Barriers to Female Participation in Community-Based Organisations in the Kumbungu District of the Northern Region of Ghana
Abstract – A Community-Based Organisation (CBO) is a voluntary autonomous association of people designed to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs through a jointly owned and democratically managed organisation. Female participation in Community-based Organisations (CBOs) all over the world is one of the important factors which affect development in most communities. This term paper is about examining the barriers to female participation in CBOs in the Kumbungu District in the northern region of Ghana. The main objective of the study was to examine barriers to female participation in CBOs in the Kumbungu District of Ghana. A qualitative study design was used for the study and a purposive sampling technique was employed to arrive at 32 respondents. Data were collected through interviews with respondents to probe for detailed information on barriers to female participation in CBOs. The findings revealed a low level of participation of respondents, obstacles that serve as barriers challenging the active participation of respondents in their CBOs’, and suggested advocacy and capacity building as mitigating factors to barriers of female participation in CBOs’. The study concludes that females face socio-economic, socio-cultural, socio-political, and religious barriers in participation in youth associations that served as CBOs in the study area. The study suggested CBOs’ activities on advocacy and capacity building to address the barriers to female participation in CBOs’. The study, therefore, recommends that CBOs’ should organise sensitisation and training programmes for females on social and economic empowerment. Keywords: gender, community-based, organisation, participation, barriers, development [Cite as: Yussif, A. H. (2021). Barriers to Female Participation in Community-Based Organisations in the Kumbungu District of the Northern Region of Ghana. Diverse Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, Vol. 3, Issue 7, Pages 19-32.]