Nana Hemaa Adjoa Awindor, the Executive Director for Obaapa Development Foundation, a non-governmental organisation, says strengthening the capacity of traditional leaders is essential to ending child marriage.
She said child marriage has become a global issue with alarming proportions in Africa, and that a collaborative effort was required to address it.
Nana Adjoa Awindor was speaking at a two-day capacity building workshop for traditional leaders in Anfoega Traditional Area in the North Dayi District of the Volta Region.
She asked chiefs and Queenmothers to be bold in taking urgent action to combat child marriage in their various communities.
The workshop was organised by the Obaapa Development Foundation and funded by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and was on the theme: “Ending Child Marriage in Ghana; One Paramountcy at a Time.”
Experts took the traditional leaders through topics, including the effect of child marriage, sexual and gender-based violence, health complications, legal provisions and existing sanctions.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Mercy Brown, Director of Store at the Police Headquarters, urged parents to refrain from sending their pregnant daughters away to live with the men who are responsible for their pregnancies.
She took the participants through the rules and regulations regarding child marriage and its related issues as spelt out in the 1992 constitution.
Mrs Thywill Eyra Kpe, Volta Regional Director, Department of Gender, said child marriage must be a concern to all and sundry and that globally 650 million girls and women were child brides.
She said Ghana’s 2021 population and housing census indicated that over 130 children were married before the age of 18.
Mrs Kpe, however, noted that Ghana had made some significant progress, resulting in a decline of the situation from 27 per cent in 2011 to 19 per cent in 2018.
Madam Stella Mawutor, Volta Regional Director for Social Welfare, said child marriage was one of the issues of child protection violations and that it was imperative for all stakeholders to pool efforts to deal with the situation.
Mr Dzidefo Agbavor from the Ghana Heath Service highlighted some of the complications young girls suffer during pregnancy and childbirth as result of undeveloped bodies, including sexually transmitted infections, premature childbirth, low birth weight and fistula.
Togbe Tepre Hodo IV, Paramount Chief of Anfoega Traditional Area thanked Obaapa Development Foundation and the UNFPA for organising the workshop.
He said his outfit was committed to working with other stakeholders to end child marriage in the area.
Source: GNA
