The Ghana Federation of Forest & Farm Producers (GhaFFaP) Women’s Champions Wing (WCW) Lead and the Executive Director for Maaltaaba Peasant Women Farmers’ Cooperative and also a member of WeCan on behalf of the Federation has joined a group of widows to observe the 2023 International Widow’s Day which falls on June 23 in Talensi(Northern Ghana).

In a statement read by the GhaFFaP Women Champions Wing Lead, Lydia Miyella noted that being a widow is not a crime because losing a loved one in any capacity is difficult and traumatic, while no one wants to think about the future death of their spouse, it is critical for every one of us to prepare for any unfortunate and unforeseen events, and most importantly, support those who are in need.

She advised the society to desist from seeing widows as being cursed or associated with the practice of witchcraft. This wrong mindset separates them from their community, family relatives and even from their children.

This International widow day is an opportunity for action towards achieving full rights and recognition for widows. This includes providing widows with information on access to a fair share of their inheritance, land and productive resources, social protection services, decent work and education and training opportunities.

She added that empowering widows to support themselves and their families also means addressing social stigmas that create exclusion, and discriminatory or harmful practices.

Furthermore, she stated that, Governments should act to uphold their commitments to ensure the rights of widows as enshrined in international law, including the Convention on the elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women. 

On International Widows’ Day, 23 June, GhaFFaP is fully committed to supporting any Projects, programmes and policies for ending violence against widows.

GhaFFaP as a national Federation sees the important role of women in the socio-economic development of every nation

Hence, the  deliberate inclusion of a women’s Champions Wing (WCW) Lead among its national structures to prioritizes and promotes  Gender-based issues in our all operational areas as a strategic advocacy approach to our members and the society at large.

Let’s do not forget that we all have a commitment to SDGG 5 of ensuring Gender equality by 2030.