The duo gave the commendation in Wednesday in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Elmina in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abbrem (KEEA) Municipality, during their three-day tour of some implementing districts in the Central Region.

The UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme, dubbed "Empowering Adolescent Girls through Improved Access to Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE)and Rights-Based Quality Sexual and Reproductive Health Services in Ghana", is being funded by the Canada Global Affairs in 36 districts in eight regions.

It is designed to support Government implement its adolescent girls' vision and deliver more integrated and multisectoral responses to address the interrelated needs of adolescent girls in Ghana.

The timeframe for implementation is 2018-2020.

Members of the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme Steering Committee (JPSC), which toured the Central Region include Madam Dufay, Mr Ojuolape, Mr Christian Tardif, Director, Cooperation, Canadian High Commission; and Reverend Dr Comfort Asare, Director for Gender, Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection.

The visit took the team to the Ekumfi District, the KEEA and Cape Coast.

Madam Dufay said: "We have seen good progress, we have being able to interact with teachers, students, health professionals, and parents, community and religious leaders."

"The main objective is to try and prevent teenage pregnancies because it breaks our hearts to see that too many girls are still getting pregnant when they are still in school," she added.

She said they wanted to make sure that boys and girls had the relevant information to prevent such pregnancies from occurring.

"We hear very often, the first answer is abstinence. Yes very good answer. But when girls and boys are in a different situation and they are tempted, or they are having a relationship, then they should be given the information on how to protect themselves and to avoid pregnancies," Madam Dufay said.

"And again, I am saying both girls and boys, because boys are also have a responsibility to prevent this."

She said during the visit, they had a great opportunity to interact also with the staff and students of the Cape Coast School for the Deaf and Blind.

"I was really touched by the fact that the staff, including the School Principal were very committed to this share information about healthy lifestyle and well-being of adolescents also with the children with special needs, because they need special attention."

She said it was very useful for them to witness for themselves the level of progress being made in the implementation of the project.

Madam Dufay said the government, civil society, health professionals, teachers, religious leaders and the media all had a role to play to make sure that children had access to basic social services, information and that they had a voice.

She said programmes must be designed to respond to the needs of children.

She also called all for action to response to the needs of adolescent boys and girls in Ghana, so that they would then contribute to society in the future.

Mr Ojuolape, who described the three-day tour as very eye opening, said it had opened their eyes to so many things.

He said it had also taught them about the things that they need to do better.

He said there were several good things that they were doing currently, which they need to scale-up.

He said the visit had opened their eyes to some few gaps, which they need to fix.

"It is really good for us to come to see these things for ourselves. It offered us the opportunity to meet our beneficiaries directly," he said.

"It also enabled us to appreciate the spirit of partnership and to also appreciate those who are working on the ground."