By Samira Larbie, GNA
Accra, March 10, GNA - Plan International Ghana, a Non-Governmental Organisation, has launched a Girls Advocacy Alliance project to help eliminate gender-based violence and abuses meted out to women.
The Alliance was inaugurated to mark the International Women’s Day and seeks to create a free and safe environment for women and girls in the country.
Mrs Fadimata Alainchar, the Country Director of Plan International Ghana, said at the launch that the alliance was aimed at raising awareness on the need for boys and men to partner and support women.
Its objective is to deal with child marriage, commercial sexual exploitation of children and child sex tourism as well as harnessing technical and vocational capacity for national development being the four main thematic areas it seeks to address to create opportunities and a decent environment for girls.
Speaking on the theme: “Be Bold for Change” Mrs Alainchar said there was the need for women to be bold and consistent in their pursuits, remain strong and focused so that when they were confronted with challenges they could still stand their grounds.
Mrs Alainchar said this was not going to be easy but it was important to empower girls at all cost to bring about the needed development.
She said in all the fights towards achieving girls’ rights, traditional practices had been the main obstacle for change and, thus, there was the need to critically look at those practices.
She called on NGOs to establish networks with community women in the fight against these abuses to pave the way for their active participation in initiatives and decision-making.
Mrs Alainchar, therefore, appealed to government, civil society groups and all stakeholders to join forces in empowering women for change.
Mrs Sheila Menka Premo, a Lawyer, advised girls not to allow boys to take nude pictures of them and also speak up when their rights were being violated.
She called on government to help in the fight against early marriage and provide resources to prosecute rape cases because this was a huge challenge facing girls with a lot more losing their lives as a result.
“Massive sex education should as well be embarked on to make girls aware and enable them know what to do when they are confronted with such abuses and punish teachers who are caught harassing girls sexually,” she said.
Mr Edmond Foley, a Lecturer at GIMPA, appealed to the Government to enforce the child and family policy and the justice for child policy and involve everybody to address the issues.
He said processes on the Criminal Offences Act should be hastened and also the dictates of the policy be taught, especially to girls, to enable them to stand up for themselves.
Ms Joan Koomson, the Programme Specialist of Donor Liaison, African Women Development Fund (AWDF), said there was the need to conscientise students to take up technical and vocational education and not see it as a course meant for failures.
She urged girls to believe in themselves and learn from the experiences of their “women role models” to become great in the future.
“You owe it to yourselves to be what you want to be. Nobody can do it for you even if your parents provide you with all your needs. You must, therefore, stay focused, start small and with determination you can make it. Go out there and be bold for change,” she said.
Ms Susan Namondo Ngongi, the UNICEF Country Director, advised parents to invest equally in girls as in boys adding it had been well documented that investment in girls yielded the greatest national dividends.
She said the willingness to constantly move forward and try new things such as the creation of this Alliance, made change easier to bear saying; “so let’s dream, plan, strategize and implement a different reality for young girls in Ghana.”
Supporting NGOs such as UNICEF, International Needs Ghana, World Vision International Ghana, and the Dutch Embassy pledged their support for the alliance as they stand in solidarity with its initiative.
GNA
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