% of women now occupy leadership roles in cooperatives, with 30% of cooperatives implementing gender-inclusive policies.
These advancements have strengthened women’s financial independence and decision-making power in economic activities.
Land ownership for women also saw a significant boost, rising from 25% to 49% in project communities.
Through the Land Social Lab initiative, negotiations secured land for women in agricultural value chains such as cocoa and shea production, offering long-term economic benefits.
This intervention has paved the way for more women to engage in land registration processes, further securing their rights.
Mohammed Anwar Sadat Adam, noted that while significant progress has been made, further investment in mechanization remains essential, as women’s ownership of farm equipment is still limited.
He called on stakeholders—including government agencies, civil society organizations, and traditional leaders—to build on the project’s achievements and advocate for policies that protect and enhance women’s economic rights.
Expressing gratitude to the Government of Canada and key implementation partners such as Plan International, World University Services Canada, and various local organizations, he reaffirmed Oxfam’s commitment to gender equality and economic justice.

He stressed the importance of scaling up successful models to ensure the project’s impact remains sustainable.
The event brought together representatives from government ministries, local assemblies, civil society organizations, and beneficiary communities, all of whom celebrated the project’s achievements and deliberated on strategies to sustain its outcomes in the years ahead.
Speaking during the ceremony, Head of Cooperations at the Canadian High Commission, Kathleen Flynn-Dapaah, stated that the WEACT project is part of Canada’s Innovation for Women’s Economic Empowerment initiative, which invested $30 million to support women’s economic empowerment through skills training and entrepreneurship.
She underscored that this investment was intentional, as it targeted regions with both great need and great potential for lasting change.
She noted that financial inclusion emerged as another critical success of the project, with women gaining greater access to financial resources to grow their businesses.
Kathleen Flynn-Dapaah noted that economic empowerment is not just about participation but about enabling women to generate revenue, scale their businesses, and succeed.
She also praised the legal literacy volunteer model, which reached over 15,000 community members, equipping them with knowledge that will have lasting benefits.
By CHRISTABEL OBOSHIE ANNAN, Accra