● Some of the girls making beads

 As part of efforts to pro­mote adolescent repro­ductive health among fe­males in the Wa East District, the Upper West Regional Youth Parliament has provided voca­tional skills in beads making to 31 teenage girls at Funsi as income generation venture for their upkeep.

The training which was sponsored by Plan Internation­al, Ghana, was in line with the quest of the Youth Parlia­ment to empower adolescent girls and provide them with a source of income that would enable them purchase basic items such as sanitary pads during menstruation and stop depending on men.

Speaking to The Spectator Newspaper during the train­ing, the Speaker of the Youth Parliament, Mr James Anabiga said the training was one of the interventions proposed to help teenage girls in the area meet their reproductive health needs as recommended in a study that was launched into adolescent and reproduc­tive health issues by the Youth Parliament last year.

Titled “Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health in the Wa East District of the Upper West Region: A Synthe­sis of Research Evidence”: the study revealed that teenage pregnancy was high in the district because many girls depended on men for san­itary pads in exchange for sex whereas others who did not, relied on rags which got them stained frequently and prevented them from going to school during menstruation.

Mr Anabiga said the study proposed that aside support­ing the girls with sanitary products, there was the need to empower them financial­ly to meet those obligations without relying on men.

The Speaker noted that the training which was carried out by resource persons from Halu Memorial Fashion College was one of the ways to empower the girls to produce bead­ed items such as necklace, earrings, bracelets and waist beads for sale.

He said that as part of the interventions, some of the girls earlier received menstru­al cups sponsored by ‘Could You?’, a nongovernmental Organisation in the United States of America and indi­cated that one cup could be used for up to 10 years before it was discarded hence would support beneficiaries till they were adults and financially capable to buy more.

“We also had separate meetings with stakeholders such as the Member of Par­liament, Mr Godfred Jasaw, District Chief Executive, Dr Suleman Kandi and traditional rulers on how to handle the research findings which pro­jected that teenage pregnan­cies were high in the district because boys supported girls with their sanitary needs and requested for sex in return”, he said.

He said all the interven­tions were aimed at reducing to the barest minimum issues around adolescent reproduc­tive health such as teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections.

Mr Anabiga said that 10 of the trainees would be given start-up materials to enable them set up mini businesses and produce more beaded items for sale for income gen­eration and encouraged them to put the skill to good use to ensure that they were able to train others in the trade.

A beneficiary, Bawa Am­ina who spoke on behalf of her colleagues commended the youth parliament for the intervention, which accord­ing to her, would serve as a source of livelihood for them.

From Lydia Darlington Fordjou