The Rural Initiative for Self-Empowerment Ghana (RISE-Ghana), has launched a campaign dubbed ‘Good Dads,’ to promote Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) and nutritional needs of adolescents in three districts in the Upper East Region.
The ‘Good Dads’ campaign is intended to highlight the efforts of fathers who are advancing the rights of adolescents in terms of safeguarding their SRHR and nutrition, so that they would be equipped to champion these rights for adolescents at the community level.
The launch of the campaign involved 45 fathers, drawn from Bawku West, Bongo, and Kassena-Nankana West Districts, who were trained on the SRHR and nutritional needs of adolescents to enable them lead radio discussions in their communities while safeguarding adolescents from sexual and any form of abuse.
It formed part of its project, ‘Advancing Adolescent SRHR within the Sahel and other emergencies in the Upper East Region,’ being implemented in the three districts with funding support from UNICEF.
The proj
ect aimed at assessing the availability and effectiveness of SRHR and nutrition services in communities to improve multi-sectoral collaboration, coordination, and feedback for improved outcomes.
Alhaji Awal Ahmed Kariama, the Executive Director of RISE-Ghana, said because of the Sahel crisis in Burkina Faso, many people in their border communities migrated into Ghana and that had put pressure on the health facilities and other social amenities in these host localities.
He said amid these challenges, the health and nutritional needs of adolescents were not being addressed, and there was the need to initiate deliberate steps to champion their needs to enable them grow and develop their full potential.
‘At the end of the day, we want to ensure that these adolescents are not vulnerable to sexual abuse, malnutrition, or sexual predation, among others, and that is why
we have trained these stakeholders to help the adolescents understand their sexual rights and how to access services,’ he added.
He reiterated t
hat safeguarding adolescents was a collective responsibility and the role of parents, particularly fathers, was critical and urged them to live up to their responsibilities for their full development.
Madam Veronica Togbe, a Social Development Officer at the Department of Social Welfare and Community Development, on the topic: ‘Adolescent Rights and Safeguarding,’ said parents needed to create a cordial relationship with their children.
She said that would enable the children to feel secure and comfortable while remaining transparent on issues affecting them, so they could be guided.
Mr Peter Gbandaan, a participant, said the training was enlightening, ‘It has opened our eyes to the blind spots we never noticed especially on where fathers limit caretaking to only providing food and shelter. Now we have been exposed to the fact that it goes beyond that, and we need to get involved’.
He called on his colleague fathers to show commitment to the needs of their adolescent children to prevent them being carried
away by bad peer influence.
Source: Ghana News Agency