A stakeholder meeting has been held in Accra by Savana Signatures and Edukans, a Ghanaian Non-Governmental Organisation operating in the Northern, Upper West and Volta regions.
Edukans is also a Dutch Non-Governmental Organisation, and the meeting was to discuss the findings and lessons of a 2-year Ready Steady Ghana pilot project.
The project involved the development of a Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) programme to address the Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights needs of young people in Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) institutions in Ghana.
Ready Steady Ghana uses a two-pronged approach; capacity building and development of an SRHR guideline for TVET providers, based on which a new CSE curriculum for TVET institutions was developed. The project was funded by Nuffic and implemented by Edukans and Savana Signatures.
According to Mr. Frederick Yenbaar Nuuri-Teg, the Ready Steady Ghana project coordinator for Savana Signatures, a 2015 study by the two organisations found that young people between ages 18 and 24 suffered high cases of SRHR related conditions — teenage pregnancy, STIs and sexual and gender-based violence — due to limited knowledge, attitude and skills.
It found that 80 percent of girls and 73 percent of boys between 15 and 24 years do not have adequate knowledge on SRHR, which affects their ability to make decisions regarding their health and future. It further revealed that 10 percent of girls and boys in Ghana had their first sexual intercourse before 15 years, and 47 percent of young women and 32 percent of young men lack knowledge on SRHR.
Mr. Herman Kruijer, SRHR specialist for the project from Edukans said, “There is overwhelming evidence on the existence of sexual and reproductive problems among adolescents in Ghana, one of these problems being the huge knowledge gap of SRHR among adolescents in the country.”
He added that, “These and some other factors influenced the piloting of the Ready Steady programme in Ghana.”
To develop a workable curriculum, Savana Signatures and Edukans successfully piloted the project in six formal and non-formal TVET partner organisations —BIBIR, Challenging Heights, Heifer International Ghana, Kumasi Institute for Tropical Agriculture (KITA), Network for Community Planning and Development (NECPAD) and Suglo N-Nya Behiagu Women’s Association — and the outcomes have been positive.
It was made evident that the analysis of the project indicates significant improvement in knowledge on SRHR and positive attitudes towards SRHR issues among beneficiaries.
The Executive Director of Savana Signatures, Mr. John Stephen Agbenyo, stated that “Ready Steady Ghana comes along with guidelines for its implementation, and therefore serves as a starting point for policy development and implementation of programmes for improvement of SRHR for TVET trainees.”
He added that, “It further seeks to reach and empower more young people by scaling-up to reach other formal and informal TVET institutions in Ghana by building the capacity of TVET providers to facilitate the Ready Steady Ghana curriculum.”
Mr. Nuuri-Teg added that, “we really need to engage and interact further with Government through the relevant state institutions to explore the possibility of adopting the SRHR curriculum, manual and guidelines at the national level to ensure more young people in TVET institutions have access to comprehensive Sexuality Education.”
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By: citinewsroom.com|Ghana
The post NGOs develop curriculum for young people in TVET institutions on sexual and reproductive health issues appeared first on Citi Newsroom.
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