Norsaac on Thursday 22nd December, 2022 held a dinner for its stakeholders to climax a yearlong celebration of 20years since its formation. The dinner took place at the Magnolia Recreational Center and brought together its employees, beneficiaries of its initiatives over the years, donors, partner Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and members of the general public.
Delivering a speech on the 20year journey of Norsaac, Executive Director, Alhaj Mohammed Awal Alhassan said the organization is proud of where it is having started with only three donors in IBIS, Basic Needs and ActionAid Ghana, there are about thirty-three donors involved in their resolve to transform the lives of women, children and other vulnerable minorities in society.
He eulogized his co-founder Hajia Hafsatu Sey and said they were both teenagers when the idea of leading youth advocacy in the then Northern Region (Northern, Savannah and North East) dawned on them and little did they anticipate that they could make the strides they have made so far.
Alhaj Mohammed Awal was hopeful that with the existing donors and additional ones in the coming years, Norsaac will continue to change the lives of women and children in particular and the society in general.
He said having started with the aim of creating awareness about HIV/AIDS and other Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) basically in Senior High Schools, Norsaac has built the capacity of hundreds of thousands of people through direct and indirect engagement across communities in Northern Ghana.
Alhaj Awal said he was proud that the organization that started only in Northern Region has now achieved a national and global attention on issues of women and children. He said this gives the organization hope for the future especially when they will be celebrating another milestone with the impact made so far.
He said, “It’s been an interesting day today. We have been able to mobilize our stakeholders, our beneficiaries to celebrate 20years of social transformation, 20 years of changing lives of people in Northern Ghana, 20 years of empowering women and young people. We think that Norsaac has contributed greatly to the current transformation that we see in our society. The fact that we currently have many more women taking part in decision making at community level and also at key levels of decision making gives us some kind of hope and it means to celebrate our 20years existence we see young people creating spaces for engagement and we see young people interacting with duty bearers calling for change in certain things just to improve their lives. And these give us the means to celebrate 20years of our existence.”
The Guest of Honour for the Dinner was the Northern Regional Minister Alhaj Shani Shaibu who in his speech thanked Norsaac for involving him right from the launch of the year-long anniversary and its climax.
He commended Norsaac for playing a collaborative role with government over the years in development initiatives in various sectors and encouraged them to do more in the coming years.
The Regional Minister stated that, “As we all know government needs partners and collaborators such as Norsaac to partner in this pursuit of development. It is from this perspective that over the years Norsaac has played a collaborative role with government very well in the pursuance of the development agenda of the north. ”
The event was chaired by Dr. Esther Ekua Amoako, a Lecturer at the department of Ecotourism and Environmental Management of the University for Development Studies (UDs).
Norsaac is a gender based advocacy organization working to promote the equality of women in Ghana. The organization has been recognized on regional and national levels for its efforts on promoting women participation in governance and promoting reproductive health activities using various advocacy strategies and participatory methods.
Its vision is a healthy and empowered society where everyone enjoys their rights and live a life of dignity.
