The Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum is pleased to welcome Gertrude Ankrah and Dana Dakin SCR '64 to a luncheon on Oct. 22. Gertrude will speak about their work with WomensTrust, a microfinance program for women in Ghana, West Africa.
In March 2003, Dakin travelled to Ghana, West Africa to mark her 60th birthday, and with a goal to develop a microfinance program for women. After discovering the village of Pokuase and establishing relationships with the local people, Dakin returned to the United States to raise money and garner support for her venture. In November 2003, WomensTrust made its first loans to women in the Pokuase village.
Gertrude Ankrah joined the WomensTrust team as program development director in 2005. A native of Pokuase village, Ankrah's familiarity with the community helps facilitate connections between the local community and the organization. After graduating from a local private high school, Ankrah attended the Mars Business Secondary School in Accra, Ghana, earning a certificate in business administration, and worked at the Ga Rural Bank in Amasaman, Ghana.
In the following years, Ankrah became involved in politics, both locally and nationally. Currently, she is an appointee to the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre, the Ghana government program for microfinance, and was selected for the prestigious training program ABANTU, which supports female leaders and local women-focused organizations in Ghana.
In addition to microfinance, WomensTrust is involved with other programs designed to support women and break the cycle of poverty, including offering business training to loan clients to help them develop business skills. Better education of girls though scholarships and an after-school enrichment program, and access to healthcare for women and children round out the programs managed through WomensTrust.
Ankrah and Dakin's visit to the Athenaeum is sponsored by the Center for Human Rights Leadership.
For more information on WomensTrust, visit www.womenstrust.org.
For more information about the dinner and lecture, visit the Athenaeum home page.