Young Urban Women project makes strides in Tamale

Health officers at the Bulpela Health Centre in the Tamale Metropolis have dedicated three hours of their time after work daily to educate young people especially girls aged between 15 and 24, on sexuality issues.

Madam Aisha Napari, a Peer Educator told the GNA in Tamale that as part of the Young Urban Women initiative at Tuuntigli, a suburb of Tamale, some girls were undertaking the reproductive health education to enable them to make informed choices.

She said due to lack of space, age difference, and work schedule, they had formed four groups that met mid-morning and late afternoon simultaneously for the education.

She said the Young Urban Women initiative had helped many of the young ladies to learn about how to calculate menstrual cycle, what to do in case one had menstrual pain, signs and symptoms of candidiasis and gonorrhea, as well as where to seek help.

“It was initially difficult for many of them to access information on family planning but now most of them are able to share and discuss with their husbands to do family planning,” she said.

Madam Napari said aside health issues, the group had been empowered economically on access to income, decent work, control over income and unpaid care work.

The Young Urban Woman: Life Choices and Livelihood Project is an initiative being implemented by NORSAAC, a Tamale-based non-governmental organization, with funding from the Norwegian Development Agency through ActionAid Ghana.

Ms Abubakari Kawusada, Coordinator for the project, explained that it was being implemented in Accra and Tamale, which also sought to unearth economic talents, expose beneficiaries to available job opportunities, reduce the menace of head porters or "Kayaye" and groom young women to be able to contribute to the nation’s economic growth.

She said the project, was complementing the capacity gap in the informal sector to provide associations, managers and owners of businesses and skills centres in the non-formal sector, the requisite skills to create an enabling environment for people to earn decent livelihoods.