Public urged to support women, young girls develop potential
The board chairperson of the Hope for Future Generation (HFFG), Ms Dorothy Maame Donkoh, has called on the public to collectively work together to provide a voice for the voiceless, including women and girls.
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She encouraged Ghanaians to adopt meaningful strategies that would help to create awareness and support efforts in promoting the aspirations to unleash the potentials of women and young girls, particularly in the areas of education, health, decent employment and good governance.
She made the call at a programme organised by the HFFG in Accra, as part of activities marking the International Day of the Girl Child.
The celebration of the day, declared by the United Nations in 2011 to support the provision of more opportunity for girls and increase awareness of inequality faced by girls worldwide based upon their gender, focuses on promoting girls empowerment.
Ms Donkoh said the HFFG, which is a Ghanaian non-governmental organisation, working to improve the health, education and socio-economic status of women, youth and children in deprived communities, was its grateful to the media for joining the platform to get the voice of women and young people heard to make the world a better place for all.
Need for data
The Representative of the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), Dr Babatunde Ahonsi, said there was the need for “Global Girls Data Movement’’, so that with relevant data and information, policy makers, communities, civil society organisations, youth-led groups, activists and young girls, can shape policies and initiatives that positively affect the lives of girls in the world.
According to Dr Ahonsi, if key stakeholders attached the requisite importance to the well-being of adolescent girls, the needed data would be collected on them, stressing that to be able to assess, monitor, communicate the well-being and progress of girls, there was the need for relevant and sex disaggregated data.
Persons with disability
As part of the celebration, HFFG came up with a visionary project known as HopePal which focuses on persons with disability.
According to the Executive Director of HopePal Project, Mrs Cecilia Senoo, the project was built on three pillars.
These are the HopePal mentoring of young people, the HopePal advocacy and capacity building, as well as service delivery.
She, therefore, encouraged the public and development partners to support the HFFG to achieve its vision.
NPP Loyal Ladies
In a related development, the Loyal Ladies of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has wished all Ghanaian women a happy celebration and urged women and girls to make the best choice by voting for the party and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, a presidential candidate who has their concerns and plight at heart.
A statement issued by the association said women in Ghana formed about 51 per cent of the country’s population but had not been adequately involved in the decision-making process and called on all Ghanaians, irrespective of their gender, ethnicity and religion, to make the right and best choice by voting for the NPP, which has the concerns of women at heart.