ARHR’s Northern Zonal partners, Songtaba and Youth Alive, held an inception meeting with the Northern Regional Health Directorate in Tamale on August 7, 2024. This meeting is part of the preparatory activities to derive support from key stakeholders for the rollout of the Gender Module Family (GMF), a key component of ARHR’s “Putting Women and Girls at the Center of Primary Health Care (PHC)” initiative, funded by Co-Impact.
The Gender Module Family is designed to empower families, particularly women and girls, to actively participate in health decision-making by addressing unequal gender power relations that hinder access to resources, control over them, and the utilization of health services. The GMF implementation is expected to increase women and girls’ collective leadership, power, voice, and agency at the family, community, and institutional levels.
Songtaba spearheads this initiative in the Yendi and Nanumba North Municipalities, while Youth Alive leads efforts in Savelugu Municipal and the Tamale Metropolis. Each partner will focus on five communities per district, covering two districts each, resulting in 10 communities across two districts. They will work with 10 families within each community, leading to each partner engaging with 100 families across 10 communities in two districts. Six other partners in the South have already implemented this activity.
At the inception meeting, the project team was warmly received by the Regional Health Director, Dr. Abdulai Abubakari, and key team members, including the Deputy Director for Administration, the Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer, the Human Resources Director, and the Coordinator for Public Health.
The project team provided a comprehensive overview of the initiative, outlining its goals and anticipated impact on the health and well-being of women and girls in the Northern Region. They emphasized the importance of collaboration between community partners and the health directorate to achieve the project’s objectives. In response, Dr. Abubakari and his team indicated their support for the initiative and committed to working closely with Songtaba and Youth Alive for its successful implementation.
This partnership underscores the vital role of community-based organizations in advancing primary healthcare services and promoting gender and health equity. With the support of the Northern Regional Health Directorate, the Gender Module Family initiative is set to make a significant and lasting impact on the lives of women and girls in the Northern Region.
