On International Day of the Girl Child, ActionAid Calls on Gov’t to Push Harder for the Ghanaian Girl

Sunday, 11^th October, 2015, is International Day of the Girl Child, a day observed around the world to celebrate the girl child and highlight the various challenges that assail their development and progress, thereby preventing them from enjoying their rights as full and creative human beings. On this day, efforts are also made to provide new ways, measures and programmes that may be pursued to tackle these problems and challenges.

Background
On December 19, 2011, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 66/170, and declared 11 October as the international day for the celebration of the girl child. The day has since been celebrated around the world, providing an advocacy and campaign platform for the discussion of the crucial issues that affect the girl child as all stages of her development–from birth, through adolescence to womanhood.

While many global campaigns, international protocols and conventions have promoted the rights of girls and women, usually calling for empowerment and more investment into awareness and enforcement programmes, these efforts have not yielded the desired results. In terms of gender-based violence, access to education and completion, social and economic development opportunities, the girl child has a lot of hurdles in her way.

Global Context and SGDs
This year, the International Day of Girl Child will be celebrated under the UN theme: The Power of the Adolescent Girl: Vision for 2030. This theme aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which will be targeting adolescent girls in an effort to address their needs and basic human rights to create a “formidable ripple effect,” according to UNICEF. Goal 5–Gender Equality–under the (SDGs), aims at providing women and girls with equal opportunity as those available to men, challenging long-held practices and discrimination against the girl child.

In many societies, especially in the developing world, girls suffer various forms of abuses and traditional forms of violence–ranging from early and forced marriage, marriage by abduction, FGM, rape, prostitution, and slavery. Females make up 64% of all illiterate adults while one in every seven girls in developing countries will be married before the age of 15. These factors delay and frustrate the education of girls, insult their sexuality and affect their dignity.

Ghanaian Context
On President John Mahama’s recent visit to the United States of America, actor Boris Cudjoe is reported to have commended Ghana’s women’s rights and girl empowerment efforts. The popular international actor of half Ghanaian parentage praised the President as a “great man who sees tremendous value in the empowerment of girls and pushes hard to end child marriages in Ghana.”

With an Affirmative Action Bill already underway, a social protection policy awaiting validation and other legal provisions protecting the rights of the girl child, the government has put in place programmes to promote girl empowerment. The Domestic Violence Act, FGM Act, and other legal provisions have signalled our determination to protect the rights of girls and women.

There have also been significant appointments of very capable women into strategic positions in the present government, which speaks well for women empowerment. However, a lot remains to be done for Ghanaian girls to enjoy their full human rights and other liberties.

ActionAid Girl Empowerment Interventions
As a rights-based organisation, we have designed programmes and interventions to promote the rights of the girl child in Ghana. Our model Girls’ Camp concept, which is in 14^th year, has been adopted by the Ghana Education Service as a powerful tool for mobilisation and empowerment. Our Girls Clubs and Young Female Parliament programmes have built the confidence and assertiveness of young girls to contest for leadership positions in their schools. In some rural communities, girls have been elected school prefects, taking part leadership activities in their schools and claiming their space in the decision-making process.

Our advocacy programmes on Action for Children’s Rights in Education (ACRE), Promoting Rights in Schools (PRS) have increased awareness on rights violations in schools. Our Young Urban Women’s Project is presently working with 2,000 young girls in leadership empowerment, decent work and sexual reproductive health, while our Global Platform continues to deliver practical training to young girls and boys to be change agents and impact their generation.

In spite of these interventions, the girl child in Ghana still faces lots of challenges. While the campaign against FGM is progressing steadily, Ghanaian parents are known to cross borders to cut their girls in neighbouring countries. Marriage by abduction, early and forced marriage and other abuses are perpetrated against girls in many communities.

On International Day of the Girl Child, ActionAid Ghana is calling on government and all gender-sensitive and advocacy institutions to push harder for the Ghanaian girl.

Benjamin Tawiah, Communications and PR Manager, ActionAid Ghana

Email: [email protected] ; Tel: 0507712476

ActionAid Ghana is an affiliate of ActionAid, a global movement of people working together to further greater human rights for all and defeat poverty and injustice in Africa, Asia and Latin America. We work with the poorest and marginalised communities in six regions in Ghana, using our Human Rights-Based Approach (HRBA) to implement pro-poor development interventions to bring meaningful change in the lives of people living in poverty.