The project is INGH's new phase of its “Promoting Adolescent Safe Spaces” (PASS) project and would work in three districts where it will engage the 18 communities to reduce the incidence of child marriages.

A programme officer at INGH, Isaac Arthur, said the organisation was committed to working with stakeholders to reduce child marriages to the barest by empowering girls to optimise their potential towards self and national development.

The project, a partnership between the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), under the Global Programme to Accelerate Action to End Child Marriage, is in its sixth phase.

It seeks to help girls to fully enjoy their childhood, free from the risk of child marriage and help them experience healthier, safer and more empowered life transitions.

Communities

The districts are the Cape Coast Metropolis, Agona West and Assin Fosu municipalities.

The selected communities in Cape Coast include Ola, Akwakrom, Yaayakwaano, Ansapetu, Akotokyir and Ntsin.

In Agona West, the communities include Dwenho, Akyiaso, Kukurantumi, Abodom, Nkum and Bobikuma.

For the Assin Municipality, beneficiary communities include Assin Awisam, Assin Essaman, Assin Akropong, Assin Worakese, Assin Nyankumasi and Assin Brofoyedur.

Since its inception, the PASS has been implemented in 67 communities primarily targeting girls and secondarily boys and parents to help rid communities of child marriage.

At an inception meeting last Thursday, Mr Arthur said child marriage denied particularly, girls, of their bright futures and left them usually in a vicious cycle of poverty.

Teenage pregnancy

The UNFPA Focal Person for the Central Region, David Allan Paintsil, said teenage pregnancy in the region, though still high, had seen a steady reduction in the past few years, with the region recording 10,030 teenage pregnancies in 2020.

He stated that the PASS project had proven to be a transformative intervention providing adolescent girls with supportive environments that foster personal growth, education and empowerment.

Reproductive health

The team leader for the project, Gloria Asare, for her part, stated that the project communities were chosen based on the high incidence of out-of-school girls, teenage pregnancies and child marriages, among other factors.

Ms Asare observed that the success of the previous phases, which educated adolescents on reproductive health to enable them to make informed choices on their sexuality, relationship formation, marriage and childbearing, had informed the continuation of the project.

Under the project, she said adolescents in beneficiary communities would be educated on various adolescent issues, including sexual and gender-based violence, adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights and menstrual hygiene, and support them to stay in school.

The Central Regional Director of the Department of Gender, Richlove Amamoo, also advised participating stakeholders to be results-oriented to ensure its success.