Ghana adopted its most recent National Action Plan (NAP) in 2020 for the period 2020-2025. The NAP was developed by the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP) with participation and collaboration with local (WPSI KAIPTC, WILPF Ghana), regional (WANEP) and international (UNDP, Canadian High Commission) partners. The NAP acknowledges the inputs received from the Women, Peace and Security Institute-Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (WPSI-KAIPTC), West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) and WILPF Ghana in the development of the NAP while also stating that civil society will be included in the NAP implementation process. The overall goal of the NAP is “to build inclusive, secure and safe societies for women and girls in Ghana anchored on the tenets of UNSCR 1325” (p. 13). The NAP is structured with reference to the main pillars of UNSCR 1325: participation; protection; prevention; and recovery and rehabilitation. The NAP focuses heavily on advancing the implementation of Resolution 1325 through increased institutional structures, collaborations with stakeholders, creating a resource base, and strengthening monitoring and evaluation mechanisms. While the NAP has a detailed implementation matrix, it does not include an allocated budget.
Ghana’s second NAP is preceded by one other NAP, adopted in 2010, launched in 2012, and implemented for the 2012-2014 period. The first NAP was developed by the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs with broad-based participation from civil society. The original implementation period of the NAP was 2012-2014, but the plan could not be put into effect for 2012 as a result of the amount of time it took to formally adopt it. There were also some critical gaps in the NAP’s implementation: unavailability of an inter-ministerial steering committee to coordinate the implementation in a concerted manner; lack of a dedicated budget for the implementation; lack of a fundraising strategy and initiatives to raise funds to complement the Ministry’s limited annual government funding; competing priorities and resources in the various implementing sector ministries; lack of coordination between different stakeholders; non-availability of a pool of women with capacity in Women Peace and Security (WPS) to spearhead the implementation coordinated by MoGCSP; and lack of awareness of the NAP among various security institutions and the general public (p. 6). The second NAP seeks to address the lessons learned and overcome the challenges faced in the implementation of Ghana’s first NAP.
Ghana reported on the implementation of its NAP, as well as WPS commitments, in its national reporting for Beijing+25 and in preparation for CSW64 (2020). Specifically, the country provided the following updates, among others:
- The Kofi Annan International Peace Keeping Training Centre continues train an average of 100 professionals on Gender, Peace and Security every year.
- The Ghana Police Service has developed a gender policy to mainstream gender in their operations and administration.
- The Bureau of National Investigations has also established a gender office with a senior officer as the head. This agency currently has 52% women of the total staff population (p. 18).
Ghana gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1957, after decades of colonial rule under the British empire. The country experienced multiple military coups in 1966, 1972, and 1981. Ghana does not have a recent history of armed conflict, but has experienced sporadic ethnic tension with adverse impacts on especially women and girls.
In 2011, Ghana established a Women, Peace, and Security Institute with the goal to increase women’s participation in peace negotiations, peacekeeping activities, and preventive diplomacy efforts in Africa.
At the multilateral level, Ghana was most recently a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the period 2006-2007.