A gender advocate and consultant, Mrs Ber­nice Sam, has urged the government to prioritise stronger gender mainstreaming across all sectors by investing in capaci­ty-building initiatives and estab­lishing clear guidelines.She also called for well-defined roles for gender focal persons to ensure greater coordination and synergy in advancing gender equality in both the public and private sectors.Presenting a Draft Gender Equality Architecture at a Vali­dation meeting on the National Framework for Coordination of Gender Equality in Ghana held in Accra, yesterday, Mrs Sam stressed that the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MOGCSP) should be a well-re­source, central coordinating body for gender equality and women's empowerment.The framework, developed by MOGCSP with technical and financial support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), seeks to harmonise gender-related activities, avoid duplication, and ensure inclusivity in national development planning.The meeting seeks to finalise the framework through stakehold­er engagement and feekback.Mrs Sam emphasised the need of clear mechanisms for mon­itoring and evaluation to track progress and ensure accountabili­ty, by reporting regularly, feedback loops, and timely interventions to address gaps or inefficiencies.She also proposed the creation of a shared database of ongoing and planned interventions, com­plemented by regular multi-stake­holder forums to foster better collaboration, optimise resources, and improve the collection and use of gender-disaggregated data for planning and monitoring purposes.Furthermore, Mrs Sam's presen­tation also highlighted persistent weaknesses in gender mainstream­ing by Ministries, Departments, Agencies (MDAs) and Metro­politan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs), citing limited capacity among policymak­ers, insufficient technical expertise for gender-responsive program­ming, and inadequate integration of gender-sensitive indicators into monitoring frameworks.She warned that without a centralised approach, gender issues risked being treated as "pe­ripheral" rather than "central" to national development.Policy delays, Mrs Sam noted, had stalled key reforms, including the revised National Gender Pol­icy, amendments to the Intestate Succession Law and the Children's Act, and the long-pending Proper­ty Rights of Spouses Bill.Additionally, she lamented the limited engagement of rural and marginalised women in policy dis­cussions, which deprives national programmes of valuable grass­roots insights.The Director of the Depart­ment of Gender at MOGCSP, Ms Faustina Acheampong, said the framework was a direct response to the long-standing need for a cohesive national structure to co­ordinate stakeholder collaboration on gender equality.She stressed that the Ministry remained committed to engaging stakeholders to promote gender equality, equity, and women's em­powerment.The Representative of UNFPA, Dr David Wilfred Ochan, com­mended the country for its recent milestones, including the passage of the Affirmative Action (Gen­der Equity) Act in 2024 and the historic election of the country's first female Vice President.He noted that an effective co­ordination framework was vital to consolidating these achievements, ensuring mutual accountability, and aligning all stakeholders be­hind a unified gender agenda.BY CECILIA YADA LAGBA