Ministry urges support for development of Girl-Child programmes

The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection has urged Ghanaians to actively participate in this year’s International Day of the Girl Child celebration, focused on providing better education on Teenage Pregnancy, which results in Sexually Transmitted Infections, HIV and AIDS.

The focus is also to encourage young girls to return to school after giving birth, encourage women to venture into the technology field and to put a stop to gender-based violence and other harmful practices.

It is under the theme: “My Voice, Our Equal Future.”

A statement issued by the Ministry, and copied to the Ghana News Agency, in Accra, said these formed part of measures to promote gender equality for the full development of girls to participate in sustainable national development.

The Ministry has initiated a number of activities to commemorate observed, on October 8, every year.

The Ministry is organising the activities through the Departments of Children, Gender, and in collaboration with United Nations System - through UNICEF and UNFPA - and Plan International Ghana, among others.?

The activities are being carried out at the community, district, regional and national levels, using the child protection community facilitation toolkits to engage adolescents on selected topics. These include ‘Ending Teenage Pregnancy.’

They would also bring attention to the achievement for girls’ rights in line with the Beijing Declaration and platform for action and Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

From October 6, the statement said, the Ministry and its partners organised a community sensitisation in the Regions on how to promote adolescent health and wellbeing.

It also had radio discussions and debates on the celebration at the community, district and regional levels.

From October 9 to 11, the statement said,it would be holding a “Girls Meet Session at the GNAT Hostel to discuss Adolescence and Teenage Pregnancy Prevention, vis-à-vis the Re-entry Policy for Teenage Mothers, Planning for Advocacy, and Planning for the Future, looking beyond the ordinary.

On the 12th of October, 2020, the Ministry would also spearhead a “National Girls Forum at the GNAT Hall,” the statement said.

The statement referred to the Beijing Declaration and Platform Action as the most progressive blueprint ever for advancing the rights of not only women but also girls.?

Nearly 25 years later, it said, the Platform for Action remained a powerful foundation for assessing progress on gender equality.

It called for a world where every girl and woman could realise all her rights, such as to live free from violence, to attend and complete school, to choose when and whom she married, and to earn equal pay for equal work.

“The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection would like to use this opportunity to congratulate all stakeholders who have seen to the protection and promotion of the rights of girls in ensuring that, they grow up to be responsible and better people in the future," the statement said.

"We further urge all stakeholders to continue to strive for a better Ghana for our girls and all children of Ghana.

“Our children, especially the girls, need the most protection during this COVID-19 era, we must all make an effort by ensuring they adhere to the COVID-19 prevention protocols and ensure that, their rights are protected. ”