by Murtala Issah
Research conducted by the Kazuhiko Takeuchi Centre for Sustainability and Resilience of the University for Development Studies (UDS), has a positive impact on women’s empowerment, gender equality, food security and nutrition.
The study also revealed that physical infrastructure improved dietary diversity and boosted the economic status of women.
The project is funded by the International Centre for Evaluation and Development (ICED) and is part of the lnfrastructure’s Impacts on Nutritious Diet, Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality (IINDWEGE) project.
At a validation workshop in Tamale, the Director of the Kazuhiko Takeuchi Centre for Sustainability and Resilience, Professor Hamdiyah Alhassan, revealed that the research was carried out in the Bono East and the Northern Region. She said the project is part of the Infrastructure’s Impact on Nutritious Diet, Women’s Empowerment, and Gender Equality (IINDWEGE) project.
Professor Hamdiyah recommended, “government and interested investors should invest in both market and storage infrastructures to help improve food security and nutrition, empower women and close the gender gap.”
She further advised, “households, must be given information about both physical infrastructures to encourage their use so as to support policies that promote women’s empowerment, gender equality, and nutrition.”
The chairman for the validation workshop, Professor Samuel Donkoh, who is also the Dean of the School of Economics at the UDS, urged stakeholders to put in more effort to ensure that Ghana attains SDG goal 5, which seeks to “achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls by 2030.”