CARD Ghana organizes mentorship and leadership Girls Meetup in Wa

Community Aid for Rural Development (CARD Ghana), a non-governmental organization in the Upper West Region, has organized a mentorship and leadership Girls Meetup in Wa over the weekend.

The event, held under the She Leads Project, brought together girls from various Senior High Schools (SHSs) and communities, equipping them with vital leadership skills, public speaking skills, and awareness of pressing social issues affecting girls and young women.

The Acting Executive Director of CARD Ghana, Ms. Ernestina Biney, in her remarks, indicated that the program aimed to connect young girls to experienced female mentors from various fields.

“Our main objective is to inspire young girls to pursue their dreams and ambitions through mentorship and also to create an opportunity for the girls to connect with role models and peers,” she said.

She added that the meetup was organized to empower girls by building their confidence and capacity in leadership while addressing critical topics such as sexual and reproductive health, girl child education, sexual harassment, forced marriages, and the role of youth in ensuring peaceful elections.

Speaking on the importance of girl-child education, Pognaa Amamata Mumuni, queen-mother Duori and Wa Municipal Girl Child Education Coordinator highlighted some stumbling blocks hindering girls' access to education.

Pognaa Mumuni lamented the rising spate of teenage pregnancies, which usually result in the truncation of the education of girls despite a recent re-entry policy which allows girls to continue schooling while pregnant and after childbirth.

“And some of them, even though the policy is there, when you are pregnant, you feel shy to continue your education, you don’t want to sit with your colleagues again, [and with this] definitely, you will become a dropout,” she observed.

She also observed that broken homes resulting in single parenting and child neglect resulting from poor parental care were other causes of school dropout among girls.

Pognaa Amamata, therefore, called for concerted from all stakeholders including parents, traditional authorities, civil society, and the government to tackle the barriers that perpetuate educational disparity against girls.

Madam Shamira Ahmed, a health professional, sensitized the participants on sexual and reproductive health, highlighting the importance of understanding their bodies, safe practices, and access to health services.

She encouraged the girls to take ownership of their health and make informed decisions including prioritizing chastity to stay safe from teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections.

She cautioned the girls to never take in any pills in efforts to terminate unplanned pregnancies but to resort to Comprehensive Abortion Care (CAC) services which were now decentralized to all health facilities across the country.

The Upper West Region’s representative in the 2024 TV3 Ghana's Most Beautiful reality contest, Ms. Nancy Hatie, sharing her story, encouraged the girls to pursue their dreams and embrace leadership roles confidently.

She said she had to brace odds such as self-doubt to go to the reality house because she had a layer of self-believe that she needed to unleash the potential and serve “as a role model to the girls in my community and other communities to believe in themselves.”

“I just want you to believe that no matter where you come from, no matter your background, no matter some of the challenges you may face in your communities, it doesn’t stop you from dreaming big,” she said.

“Joining She Leads, it has boosted my confidence level from the percent it was to a higher percent and through this, I have also acquired leadership skills and currently, I am the ASP [Assistant Senior Prefect] of my school,” Rafikatu Manzala, a student of Wa Islamic SHS, said.

“What I want to become in future is all about confidence. I want to become a model and a girls advocate, so since She Leads has been able to build my confidence level, I think mu future in bright only if I continue to work hard towards it,” said Nazifa Bashiru, a student of Wa Senior High Technical School.

The sessions were Interspersed with performances by the girls, including educative drama, poetry recitals, and dances that depicted issues such as gender-based violence, teenage pregnancy, and the struggles encountered by girls.