Some stakeholders in the fight against child marriages in the country have identified lack of support and effective collaboration of state institutions, government agencies including other organizations mandated by law to deal with the issue as a major challenge to dealing the canker.
According to them, although numerous interventions are being implemented across the length and breath of the country by various Civil Society Groups, and NGOs in partnership with key UN Agencies and the government in attempt to address the issue, it appears nothing concrete is being done to yield result due to lack of cooperation of state agencies, media, other stakeholders and the general public.
They are therefore calling on all and sundry especially the state institutions mandated by law to deal with the issue including the media to come on board and support them in their bid to end the fight against child marriage in Ghana.
These observation came to light totally dominating every discussion made at a 1-day National Kayayei Stakeholders and Coalition Meeting held in Accra on Friday February 16, 2018.
The consultation forum was organized by Purim African Youth Development Platform (PAYDP), an NGO spearheading the campaign in the country to end child marriage with focus on Kayayei (head porters) with support from UNFPA.
The forum, an initiative of Purim African Youth Development Platform (PAYDP), an NGO spearheading the campaign in the country to end child marriage with focus on Kayayei(head porters), provided a platform to discuss and share ideas on the key challenges they are confronted with in country with the view of finding amicable solutions to them.
It was also an avenue to review the ongoing project by PAYDP supported by the UNFPA dubbed:“Provision of Integrated Legal Literacy, Livelihood Skills Training and Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Services the Kayayei in selected Urban Markets in Three Regions in Ghana”.
According to the Executive Director of PAYD, Ms. Aku Xornam Kevi, the reason for organizing the meeting was simply to provide a holistic approach in looking at the issues of girls especially Kayayei.
“What we’re saying is that when we are looking at the issues of girls especially Kayayei, we should not only look at livelihood, reproductive health, we should not only look at issues of their right but should address these issues holistically” she stressed.
Present at the forum were representatives of various key stakeholders championing the cause in the fight against child marriage and other social vices including the Ministry of the Gender Children and Social Protection, National Youth Authority(NYA), UNICEF, UNFPA, IOM, CSOs and NGOs, Kayeyei Youth Association among others.
Addressing participants, the Executive Director of PAYD, Ms. Aku Xornam Kevi touched on the ongoing project her outfit is championing with support from UNFPA.
She explained it is an intervention aimed at empowering vulnerable adolescent Kayayei to make informed decisions, improve their economic status and reduce their vulnerabilities to Gender Based Violence and its consequences, including forced marriages and cohabitation.
The project, she explained which targeted 1500 Kayayei’s across 10 major markets in the Greater Accra, Ashanti and Brong Ahafo regions of Ghana has already yielded some results witnessing the training of sixty(60) girls as peer educators while ninety(90) girls were also trained as gender violence champions who will be able to tell their communities in terms of their rights.
The PAYDP boss noted a lot of interventions are also underway under the project to better the life of these unfortunate girls after the training so they can stay at home at work instead of roaming the streets as head porters which exposes them to a lot of danger.
For example she hinted of setting up of structures which will serve as both Reproductive and Enterprise Centres to cater for the upkeep of the girls as well as a place where they can produce their products.
Ms. Kevi mentioned there’s also an arrangement going on between her outfit and the Food and Drug Authority (FDA) to register products like detergents, flour-made products including other products to pave way the girls to be recognized internationally in order to market their wares .
Finally she disclosed there’s an online platform developed for the Kayayei to ease sale of their products on the both national and international market level known as “Kayamade” so that there products do not get wasted each time it is produced.
Child marriage is a canker which ought to be eradicated due its devastating consequences on the society. There is no hidden fact that when a girl is married as a child, her fundamental rights are violated. Unfortunately Ghana is one those countries with high rate of child marriages which is a major issue begging for an answer. In fact several researches pointed to high rate of statistics portraying Ghana as such.
Recent statistics on child marriages gathered by PAYDP during the course of its project also revealed 1 out 5 girls in Ghana is married before their 18th birthday on the average, however in the three Northern Regions of Ghana the situation is even worse as the number increases to 1 out of 3 girls which is a worry.
Again one of the key issues raised by PAYD suggests child marriage is one of the major reason why the girls are being forced out of home into Kayayei.
But reacting to suggestions on what ought to be done as a country to expedite the eradication of the canker in the country, Ms. Selina Opoku, UNFPA’s National Programme Analyst for Gender maintained the only way to go is to see all stakeholders on board collaborating effectively with each other in the fight.
She called on the all state agencies and their allies mandated by law to deal with the situation as well as the media to strengthen up partnership with NGOs, CSOs and the general public in a bid to end the menace.
For his part, Mr. Foster Adzraku, an officer from Child Marriage Unit at the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection noted his outfit is making a lot efforts together with other key development partners to ensure that coordination at all levels work out effectively as captured in the national strategic framework.
The Director in charge of Projects and Procurement at the National Youth Authority, Mr. Emmanuel-Anaman Mensah said the authority is ready to partner with any organization working to improve the lives of the youth in the country which Kayeyei’s are not excluded.
He cited various projects that are currently ongoing to bring interventions to the youth by the authority having got the interest of the youth at heart.
For example the online marketing training program which currently 3,000 youth are beneficiaries launched by the President barely two weeks ago.
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