To reduce teenage pregnancy: Wa Youth Parliament supports girls to acquire vocational skills
● 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