Women in Sustainability Africa (WiSA) has been launched in Accra with an aim to acceler­ate growth and the closure of gender inequality gap.

Speaking at the launch, the Con­venor for WiSA, Nana Yaa Serwaa Sarpong, said that, “Gender inequality gap cannot be closed by women alone, calling for catalytic efforts to cause a revolution in order to achieve such goal.”

Madam Sarpong also stated that, “this is the new beginning of gender empowerment and the new wave which must be propagated across Afri­ca without any antagonism.”

She said the key to bridging gen­der inequality gap is two sided, say­ing that, “First is men standing side by side with women and secondly, the recognition of women as a source of labour with positive return on every investment that is made to build ca­pacity in women.”

Additionally, Madam Sarpong underlined that the organisation will work with men, ‘he or she’ cham­pions, CSOs, Corporate Institutions, local and International Development Organisations to bring all women and women groups together (especially those at the grassroots level) to fos­ter the achievement of the Sustain­able Development Goals (SDGs) across Africa.

The Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Dr Agnes Naa Momo Lartey, said recognising the proportionate impact of climate change on women, the Ministry has developed a roadmap to strengthen gender responsiveness of social pro­tection programmes.

According to her, this initiative aims to ensure that their interven­tions were inclusive, equitable and effective in building resilience among vulnerable populations.

The campaign will be celebrated as part of the activities of May 1, and throughout the month of May every year.

She disclosed that in partnership with WiSA and other stakeholders.

Dr Lartey again indicated that he Ministry will use the campaign to recognise women nationally and continentally as sources of labour and agents of sustainability.

Furthermore, the Minister stated that the campaign would be rolled out in schools, media platforms and community spaces.

The Minister of State in charge of Climate Change and Sustainability, Issifu Seidu, on his part said, “African women have always been the back­bone of our communities, playing key roles in agriculture, healthcare, education, and the informal economy.

However, he noted that their contributions remain undervalued and underappreciated in many spheres of society.

 By Esinam Jemima Kuatsinu

Plan International Ghana’s adoles­cent girls’ intervention in some communities in northern Ghana has helped retain adolescent girls in school and enhance their education to enable them to achieve their life aspirations.

These interventions included the adolescent Drop-in Centres, school Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) facilities, improved access to and use of sanitary pads and changing rooms for girls.

The Drop-in Centres had been equipped with indoor and outdoor games, including ludu, oware, and footballs and a television set, to keep the girls lively while going through mentorship and sensitisation at the Centre.

That became known during a field visit to the Mimima, Sagadugu and Gu­abuliga communities in the North East Region, where those interventions were being implemented to ascertain the impact of the projects on the people.

The visit was to climax a three-day capacity-building workshop for some journalists and media practitioners in northern Ghana organised by Plan International Ghana, a development and humanitarian Non-governmental Organisation (NGO).

At the Mimima community, where a Drop-in Centre had been constructed, some adolescent girls told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview that the Centre was empowering them to take responsibility for their bodies.

Agnes, 14 (not her real name), said they were receiving Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (ASRHR) education, including menstru­al hygiene management, which had enhanced their dignity.

She noted that had enabled them stay in school during their menstrual periods, ensuring their effective par­ticipation in academic activities and improving their educational perfor­mances.

Ms Hamdya Baaba, the facilitator at the Drop-in Centre at Mimima, said she had been teaching the girls good menstrual hygiene management and SRHR to prevent them from pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.

Some parents in the community also praised the interventions as they saved their girl children from using rags to manage their menstruation.

“Some of us used to fold rags for our girl children during their menstru­al periods, and because of that, they sometimes stained themselves with blood. But when Plan International Ghana came to this community, it taught the girls how to use sanitary pads.”

The NGO also gave the girls some reusable sanitary pads that they can always wash and use, and because of that, the girls are always in school even during their menstrual periods,” Mad­am Abena Miyanga, a parent, stated.

The Mimima community is also ben­efiting from the Educational Outcome Fund (EOF) project, where out-of-school children from the age of eight to 16 receive a nine-month cycle of literacy and numeracy training through Complementary Basic Education (CBE) and were integrated into the main­stream education.

Madam Miyanga told the GNA that her child, who dropped out of school, had returned and was currently in basic five through the EOF’s CBE programme.

Eleven-year-old Magdalene, a par­ticipant of the project and currently in basic six, expressed gratitude to Plan International Ghana for the interven­tion, as it had given her the opportuni­ty to acquire formal education.

The Integrated Package for Sustain­able Development (IPADEV) project constructed a WASH facility and girls’ changing rooms at the Sagadugu R/C Basic School to ensure safe access to WASH services and a place for men­strual hygiene management while in school. —GNA