Girls' Life Choices
Duration: November 2019 – March 2021
Background
Investing in girls’ protection and economic empowerment sets a path for poverty reduction and building healthy societies/families. It supports girls’ fundamental rights and serves as a critical foundation for reducing gender inequalities and the vulnerability of girls. However, socio-cultural practices and beliefs in Ghana often remain a roadblock to exercising girls’ rights.
Traditional gender roles tend to restrict girls and women to the private/reproductive sphere while boys and men are predominantly represented in the public sphere including economic and social functions.
UNICEF and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) under the ‘Better Life for Girls in Ghana’ programme rolled out an initiative that aimed at addressing negative gender norms and empower adolescent girls through life skills and hardcore skills training to improve their employability skills. The initiative also intended to support girls’ economic independence and to offer an alternative to teenage pregnancy and child marriage.
The Girls’ Life Choices reached community leadership, including chiefs, queen mothers, and religious leaders, in 80 communities, to influence socio-cultural norms, perceptions, practices and myths that negatively affect adolescent girls thereby assuring and ensuring enabling environments for the adaption of priority health seeking behaviours which promotes the safety and protection of adolescent girls in Ghana.
Highlights
- 500 girls were mentored by master craft persons through sensitization on the opportunities that exist in traditionally-male dominated trades. This was to inspire them to access skills opportunities known to be traditionally male specific.
- The 500 girls were further enrolled in skills training apprenticeships: carpentry, tiling, electricals, glassworks (fabrication), spraying, painting, masonry and welding. Each beneficiary is being provided with start-up tools as a requirement for the apprenticeship and for future work.
- Eighty (80) of the 500 girls were linked to a month internship with the private and public sector. The internship provided two things: industrial experience and further employment opportunities.
- 42,475 adolescent boys and girls, women and men, and opinion leaders reached with life skills, ASRH, CP/SGBV (through Face-to-face engagement- clubs, music, sports, games, radio programmes). This group includes the 2000 adolescent girls who were engaged in weekly life skills and ASHR sessions in their communities.
- 96.3% of adolescent girls and boys are exhibiting increased knowledge in reproductive health issues, increased agency in making informed decisions and have become assertive especially with regards to their rights.
- Out of the 80 communities reached, all duty bearers engaged, representing 100% are showing increased awareness of child protection related issues as well as manifesting positive attitude and behaviours towards issues of ASRH, Gender Equality, Child Protection and the prevention and response to Child marriage and Sexual and Gender-Based Violence.
Next Step
Though the project has officially ended, Savana Signatures is working closely with the social welfare department and community leaders in project catchment areas to ensure girls stay safe, including encouraging reporting of cases of abuse, especially through the Savana Signatures’ Sexual Health Education Plus (SHE+) toll-free number 0800 00 11 22, where health professionals provide counseling and referral services to social justice institutions.
Together with 32 teachers and 32 community volunteers, Savana Signatures is monitoring the progress of the 500 adolescents’ apprenticeship training and ensuring there is a safer environment for the girls to thrive. Savana Signatures is equally committed to raising funds to extend the duration of the apprenticeship training as well as enroll other adolescent girls who expressed interest in the programme but were not included due to budget limitations.