By Philip Tengzu
Chebogo, (UW/R), July 9, GNA – ActionAid Ghana (AAG), a social justice Non-governmental Organisation (NGO), has intensified its campaign against child marriage through a series of community engagements aimed at protecting the rights of girls and addressing other child protection issues.
As part of the campaign, the NGO held community-level sensitisation in twelve communities in the Lambussie and Jirapa Districts, which brought together parents and other community and district-level stakeholders.
The communities included Chebogo, Piina, Kpare, Suke, Billaw and Chetu in the Lambussie District and Sigri, Tampaala, Gyavuur, Chachaa, Nindawaala and Konchuur in the Jirapa Municipality.
The initiative was to create a platform for the stakeholders to discuss practical measures to end child, early and forced marriages.
As part of the engagements, members of AAG Girls’ Empowerment and Advocacy Platforms in participating schools presented demands to state actors, parents and teachers.
They called for stronger protection of girls and measures that would enable them to pursue their aspirations devoid of child marriage.
At Chebogo, the participants disclosed that three girls were eloped last year but were rescued through the intervention of school authorities and returned to sit for the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
Mr Julius Beyerebere, a parent in the community, attributed the persistence of child marriage partly to the lack of cooperation between couples in protecting their daughters.
He explained that in some instances, mothers were reluctant to report fathers who gave their daughters out in marriage for fear of being driven from their homes, while some fathers also failed to report mothers involved in such acts because of the economic dependence of the family on such perpetrators.
The engagements also featured testimonies from survivors of child marriage who were currently pursuing nursing education.
Sharing their personal experiences, the young women recounted how they entered child marriages, the challenges they endured, and how they escaped and eventually returned to school.
They encouraged girls not to succumb to pressure from parents, relatives or peers to marry at an early age, stressing that education offered greater opportunities for a better future.
“Today, the man may be giving you GH¢5.00 or GH¢10.00, but once you get married, that support will stop, and you will suffer for the rest of your life”, one of the survivors said.
The survivors also appealed to parents not to regard marrying-off their daughters as a source of income or family prestige but as an act that deprives girls of their education and future opportunities.
The initiative was in line with Strategic Priority Two (SP2) of AAG’s Country Strategy Paper VII (2023-2028), which focuses on Women’s Rights and Decent Work.
Focus Area 2.1 of the SP2 advocates for zero tolerance for violence against women and girls.
Also, the intervention sought to contribute to achieving target 5.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which seeks to “Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation.”
GNA
Edited by Kenneth Odeng Adade
Reporter: Philip Tengzu
[email protected]
