The Associate Executive Director of Wacam, Mrs Hannah Owusu-Koranteng, has received the "Right the Wrong" Award from Oxfam America for promoting the leadership of women in communities affected by mining in Ghana, mentoring new female leaders and being a voice for rural people.
The award ceremony took place on March 7, 2015 in Boston, USA, as part of activities to mark International Women's Day.
Wacam is an organisation that champions the rights of communities impacted by mining.
Ms Ann M. Veneman, a former Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, who presented the award, paid glowing tribute to Mrs Owusu Koranteng for her continued commitment to empowering ordinary women to speak out against injustice.
Citation The citation of the award described Mrs Owusu-Koranteng as a woman who had made extraordinary efforts in fighting injustice and creating lasting change for people living in poverty.
The second award winner is Ms Joana Akosua Manu, a female activist of Wacam who has been championing the struggles of her community in Dumase against the violations of the economic, social, environmental and political rights of indigenous host communities by mining companies.
Ms Manu, an Assembly Member for the Dumase Electoral Area, has undertaken sustained educational campaigns against acts of injustice of multinational mining companies through education programmes of Wacam. She was, however, unable to travel to the USA to receive the award. It was received on her behalf by Mrs Owusu-Koranteng.
The Wacam boss thanked Oxfam America for honouring her and Ms Manu, and she dedicated the award to women who were fighting injustice in all corners of the world, especially women living in mining communities who were fighting against corporate greed which deprived women of their dignity.
Mrs Owusu-Koranteng also had extensive discussions with advocacy and lobby groups in the US, such as "Sisters of the Planet Ambassadors" which is a network of 300 influential women from across the USA who are American government officials, business, faith and community leaders united by a commitment to women's empowerment.
She made a presentation on how activities of multinational mining companies destroy the livelihoods of host communities and deprive indigenous people of access to resources at the Hunger Banquet that was held in Boston, USA, for about 300 people of diverse backgrounds to draw attention to global inequalities which had resulted from bad governance and policies.
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