Ghana government says it’s committed to gender mainstreaming into oil and gas sector
Ms. Priscilla Antwi Boasiako, a Local Content Officer of the Petroleum Commission, has announced the drafting of a policy aimed at gender mainstreaming into the oil and gas sector.
The gender mainstreaming policy document according to her, would ensure increased participation of Women in the energy sector as the country focuses on growing local content and participation.
This came to light when Friends of the Nation in partnership with the Centre for Public Interest Law with support from Oxfam, and Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) organised an engagement to build on an earlier meeting on involving more women in the oil and gas sector with the Petroleum Commission.
She said the gender mainstreaming had become a key issue in the development of recent policies for economic development, although the local content law had no specific provision for women in the industry.
Ms. Antwi Boasiako said, the mandate of the commission was to promote local content and local participation in the petroleum industry and that efforts were being made to promote women participation in the Petroleum industry.
She said the local content fund established in the Act 919 was to provide financial resources for citizens and indigenous Ghanaian companies to thrive in the sector through capacity building, education and training in petroleum activities.
To this wise, the gender mainstreaming has become an important issue in the development of recent policies for economic development, particularly in promoting women participation in the petroleum industry.
The Local Content Officer said women would be supported to build careers in the oil and gas industry with concessionary loans to majority of Women- owned companies.
The accelerated oil and gas capacity building programme was to build the capacities of individuals in various technical and Vocational areas and the capacities of SMEs for a period of five years with training and certification.
According to her, a significant number of women were set to be trained and certified in welding, pipe lifting, fabrication, among others.
She said the commission would continue to spearhead the development of local content and local participation in the petroleum activities to ensure that Women were well positioned and much involved in the oil and gas industry.
Mr. Solomon Kusi Ampofo, Programme Coordinator of Friends of the Nation (FoN) said, the Seminar was a follow-up to an earlier engagement with the Petroleum Commission to highlight the participation and opportunities for Women in the petroleum industry
He said FoN was interested in promoting Women businesses in the oil and gas sector to build their capacity to be the champions of local content and local participation in the oil and gas industry.
Source: GNA