The portal, www.cm.mogcsp.gov.gh, was launched in September 2021, to enhance the accessibility of accurate, authentic, complete and reliable data on child marriage in Ghana to help combat its prevalence.

Addressing about 31 journalists in Kumasi, Mr. Senanu Agbozo, the Child Marriage Information Portal Consultant of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), said the portal was one of the means implemented to eradicate child marriage before 2030.
He explained that child marriage was a union (cohabitation) where one or both parties in the marriage were below 18 years, the legal age for marriage in Ghana.

According to him, there have been instances whereby various online sites provided contradictory statistics on child marriage in the country which negatively affected reports.

It was, therefore, necessary for Ghana to have a reliable portal where cases of child marriage could be reported to generate accurate statistics to assess the state of child marriage in the country, Mr. Agbozo pointed out.

Additionally, the portal could aid in academic and research works, while assisting journalists in reporting accurately on child marriage cases in the country.
He said the portal had five categories, including the Child Marriage Data and Statistics, Collaborations and Partners, Educational Materials and Guides, Projects and Events and Published Research.

Mr. Agbozo said information uploaded to the portal was validated by an editorial team of seasoned child marriage professionals, academia, representatives from the judicial service, and Civil Society Organizations, among others.

Hajia Saphia Tamimu, the Head of the Child Marriage Unit of the MOGCSP, said although child marriage declined from 40 per cent to 19.3 per cent in 1980 and 2018 respectively, one in every five girls were seen married or in a cohabitation relationship.

She observed that legal and policy frameworks had been put in place to curb the prevalence of child marriage, however, the practice was still persistent.

Hajia Tamimu said child poverty was one of the drivers of child marriage in Ghana which needed urgent attention. She said 78.4 per cent of children in Ghana suffered from multidimensional poverty consisting of inaccessibility of good healthcare, education and nutrition.

Also, 28.2 per cent of children suffered from monetary poverty, Hajia Tamimu stated.
She said the MOGCSP had put in place some measures such as the programmatic approach to analyse and address child marriage in the country.

Under the approach, Hajia Tamimu mentioned that, the MOGVSP rolled out the Gender-Transformative Accelerator Tool in 2022 to address the issue of life after rescuing child marriage victims.

Nana Kojo Ansah Sasraku, a participant from the Eastern Region, observed that though the country recorded a decline in child marriage cases, child prostitution was on the increase in the country.
He appealed to the authorities to pay attention to child prostitution as there could be a diversion from child marriage to child prostitution in the country.