A Non-Governmental Organisation, Women in Need-WIN have trained some 24 teachers in the Gomoa West and the Ajumako Enyan Essiam District to support girls to fight sexual and gender-based violence.

The organisation is rolling out series of programs aimed at dealing with sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in some of the communities in the two districts of the Central Region.

The project is expected to contribute to an improved environment for women and girl’s participation in decision making and also address gender and sexual-based violence in the communities.

Also, the organisation is implementing the Equal Rights and Opportunities for Women and Girls Project (EROP) with part of the project strategies being the training of the 24 teachers who would also provide training for girls in the various Junior High Schools in the two Districts.

The training is centred on the rights and the remedies of the girl-child when their rights are being abused.

At the training workshop, the Programmes Officer of WIN, Abigail Addo-Quaye emphasized how the project would empower the girl-child by providing her with diverse opportunities and a safer environment to enable them to realise their educational and life goals.

“We want to ensure that their dreams are not curtailed and so we are encouraging them to report abuses to the appropriate quarters for redress."

Another of the project’s goals is to form clubs in the various schools within the communities that would champion issues of the rights of the girl-child as well as empowering them on how to deal with issues of sexual and gender-based abuses.

“The initiative has culminated in the formation of the EROP Support Clubs consisting of diverse stakeholders. These support clubs are stationed in the selected communities to respond to issues of SGBV, as well as support schools and communities to fight the abuses."

Abigail Addo-Quaye further indicated the organisation desires to empower women and girls to recognise their human rights and the training of the teachers is critical to supporting the move through sensitization and education.

“We expect the teachers to orient the various clubs in their schools and train the club members,” she averred.

A senior investigator with the Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Alex Kobina Afful, who took the teachers through the training, asked the teachers to inculcate in the girls' values of boldness and assertiveness so they could report abuses to their parents.

He cautioned that matters of crime are not settled at home but are reported to the police for actions to be taken and encouraged them to resist all attempts to settle abuses by themselves.

Mr Afful reiterated that people were becoming conscious and bold in reporting sexual and gender-based violence and want such practices to go on to end such obnoxious practices that inhibit the growth and development of girls and women. 

“Go back to your schools and teach the children about their rights. Get them informed so they would be armed with knowledge about what their rights are,” he said.

On her part, Gender Desk Officer for Gomoa West, Sophia Graham, assured her office would follow up with advocacies to sustain the campaign.

She said: “When our District planning committee unit is deciding on projects, we will impress on them to involve women. We will make sure that we won’t leave the women behind.”

Women In Need (WIN) is collaborating with the Ghana Sexual & Reproductive Health Rights Alliance (GH-Alliance) and Africa Centre for Human Rights & Sustainable Development (AfCHuRSD), in implementing the same in the Northern part of Ghana.

The project is being funded by the Dutch Embassy in Ghana and as part of the project strategies, selected community members are trained as EROP Support Teams to promote Women and Girl-child Rights.

The Equal Rights and Opportunities for Women and Girls Project (EROP) aims at emphasising the need for women and girls to be supported to take leadership positions and partake in decision-making processes, and organize community forums in their various localities to engage community members.