WUZDA Ghana and Partners Celebrate Girls on IDGC – 2021

This year’s International Day of the Girl Child had a focus on exposing the girl child to the digitization turn the world has taken, and how she can explore and learn from and through various online portals and activities.

The IDGC 2021 theme, “Digital generation, our generation”, raised conversation on the need for the girl child to become aware of e – learning approaches and media available for her learning and earning, should anything hit the world unprepared again, as the COVID – 19 pandemic did.

According to the Generation Equality Forum which came off in June and July, 2020, many girls around the world, especially in rural areas have less or no access to the internet and internet devices, compared to boys.

This, the forum says has been compounded by the pandemic, making more girls perform poorly in school and some dropping out completely.

WUZDA Ghana has consistently since 2019 implemented various activities every October on the IDGC, to advocate for better protection of the rights of the girl child.

The 2021 theme provided opportunity for WUZDA Ghana and partners to assess the understanding and access by students on our A24Y Project, to the various enhanced learning initiatives instituted by government to allow for girls to learn outside the classroom.

Our findings showed that, of the 180 girls on the “Optimized A24Y – Policy Prioritization as a Factor” project, less than 6% have access to the internet, while less than 3% own internet devices to support their access to the e – learning platforms.

The IDGC Week – long Activities

The girls, discussing the IDGC on Neesim FM – Tamale

The week – long activities on the IDGC this year started with a radio tour, where the girls were panelists in radio stations to discuss and educate the public on the need for the IDGC and for more attention to be paid to the growth of the girl child.

The girls also took turns to discuss issues of child marriage and its effects on the growth of the girl, as well as the causes and effects of teenage pregnancy.

The girls at the main IDGC Event ground

On the main event day of the IDGC; 11th October, IT Specialist, Mr. Hamidu Fuseini took time to educate the girls on the various platforms that are available on radio, TV and online for e – learning, as well as how to access them.

He also showed them some of the devices needed for one to access these platforms.

According to Hamidu Fuseini, “no girl can survive in the world of today, without any knowledge of IT, because the world itself has been digitized, even if it is being done arguably at a slow pace”.

He therefore encouraged the girls to read more, research more and ask more questions relating to the online materials that they come across, as a sure way to enhancing their knowledge on IT, for the world cannot wait for them.

A shot from the video production on the Masai bracelet weaving, which was shown to the girls

The day also saw girls acquire training on the weaving of the maasai bead bracelet which was done virtually, as a video was shown to them from a shop where production takes place, by a University student.

Representative for the Department of Social Welfare, Tamale, Mr. Abdul – Malik Awal explained to the girls about the mandate of the department and how it intervenes in providing welfare for the girl child.

WUZDA Ghana’s partner in the area of child development, Chance for Children, also had its representative, Mr. Thomas Jayen remind the girls about the need to help their colleagues on the streets who do not have the privileges to go to school as they do.

He called on the girls present to direct children they find on the streets of Tamale to the offices of Chance for Children for help on how they can also access opportunities and grow as normal children.

A shot of the WUZDA – Mundo Digi – mentorship whatsapp platform

The final and perhaps most important part of the celebration of the day, was the launch of the WUZDA – Mundo Digi – Mentorship platform, which is expected to provide the girls the opportunity to discuss matters of personal to them, on adolescence and growth.

This platform will be facilitated by a young lady in a university, Rachel Antwi, who is a mentor and teacher, with years of experience on topics and areas of importance to the growth of the girl.

Discussions on the platform will be coordinated by WUZDA Ghana’s Gender Desk Officer, Kaawie Felicia.

There has come the need for the girls, especially those in the Second Cycle level, to be guided on the kind of information they need to consume and those that require trashing.

This guidance and monitoring of information flow to the girls, is in line with the objective of the project, which connotes the title, “After 24 Years” before marriage.

The 2021 International Day of the Girl Child activities implementation, was funded by WUZDA Ghana’s partner in girl child development, Mundo Cooperante.

WUZDA Ghana’s Activity on Tracking Sales of Vegetables in Project Communities

WUZDA Ghana has over the past eighteen months been supporting communities in the Tamale Metropolis and Sagnarigu and Savelugu Municipalities in the cultivation of vegetables.

This initiative, under the project; “Farm – Promoting Urban Organic Waste for Food and Livelihood Security (FaPUOWaFLiS)”, is aimed at helping improve the economic levels of residents in the beneficiary communities.

Libiga, Datoyili, Wovogu, Wovoguma, Duunyin and Manguli have had various supports ranging from land acquisition and ownership solely for the community for vegetable cultivation, installation of drip technology to help in water utilization, seeds support for nursing, training and education on various farming best practices and many more.

As part of the training given to the farmers, avenues for sales are made for them to be able to sell the vegetables, since marketing is one of the main challenges facing farmers especially in remote areas.

Every harvesting season, WUZDA Ghana’s Program and Marketing and Credit Officers visit the communities to assess the quantity of wares and to advise the farmers on what to do in terms of recording the sales they make.

Women farmers in the Libiga community harvesting the ‘Bra leaves’ (Hibiscus)

A recent visit to the Wovoguma community showed the farm groups made a total sale of GH¢120.00 for the Bra leaves (Hibiscus).

For beans, they made a total sale of GH¢210.00 and GH¢100.00 total sale for cucumber. These sales were made from the individual farms on the field being managed by the group members.

In Duunyin, the individual farms on the field were washed away by rainwater, making it difficult for the farmers to harvest any of the okro they planted.

However, the group farm for the community survived, where the farmers were able to harvest some cucumber they planted, giving them total sales of GH¢ 135.50.

Healthy ‘Ayoyo’ leaves from the Libiga group farm

Both the individual and group farms in Libiga were healthy without signs of any pests or diseases on the crops, or any signs of flood causing destruction on the farm, according to the Marketing and Credit Officer.

The Libiga group farm gave the farmers a total sale of GH¢280.00, while the individual farms gave them a total sale of GH¢352.00, both realized from the ‘Ayoyo leaves’.

The field in Datoyili suffered some destruction as the Marketing and Credit Officer visited to ascertain the state of the farms and to track the sales of the vegetables in the community.

Some of the drip tapes were buried in a separate activity outside the farm, which resulted from one part of the farm fence coming down, making some of the planted cucumber in the field getting buried.

The farmers in the Datoyili community nonetheless made some sales from okro they planted at the beginning of the season, where they made total sales of GH¢352.00.

The okro and cucumber (Pointsett) crop varieties being cultivated by the farmers have harvesting periods of between 2 and 3 months, which gives the farmers a cycle of income generation from their all – year- round daily farming activities, including in the dry season.

From this, the next harvesting is expected to be in December, if planting on the fields in the communities take place in September, without major glitches and any setbacks during germination.

The “Farm – Promoting Urban Organic Waste for Food and Livelihood Security (FaPUOWaFLiS)” project, funded by Bread for the World in Germany, is entering its final quarter of implementation and the beneficiaries in the communities are excited about the intervention that has come to help alleviate poverty in their households.

WUZDA Ghana Assesses Pawpaw Plants in Project Communities

One of the activity components of the “Farm – Promoting Urban Organic Waste for Food and Livelihood Security (FaPUOWaFLiS)” Project is the growing of pawpaw to help improve nutrition, as well as the economic well – being of households within the target communities.

The “FaPUOWaFLiS” project has six communities across the Tamale Metropolis, Sagnarigu and Savelugu Municipals as target beneficiaries, where a selected number of male and female farmers are being supported with various technologies on improved ways of farming value chain, especially in the cultivation of vegetables.

A total of six households in each community were given seeds of the pawpaw variety to nurse and plant in front of their households, as some of the seeds were also planted at the group farms where the vegetables are being cultivated.

Upon the monitoring team’s visit and subsequent assessment, it was found that some of the seeds germinated into plants, but had perished due partly to the low amount of water they were getting.

Also, the team found that none of the pawpaw at the farms of the communities survived the first season.

Other plants had also grown but had not borne fruits because they were male seeds that were planted.

The female seeds planted by some of the households however bore fruits which according to some of them, were the second batch of fruiting they were experiencing. Some of the households the team spoke to, indicated that they did not find any seeds in the fruits from the first harvest.

As the team went round, the communities which had plants with higher number of fruits on them included Libiga and Wovoguma.

The others with a few number of plants; between one and three, bearing fruits, are Datooyili, Duunyin and Manguli. None of the pawpaw plants in the Wovogu community survived, which according to the beneficiaries is partly due to the unavailability of water to water them.

The pawpaw variety bears fruits between thirty and one hundred and twenty, and is due for harvesting within six months.

The “Farm – Promoting Urban Organic Waste for Food and Livelihood Security (FaPUOWaFLiS)” is a two – year project and is funded by Bread for the World in Germany.

Press Release – World Menstrual Hygiene Day – 2021

28th May, 2021

Statistics show that about 50% of the world’s female population; 26% of the global population, are of the reproductive age. Averagely, a woman menstruates for about seven years during her lifetime, between 4 and 7 days within the month.

On a day the world commemorates the “Menstrual Hygiene Day – 2021”, WUZDA Ghana reminds all stakeholders to continue to push in different ways to help create enabling environments for girls to have their menses without challenges, stay in school and have all the focus they need to learn.

According to one of “Nine key facts on menstruation” as captured on UNICEF website, “Many girls around the world do not have complete and accurate understanding of menstruation as a normal biological process. Educating girls before their first period and importantly, boys on menstruation, builds their confidence, contributes to social solidarity and encourages healthy habits. Such information should be provided at home and at school”.

In Ghana, more than a half of girls of menstruation age miss school due either to a lack of understanding of what it is, lacking pads to take care of themselves, or schools lacking WASH facilities for girls to change during the period.

Various health and academic researches on menstruation especially in rural Northern Ghana continue to show that about half of girls on menstruation do not go to school during their menses.

This contributes to the ineffectiveness of schooling for these girls, which has a long term effect on their future and the development of the nation.

Under the After 24 Years before Marriage (A24Y) Project, now scaled up to “Optimized A24Y – Policy Prioritization as Factor”, funded by Mundo Cooperante, WUZDA Ghana is supporting 100 girls of the prisons school complex with reusable menstrual products such as pads and panties, as well as education and monitoring on menstruation to help for them to stay in school during their period.

The theme for World Menstrual Hygiene Day – 2021 is “Action and Investment in Menstrual Hygiene and Health”.

According to experts, the poorest sections of the society have been the worst affected in accessing menstrual hygiene products during the COVID – 19 pandemic.

We therefore call on the government to as a matter of urgency, focus on increasing the investments in especially schools in rural areas with WASH facilities and hygiene products, for girls to be able to go back and stay in school at the end of every month during their menstrual period.

We encourage girls to remain confident and not feel stigmatized against, and always speak out on the challenges you face regarding your menstruation.

Happy World Menstrual Hygiene Day!!!

Shaibu Awudu (Media and Communications Officer)

WUZDA Ghana Holds Forum to Discuss Data Findings in Savannah Region Under “Optimized A24Y” Project

The Optimized After 24 Years before Marriage Project has an activity that seeks to gather real time information on children’s education in the target communities. This is to enable the project team better understand the situation in the communities and to fine – tune the activities on the project to suit the needs available.

WUZDA Ghana has been implementing the Child Marriage Project “Optimized After 24 Years – Policy Prioritization as a Factor” from January, 2021, which is a scale up of the A24Y Project. This project is being implemented in the Tamale Metropolis and Sagnarigu Municipality in the Northern Region and the North East District in the Savannah Region.

The data collection exercise was only carried out in the North East District of the Savannah Region, because it is a new addition to the target areas in the project.

After the data collection exercise, there was the need to gather all stakeholders under one umbrella to discuss and find the way forward to solving them.

Jentong – Fushila and Dakpemyili are the two main communities that are direct beneficiaries of the project in the Savannah Region.

The Dialogue on creating awareness on the promotion of education of the child, brought together key stakeholders in education in the district, including the District Director of Education who spoke about policy and how it affects children in the rural areas. The Coordinating Director of the district was also represented, whose representative responded to issues of educational infrastructure and the plans of the government for the area.

Program Manager Delivering an Opener for the Dialogue Session

Opening the dialogue forum for discussions to begin, Program Manager for WUZDA Ghana, Mr. Abdul Karim Ziblim reminded the stakeholders present that the main objective of the A24Y Project, which has now given birth to the “Optimized After 24 Years – Policy Prioritization as a Factor”, was to ensure that the girl child only gets married to a man of her choice after 24 years, when she would have either completed school to an established level, or completed a skill training of her choice, putting her in the best position to make a choice of how she wants her family to be like.

Mr. Karim added that the scaled up project aims at using dialogue with parents, PTAs, opinion leaders, government agencies and the District Assembly etc., with the expectation of identifying the challenges in the education sector, for which reason the rural areas have low numbers of enrolment and performance.

Gender Desk Officer Presenting the Data Findings to the Stakeholders

Highlighting some of the findings from the data gathered on child education in the two communities, Gender Desk Officer for WUZDA Ghana, Kaawie Felicia indicated that the data shows that many girls did not return when schools reopened, after the easing of the COVID – 19 restrictions, where the reasons are that some of them had travelled to look for money and others have been given out for marriage.

She added that according to the data, many of the young boys and girls are not originally in school and are not learning any skills to make them established in the future.

Miss Felicia said the data also found that the only school in the area has a toilet facility which is supposed to be used by the pupils and teachers, but the facility is in bad shape and not fit for purpose.

The Gender Desk Officer used the opportunity and based on the discouraging findings of the data collection to call on parents and guardians to pay more attention to the education of especially the girl child, since the girl child is more vulnerable and lacks the opportunity when it comes to education, particularly in the rural areas.

Chairman for the program and Assemblyman for the Jentong Electoral Area, under which all the target communities fall, Inusah Hamzah Lansah, used himself as an example of results of ensuring children have good education.

He said if he had not been to school to the level he did, he could not have climbed to become the assemblyman for the area, neither would he have been identified by WUZDA Ghana to contribute to solving the problems of education in the communities, for which reason he has been made the chairman of this important session.

Hamzah Lansah therefore called on parents and guardians present, to encourage their colleagues who are not, to raise their efforts at ensuring their children and wards go to school and stay in school, since he knows if a parent is committed enough, they surely will be able to provide whatever there is the need for the child to stay in school.

Teacher at Fushila Basic School Sharing the Realities in the Education of Children in the Area

Commenting on the need for parents and guardians to pay more attention to their children and wards education, a teacher of the school in the area said parents need to realize that they are those who own the children and have the utmost responsibility to cater for their educational needs.

She however added that the realities of the day also pose a challenges to the education in the area, calling on the government to reintroduce the Feeding Program to the school, because according to her, it contributes largely to the children’s coming to school and paying attention to learn, since some of the parents genuinely have challenges getting money for the children to go to feed while in school.

She also talked about the government’s school uniform policy which was helping the rural communities due to the low income levels of parents and guardians.

All stakeholders at the dialogue platform agreed that much as it is expected that government plays its role of crafting policies on education that favors children, parents, guardians and the larger society have a lot to do to make the child reach his or her full potential.

The “Optimized After 24 Years – Policy Prioritization as a Factor” is a year – long scale up project from the A24Y, and funded by Mundo Cooperante.

WUZDA Ghana Celebrates Street – Connected Children on IDSC – 2021, with series of advocacy activities

WUZDA Ghana and its local partners in collaboration with the global Consortium for the Street Children have commemorated the International Day for the Street Children, which has an objective to draw attention of governments over the world, to the debilitating conditions in which Street – connected children live.

With funding support from Mundo Cooperante, WUZDA Ghana and its CSO partners in child protection threw light on some services street – connected children have been lacking, which make them more vulnerable and highly exposed to harm, as they lack protection by the state, which is part of their fundamental rights.

The International Day for the Street Children, celebrated on the 12th of April each year, even though yet to be recognized formally by the United Nations, has become a global campaign for advocacy on the basic rights of street children, calling on duty bearers to ensure these children have an equal life, as any other child.

This year’s theme “Access to Essential Services”, is one of the four Steps to Equality, based on the UN General Comment on Children in Street Situations, breaking it into four actionable steps, which are “Commit to Equality, Protect Every Child, Provide Access to Services and Create Specialised Solutions.

In 2021, the Consortium for Street Children has enjoined all partner CSOs to concentrate on Step 3, which is “Provide Access to Services”.

Based on that, there have been loud calls on governments through series of advocacy campaigns with the IDSC, to take action so that street – connected children can access the services they need to reach their full potential.

WUZDA Ghana and local CSO partners, with funding from Mundo Cooperante implemented various activities to celebrate street – connected children in this year’s IDSC.

The local partner CSOs of WUZDA Ghana in this year’s celebration of the International Day for the Street Children are YOVI – Ghana, AFORD Foundation, Sung Foundation, YADEC, CEO, FORD – Ghana, Songtaba, Chance for Children, CIWED, IMA, SWIDA – Ghana and NOYED – Ghana.

The government agencies targeted for the response actions are the Departments of Children, Gender and Social Welfare, all under the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, as well as the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ).

The National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) was mainly targeted for its mandate in educating the public on their Civic Rights and Responsibilities.

Planning meeting on the IDSC – 2021 at the conference hall of WUZDA Ghana

The week – long celebration kicked off with a planning meeting with partners to devise strategies on carrying out the various activities including collecting data to better appreciate the street children situation in the Northern Region, Rehearsing with the street children on their rights so they are better placed to present a petition to the Department of Children for an intervention on their situation.

Leader of street – connected children presenting petition to the Department of Children, Northern Region

A petition was successfully presented to the Department of Children by ‘leaders’ of the street connected children, which was facilitated by a committee formed from the CSOs involved in the celebration.

There were radio and television shows in Tamale in the Northern Region and Kumasi in the Ashanti Region, to create public awareness about the day and to draw attention of the public to the gravity of the problem of streetism, as well as what is needed to end the menace.

The grand celebration of the day on the 12th of April, brought together all the stakeholders in an interface session to discuss what ways to join hands to eliminate the menace of streetism.

Some participants of the interface session at the commemoration of the IDSC

The session also had leaders of the street children share their experience on what they go through day and night, as they make a living on the streets.

Streetism has become one of the easiest routes to children becoming hardened criminals in Ghana, which various CSO analysis and reports have blamed parental neglect and shirking of responsibility for.

This year, the government is being called upon to create a better environment for street – connected children to access services including good education, food, medical care and more, to allow for them to reach their full potential.

WUZDA Ghana Trains Girls of the Prisons School Complex in Soap – Making

Beneficiary girls of WUZDA Ghana’s “Optimized After 24 Years – Policy Prioritization as a Factor” project, were provided a skill training in soap – making to increase their capacities as part of the girl child development drive.

The “Optimized After 24 Years – Policy Prioritization as a Factor” project, which is a scale – up of the “After 24 Years Before Marriage”, apart from helping improve both formal and informal education in girls in three MMDAs, seeks to enhance the potentials of the 100 beneficiary girls of the Prisons School Complex in all other skill potentials that they may have interests in.

The project saw the need to give the girls training in the production of liquid soap, due to the growing demand for soap during this COVID – pandemic.

All one hundred girls who are beneficiaries of the project were present for the training which took place on the premises of the Prisons School Complex, even though almost a half of these girls have completed the Junior High School and are either in the Senior High School, or are making preparations to join this year.

The objective of the project, as its title indicates, is to facilitate the grooming of the girl child until she is 24 years or more, before any marriage discussions begin; this will be after she has either completed school at the tertiary level, or has passed out of apprenticeship in a skill training, to allow for her to be on her own and not be a burden to a man in marriage.

This training in the production of liquid soap is one of the approaches the project is using to empower the girl child in line with the objective.

According to the Gender Desk Officer for WUZDA Ghana, Kaawie Felicia, the production of soap as a training was arrived at in the discussion with the team, from the demand of liquid soap by the school for hand washing, due to the COVID – 19 pandemic.

She said this was an approach to “kill two birds with one stone”, where the students on one hand learn how to prepare the liquid soap as an additional skill to their education, and be able to prepare the soap to support the schools hand washing from time to time, on the other hand.

Facilitator of the training showing the girls the step – by – step procedure in Preparation of the Liquid Soap

Facilitator and trainer of the girls in the production of the liquid soap, Henry Gyacham said he was impressed by the turnout of the girls, which means they all have interest in the additional skills that the project seeks to augment their education.

He added that the level of attention the girls paid to the exercise during the training, showed that they will have the skill at their fingertips for a long time even if they do not practice.

The “Optimized After 24 Years – Policy Prioritization as a Factor” is a year project being implemented by WUZDA Ghana, with funding from Mundo Cooperante.

The project is running in three MMDAs; Tamale Metropolis, Sagnarigu Municipal and North East Gonja District.

WUZDA Ghana in the Savannah Region for Community Entry Exercise of “Optimized After 24 Years – Policy Prioritization as a Factor” Project

The “Optimized After 24 Years – Policy Prioritization as a Factor” Project has taken off fully, with its second activity taking place in the two new target communities; Fushila and Dakpemyili, both within the Jantong Electoral area in the Salaga North District of the Savannah Region.

The activity; community entry, provided opportunity for WUZDA Ghana to introduce the project to the various stakeholders in development in the target communities, to get a buy – in into the project from the entire community.

The community entry activity, also provided a platform for the project staff to encourage the residents to take ownership of the project, as it comes to help empower them to lead in the development of the communities.

The team which visited the communities for the activity consisted the Program Manager, Training Coordinator, Gender Desk Officer, Media and Communications Officer and the officer Driver Assistant.

The project team met with the Chiefs and people of the two communities on separate days, as they explained how the project will use more of ‘software’ approach in this intervention to enlighten them on the various sectors of development and what their contributions are required to be, for the possible betterment of their livelihoods.

WUZDA Ghana Program Manager Leading Project Team, Explaining the project objective to the Chiefs and Opinion Leaders of the Fushila Community

Explaining the project objective to the chiefs and opinion leaders of the communities, Program Manager of WUZDA Ghana, Mr. Abdul Karim Ziblim related the issues of overall development in the communities with the poor commitment of the community members to sending their children to school.

He said many of the children in the communities have potentials of bright future but due to the ignorance or negligence of their parents and guardians, they are likely not to reach those potentials.

Mr. Karim therefore encouraged the community members to prioritize the education of the children especially that of the girl child, to allow for them to become what they are destined to, to enable them return to the community to help in the development drive.

The “Optimized After 24 Years – Policy Prioritization as a Factor” Project, has an overall objective of following up to influencing implementation of the National strategic Framework on Ending Child Marriage, through collaborations with three (3) administrative structures in Northern and Savannah Regions, ensuring 180 girls and boys gain access to future employable skills, by December 2021.

The other objectives of the project includes empowering members of the target communities to support the girl child’s growth, by sending her to, and allowing her stay in school or learn a skill until she is fully matured in the various sectors of human development before she is given out for marriage, after being allowed to make her own choice of a man.

All these efforts required of the community members and stakeholders, are expected to help in achieving one main objective of helping end Child Marriages in the rural communities.

Efforts on ending Child Marriages especially in our rural communities, cannot yield any positive results, without the involvement of basic schools in the target communities.

Project Team, together with teachers of the communities and the Assemblyman of the Jantong Electoral Area

Teachers of the basic schools in the two communities were fully involved in the community entry exercise of the project, where their representatives made pledges of their utmost support to help in the achievement of the project’s objectives.

The Assemblyman for the Jentong Electoral Area, Inusah Hamzah Lansah, who was involved in the activities in both communities, expressed gratitude for the intervention by WUZDA Ghana, particularly for the choice of Fushila and Dakpemyili as direct beneficiaries.

According to him, the two communities have been deprived of some basic amenities in development which have contributed over the years to girls’ school dropout rates rising, encouraging early marriages.

The chiefs and people of the Fushila and Dakpemyili communities pledged their full support and commitment for the project activities, since it has come to help them take the lead to solving some of the development problems they face, particularly with developing their children, especially the girl child.

The “Optimized After 24 Years – Policy Prioritization as a Factor” project is a year – long project being implemented in three MMDAs; Tamale Metropolitan, Sagnarigu Municipal and Salaga North District.

The “Optimized After 24 Years – Policy Prioritization as a Factor” project is funded by Mundo Cooperante.

WUZDA Ghana Conducts Planning Meeting of ‘Reloaded A24Y Project’, “Optimized After 24 Years – Policy Prioritization as a Factor”

Planning meeting for the anticipated “Optimized After 24 Years – Policy Prioritization as a Factor” Project has been held purposely to streamline activities for field implementation to commence.

The 12 – month A24Y Scale – up project, funded by our partner in Spain, Mundo Cooperante, is aimed at contributing to enriching policy implementation of the Ghana Strategic Framework on Ending Child Marriage, as well as other strategic documents on the development and protection of the rights of the girl child.

The planning meeting was aimed at considering the steps needed in entering the target communities of the project and to foster a cordial relationship between implementers and stakeholders alike.

The assemblyman for the Jentong Electoral Area under the Salaga North District of the Savannah Region, Inusah Hamzah Lansah who represented the District Assembly at the meeting, gave assurances of the government body’s utmost commitment to ensuring the objective of the project is achieved.

WUZDA Ghana team consisting the Program Manager, Monitoring/ Evaluation Officer and Gender Desk Officer engaging the Assemblyman for Jentong Electoral Area on the A24Y Project Reloaded

Background

The ‘Right to be a Girl – After 24 Years before Marriage” Project, which had a main objective of “strengthening the knowledge/ skills in 100 girls, and 100 parents to allow the girls acquire tertiary education before going into marriage with a man of their choice”, brought out a number of issues regarding the environment in which girls are expected to grow and develop.

The “Right to be a Girl – A24Y” Project which was a girl empowerment project implemented by WUZDA Ghana from April, 2019 to April, 2020, was aimed primarily at contributing to the fight against Early and Forced Girl Child Marriages, with Girls of the Prisons School Complex in Tamale as direct beneficiaries.

In the pilot project, WUZDA Ghana held series of sessions and interactions on Child Marriage, including causes and effects, which raised the understanding of the girls on the subject matter, as well as how to identify a potential Child Marriage case around them and what to do at their level to help the victim, if they are not the one affected.

Through these series of activities and interactions, the girls also had their confidence levels raised to allow for them to appropriately report potential cases of EFGCM either related to them, or a random case in their communities.

The ‘Right to be a Girl – A24Y” Project also built the confidence of the young girls regarding their menstruation and menstrual cycles.

Training sessions were organized on how they could make do with reusable menstrual pads and panties, where they were shown how to wash the pads and reuse them to cater for the problem of girls staying out of school during their menstruation, because their parents or guardians cannot afford to buy the sanitary commodity for them.

The final activity on the “Right to be a Girl – After 24 Years Before Marriage” Project saw a forum which brought together child development stakeholders such as the Social Welfare department, Department of Women and Girls, National Commission on Civic Education and others, to deliberate all the activities carried out on the project, and look for a way forward for a better environment for the growth of girls and for better education for them.

The main focus of the forum was the “Ghana National Strategic Framework on Ending Child Marriage for Ghana”, and how the policy document could be used to bring all stakeholders together to dialogue and take actions on the basic rights and protection for girls interests.

Optimized After 24 Years – ”Policy Prioritization as a Factor”

The final activity on the “Right to be a Girl – After 24 Years Before Marriage” Project, which is the forum held for deliberations on the Ghana National Strategic Framework on Ending Child Marriage, gave birth to some more ideas on what needs to be done to tighten collaboration with state authorities to the ensure the protection of the rights of girls.

The “Optimized After 24 Years – Policy Prioritization as a Factor” as a scale – up Project with funding support from Mundo Cooperante, has an overall objective of following up to influencing implementation of the National strategic Framework on Ending Child Marriage, through collaborations with three (3) administrative structures in Northern and Savannah Regions, ensuring 180 girls and boys gain access to future employable skills, by December 2021.

The project seeks to use the advocacy approach to draw attention of authorities to the need for the girl child development policy to be enforced with the aim of protecting the basic rights of the girl.

The target project MMDAs; Tamale Metropolitan, Sagnarigu Municipal and Salaga North District have many rural communities whose residents have minimal or no education on the basic girl child rights protection issues and the support available as rights for the girl.

Through the project, we will seek to educate on the larger scale, the communities and schools in the target districts on the need for all to support for the rights of the girl to be protected, since the girl child is among the vulnerable groupings in society.

The “Optimized After 24 Years – Policy Prioritization as a Factor” Project will travel across the twelve months of 2021, with series of engagement activities on both advocacy and community and stakeholder engagements on girl child policy enforcement.

WUZDA Ghana Conducts Monitoring of Project Vegetable Farm Fields as part of Preparation for Next Farming season

The “Farm – Promoting Urban Organic Waste for Food and Livelihood Security (FaPUoWAFLiS)” Project, has been running from October 2019, with its main focus on supporting deprived rural communities with basic farming techniques for the cultivation of vegetables using organic compost.

The two – year project, funded by our partner Bread for the World in Germany, which has 129 active vegetable farmers, both men and women as direct beneficiaries, uses waste water and the drip technology to aid rural communities improve their economic conditions and well – being.

As part of the review activities of the project after one year of implementation, the Monitoring and Evaluation Officer of WUZDA Ghana has the responsibility to tour the communities to ascertain the state of the various equipment installed for the drip system.

He would also interview the farmers to gauge their commitment levels and appreciation of what the intervention is doing right and which areas need reviewing.

The “FaPUoWaFLiS” project communities include Duunyin, Manguli, Datoyili, Wovogu, Wovoguma and Nyoglo. Each community has a group representing the vegetable farmers using a common field with separate beds for the cultivation of the organic vegetables.

The M & E Officer for WUZDA Ghana, Ibrahim Abdul Ganiyu, led by project field officers; the Program Officer, Abdul – Karim Mufty and drip technician, Alhassan Dawuda went round each of the communities and met with the leadership of the groups to the be taken through the farm fields and be provided with information on the true reflection of activities by their members.

WUZDA Ghana Drip Technician inspecting the drip system on the farm field of one of the beneficiary communities

The week’s monitoring visits were expected to help the team assess the drip equipment to ascertain their states after the previous farming season with the current weather condition, since some parts of the installed equipment are made of plastic.

Some 56 group heads were engaged across the six communities during the week – long monitoring visits to the farming communities.

The Monitoring and Evaluation Officer for WUZDA Ghana emphasized the need for the visits, saying it is to provide him the opportunity to do proper and qualitative reporting on the project so far, as it enters its second year in implementation.

Mr. Ganiyu added that it will be unfortunate to repeat mistakes and encounter more challenges, as in the first year of a project in the second, which is why he has the responsibility to gather adequate information on the ground after some time of implementation and proffer recommendations on what need to be done for those challenges to be mitigated and for errors to be corrected.

Program Officer of WUZDA Ghana, Abdul – Karim Mufty asserted that the monitoring visits have built up on the day – to – day monitoring the field team has been carrying out.

According to him, because the monitoring visits are dedicated activities on their own, they have brought out more information from the farmers than they already have, which will help his team better engage the farmers subsequently on their activities on the farm to produce more results.

The farmers in the various communities were delighted about the visit by the team and thanked WUZDA Ghana for the intervention, which they say has positively impacted the lives of some of them, whose education have been better than before, since they were able to make some good sales from the vegetables they cultivated in the last farming season.

Before the “FaPUOWaFLiS”, intervention, which has over 50 percent of its beneficiary vegetable farmers being women, most of the farmers were producing inorganic crops and vegetables for their household consumption without any plans or ideas for commercialization.

The project is currently making preparations to return to the fields in the rainy season to intensify work to ensure better impact on the lives of the farmers in the communities.