The ENOUGH! project implemented by Rural Initiatives for Self-Empowerment Ghana (RISE-Ghana), an advocacy organisation is contributing to empowerment of students and communities to help end Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) in some districts in the Upper East Region.
The project has not only increased knowledge of students and community members about SGBV and pathways for referrals which has led to increase in reported cases but has also increased students and community leadership involvement in fight against human rights abuses.
It has also strengthened stakeholder and institutional collaborations leading to rescuing of some victims of SGBV including defilement, child marriage as well as seeking justice for some survivors in the Kassena-Nankana Municipal, Kassena-Nankana West and Pusiga Districts.
Ms Jaw-haratu Amadu, Head of Programmes at RISE-Ghana brought these to light during the phase out meeting of the ENOUGH! project, held in Bolgatanga.
The meeting brought together state human rights and c
hild protection institutions, Ghana Education Service, teachers, Ghana Health Service, the Ghana Police Service, and traditional leaders.
The ENOUGH! project started in 2020 and implemented in partnership with Oxfam and Women in Law and Development in Africa (WILDAF) with funding support from the European Union, sought to empower women, girls, men, and boys to take positive action to ending SGBV in Ghana, Libera and Mali.
Ms Amadu indicated that apart from contributing to increasing assertiveness of young children especially girls, the project contributed to increase discussions, advocacy and reporting of SGBV cases in hard-to-reach communities.
‘More queen mothers have become active in informed advocacy, more men now are involved in community level advocacy and there is increase in knowledge of girls, boys, women and men on harmful traditional practices and the right path to seek justice and advice.’
‘The project has also helped to resolve domestic violence issues that would have led to divorce and other
consequences and also strengthened multisectoral collaborations in addressing SGBV,’ she added.
She however noted that delays in the adjudication of cases of SGBV at the court and charges on medical reports for survivors remained major challenges in the fight against SGBV and called on the government to as matter of urgency resource state institutions in that sector to function effectively.
Mr Haruna Alhassan, the Bawku Municipal Director of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), noted that apart from the 1992 Constitution, Ghana was enjoined by several international conventions and protocols to protect, promote, and enforce the rights of children at all levels.
He commended RISE-Ghana for contributing to the vision of CHRAJ and called for strengthened partnership to ensure that people were enlightened on issues of SGBV, ‘more of these collaborations would go a long way to reduce the rate of SGBV menace in our communities for better Ghana for all’.
Ms Rita Wepia Pwalua, the Kas
sena-Nankana Municipal Girl Child Education Officer of the Ghana Education Service, noted that through the collaboration with RISE-Ghana under the ENOUGH! project many girls had been rescued from child marriages in the area.
She therefore appealed to the traditional authorities to help fight the canker by enforcing traditional rules that punished perpetrators of child abuse particularly child marriage, rape, and defilement.
Source: Ghana News Agency