A GNA
Feature by Prosper K. Kuorsoh
Introduction
Wa, July 18, GNA – The feeling of having to
give birth to a girl for many families is great and refreshing. To many people
it is a unique blessing from God and particularly for parents it is like an
‘insurance package’ against old age.
The worry, however, is how these girls can
surmount the numerous negative socio-cultural practices militating against
their growth and development to realise their fullest potential and become the
blessing that they ought to be for their families and society at large.
Negative cultural practices like child and
forced marriages, elopement, abduction, teenage pregnancies, male child
preference, sex tourism, trafficking, violence against women and commercial
sexual exploitation among many others are still pervasive in society.
Effects
The consequences on the progress of girls are
daunting. Child marriage results in the termination of victim’s education which
is contributing significantly to the high illiteracy rate in Ghana.
Victims equally suffer verbal/physical abuse
leading to low self-esteem, while teenage pregnancies forced victims to become
child mothers, which are exposed to health implications such as obstetric
fistula among others.
Victims often have no career as a result of
lack of skills. Their marriages are often characterised by violence and rape is
a common phenomenon as a result of excessive power of one spouse over the
other.
Their lack of employable skills inflict in
them unimaginable levels of poverty that affects every facet of their lives
including; their nutrition status.
Available
Statistics
According to the Demographic and Health Survey
(DHS 2014), in Ghana, an average of one out of five girls is married before
their 18th birthday. This amounts to approximately 260,000 affected girls in
the country.
However, for girls living in Upper West, Upper
East and Northern Regions this number increases to one out of three girls.
Specifically, incidence of child marriage in
these areas by age 18 stands at 36.1 percent for Upper East Region, 37.3
percent for Upper West Region and 39.6 percent for the Northern Region
according to the DHS 2014.
The 2010 Population and Housing Census
indicated that for persons aged 12 to 14 years, 11.18 percent of them were
married while 17 percent of those within the age bracket of 15 to 19 years were
also married.
The statistics also indicated that child
marriage amounted to almost one tenth (7.4 percent) of the married population
in the Upper West Region.
Furthermore, a total of 4,282 out of 8,220
married people were girls representing 52 percent.
The law
Under the Children’s Act 1998 (Act 560), child
marriage is criminal. However, most people especially those in rural
communities are not aware of the provision and even the few that are aware do
little or nothing about it.
Underpowered girls and young women are unable
to participate in decision making, thereby contributing very little to the
development of their families, communities and society in general.
These challenges confronting girls have
serious repercussions on the development of society as it deprived women and
girls their basic rights and opportunities.
This has therefore raised concerns about the
kind of protection system society has for girls and young women.
Globally, issues affecting the girl child and
young women are beginning to receive attention, evident in the Sustainable
Development Goal Five (SDG 5).
This goal seeks to bring an end to all forms
of discrimination and violence against all women and girls everywhere as well
as eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage
and female genital mutilation.
The government of Ghana, development partners
and other stakeholders including Non- Governmental Organisations (NGOs) had
since been putting in efforts to protect girls and young women against such
menace and contribute to the achievement of the SDG 5.
The ‘Champions of Change’ Initiative
The issues of child marriage and girl’s
economic empowerment according to Mr. Moses Dramani Luri, Executive Director of
Social Initiative and Development Programme (SILDEP) are centred on culture and
religion.
“To tackle this, you need people who do not
just have power and influence but also interested in gender based violence and
girls and young women economic empowerment issues”, he said.
For this reason, key stakeholders including;
religious leaders, role models and Chiefs at the district, regional and
national levels as well as other opinion leaders have been identified and
brought together to form the ‘Champions of Change’ – an initiative under the
Girls Advocacy Alliance (GAA) project.
He said the chiefs and religious leaders are
expected to take advantage of various platforms available to him to advocate
and make public statements on gender based violence, commercial sexual
exploitation, economic empowerment of girls and their access to Technical and
Vocational Education and Training (TVET).
Naa Robert Bob Logah, the Chief of Jang in the
Nadowli-Kaleo District of the Upper West and one of the ‘Change Agents’ noted
that following the trainings, he had started promoting women economic
empowerment through livestock rearing in his community.
He believes women have the potential to
catapult Ghana into the next level of development, adding that all that was
required was for them “to wake the sleeping lions in them” through the removal
of all barriers affecting their progress.
Kuoro Bamula Basinjia Chieminah, the Chief of
Kandia in the Sissala West District of the Upper West Region and one of the
‘Champions of Change’ noted that as a change agent, one of the things he
together with his elders did was to put some by-laws to protect basic school girls
in the community.
This according to him had contributed
significantly to reducing the incidence of teenage pregnancies among basic
school girls in the community.
Another major step employed by Kuoro Chieminah
is individual and group counselling for school girls in the community against
negative social vices, while encouraging them to focus on their education in
order to become responsible citizens in the future.
For him, the training given to them as
‘Champions of change’ was very helpful as it re-awakened them as stakeholders
to their core responsibilities as far as the protection of the girl child was
concern.
Madam Susana Wibonto, a Science Teacher and
Patron of the Sexual and Reproductive Health Club at the Hilla Limann Senior
High School in Gwollu in the Sissala West District said she was elated to have
been selected to be part of the ‘Champions of Change’ initiative as a role
model.
She said at the school club level, she often
educate the girls on issues concerning the reproductive cycle, girl child
education and sexual abuse among others, adding that since she became a member
of the ‘Champions of Change’, she had really been empowered through the
trainings she participated in.
“The community I come from, at times you hear
of such negative cultural practices affecting the girl child but you cannot say
anything because they do not want it reported”, she said.
“But now, through this programme, I have been
empowered to voice out anytime I hear of such cases”, she said and stressed
that she was going back to the community to do exactly that to help protect the
girls in her community and beyond.
The
Girls Advocacy Alliance (GAA)
In this regard, three organisations in the
Netherlands namely; Plan International, Defence for Children and Terre des
Hommes initiated the Girls Advocacy Alliance (GAA) project with funding from
the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
It seeks to better the lives of women and
girls and ensure the provision of equal opportunities for them in 10 Asian and
African countries.
In Ghana, the project is being implemented in
the Greater Accra, Ashanti, Northern, Upper West and Eastern Regions by Plan
International Ghana, Defence for Children International Ghana and Ghana NGO
Coalition on the Rights of the Child. SILDEP is the local implementation
partner in the Upper West Region.
The long-term goal of GAA is to ensure that
girls and young women are free from all forms of gender-based violence and are
economically empowered.
To achieve this, implementers of the project
applied a broad spectrum of lobby and advocacy interventions to; increase
public support for the campaign against girl child abuse; and improve policies
and practices of corporate and private sector actors to favour females.
It also seeks implementation of effective
legislation and public policies that favour females; and improve practices of
government actors in support of the prevention and elimination of gender-based
violence and economic exclusion of girls and women.
GAA also focuses on the strengthening of
capacities of civil society organisations and networks to influence government
and private sector actors to eliminate gender-based violence and economic
exclusion.
The objective is to end child marriage, reduce
sexual violence and abuse, reduce commercial sexual exploitation of children
and ensure girls and young women have increased access to Technical and
Vocational Training and Education (TVET) and decent work opportunities so they
do not fall prey to abuse.
GNA