Plan Int’l Ghana tackles gender-based violence
Stakeholders in the country have been called upon to increase efforts to tackle gender-based violence (GBV) as the practice continues to affect the development of young people, particularly girls.
Head of Professional and Behavioural Sciences (PBS) at Fred Binka School of Public Health (Hohoe campus), University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS), Dr Emmanuel Manu, made the advocacy.
Dr Manu made the call when he addressed pupils mainly girls of Okajakrom E.P Primary School, in the Jasikan Municipality of the Oti Region, over the weekend.
The students had visited the Hohoe branch of UHAS on a mentorship programme, organised by Plan International Ghana, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), to inspire them to aspire to become female lecturers and other professionals.
Dr Manu, who is also a senior lecturer, stressed that gender violence should be regarded as a threat to development of girls, and lauded the NGO’s educational activities aimed at creating awareness about the effects of GBV.
He appealed to Plan International Ghana to design similar programmes to enable boys to also participate in such educational activities, since they (boys) were potential perpetrators of GBV.
Dr Manu said educating boys would enable them to understand the effects of gender violence when they grew into adulthood.
He said the NGO’s educational activities in the Jasikan Municipality, would definitely prepare the youth, particularly girls, to grow and become responsible adults.
This, Dr Manu said, was because they would appreciate the need for higher education in the environment of gender violence to become future leaders.
He said, due to the deprived nature of the Oti Region, some parents failed to live up to their parental responsibilities, which in turn exposed their children particularly the female children to GBV.
The Project Manager of “Be Smart, Learn and Stay Protected” of Plan International Ghana, Mr Bless Kofi Vieku, said the initiative covered 10 communities in the Jasikan Municipality, where girls in basic schools were being empowered to learn and protect themselves through mentorship programmes.
He said the programme would help adolescent girls to appreciate the numerous opportunities available to them, to develop and become responsible adults and contribute meaningfully to national development.
Mr Vieku said as part of the project, girls were educated on many of the available careers, and taken to female faculty members of UHAS to motivate them to aspire to become lecturers and other professionals, who would be at the centre of transforming their communities and country.
He gave the assurance that Plan International Ghana would intensify its educational activities in nurturing girls, to grow to become responsible adults, and asked stakeholders to embrace ongoing education against gender violence
FROM SAMUEL AGBEWODE, HOHOE
