Standard Chartered marks five years of extensive girl-child empowerment

Standard Chartered Bank has commemorated the 5th anniversary of its extensive girl-child empowerment scheme, dubbed "GOAL."

The anniversary was marked with a forum at the Stanchart head office in Accra on Tuesday, August 9 under the theme, "Celebrating 5 years of Goal in Ghana."

The scheme (GOAL), incepted in 2017, according to Stanchart Ghana, was mainly to break gender biases and challenges that plague adolescent girls and young ladies in most deprived communities in Ghana, particularly the Eastern and Greater Accra regions.

In delivering the welcome address, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Stanchart Ghana, Mansa Nettey, briefed the gathering on what they seek to achieve with the program and the kind of skills they inculcate into the young ladies.

“As a Bank, we believe that prioritising the well-being of girls and young women has an incredible intergenerational multiplier effect on communities and societies. Through Goal we have impacted over 10,000 girls providing them with tools to shape their own future and that of their families and communities, thus transforming their lives and lifting participation in our economy,” she noted.

She revealed that the GOAL initiative has combined sports with life-skills training to empower girls with the confidence, knowledge and skills needed to become integral economic leaders in their families and communities over the past 5 years.

Also speaking at the program was Mr. Eddie Mensah, the Managing Director of the Right to Dream Academy, one of the official partners of the "GOAL" initiative.

He urged young ladies to brace themselves for difficult tasks in life but should never allow discouragement from anyone to bring them down.

He charges them to also take charge of leadership positions, as all indications in the world now, particularly the COVID-19, show how male leaders around the world have failed.

Gracing the celebration as the special guest of honour was the Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, who commended the GOAL programme for the significant intervention in prioritizing girls from underprivileged homes. “I am excited that your work at Standard Chartered aligns with the country’s agenda of increasing enrollment of girls to pursue Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics related dispiclines to be active contributors to Ghana’s socio-economic transformation,” he stated.

The Minister further encouraged the GOAL beneficiaries to take advantage of every opportunity given them and not to underestimate themselves.

The GOAL programme teaches girls the critical facts about health, communication, rights and how to manage their personal finances in order to help them transform not just their own lives, but those of their families and friends. An additional module to address work readiness in a manner that develops career pathways for girls, alumni and coaches introduced in 2018.

At the end of the celebration, which was attended by students from some selected schools in Greater Accra and the Eastern region, some beneficiaries share their experiences of how impactful the program has been in their personal growth and development.