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The Executive Director of Dynamic Works Foundation (DWF), Gloria Cann, has urged stakeholders in Nkwanta South in the Oti Region to work together to bring back children, particularly girls who are still absent from school as a result of the recent communal violence in the municipality.
In 2023, the Nkwanta South Municipality suffered a brutal communal conflict that resulted in several deaths and the closure of 30 out of the 111 public schools in the municipality. A total of 10,543 learners and 380 teachers were directly affected.
Addressing stakeholders during the launch of the Adolescent Girls Empowerment Project (AGE Project) in Nkwanta South on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, Gloria Cann said, “Dynamic Works Foundation is a women's rights NGO dedicated to creating positive change by harnessing the creative potential of young people and marginalized communities to address social issues and foster inclusivity.”
She expressed optimism that the implementation of the AGE project, which is funded by the KGL Foundation, will enhance the knowledge of innovative adolescent pregnancy prevention methods for the basic schoolgirl population and stakeholders in Nkwanta South.
She said the choice to include Nkwanta South in the AGE Project was informed by the fact that more than 100, 000 teenage girls get pregnant each year, a situation that denies many girls the right to a quality basic education.
She further noted that “the conflict and the school closures make the girls very vulnerable, as preliminary information from the Nkwanta South Education Directorate reveals some schoolchildren, including girls, are yet to report back to school months after the schools were reopened for academic activities. The
situation calls for a deliberate intervention such as the AGE Project, which will track and support the girls to get back to school.”
Cosmos Kwame Akorli, a development consultant, grant development expert, and the lead for the AGE Project, took stakeholders through various gender concepts as part of the strategy to ensure learners and officials in various decision-making positions work to change the various social issues that affect the progress of girls in Ghanaian society.
All stakeholders at the launch lauded DWF and KGL Foundation for the AGE Project, which is the first to be introduced in the Nkwanta South Municipality after the conflict, though the area is still under curfew.
