Agona Nyakrom: Obaapa Foundation, a non-governmental organization in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), organized a workshop for chiefs and queen mothers in Agona Nyakrom, located in the Agona West Municipal District of the Central Region, with the aim of eradicating child marriage.
According to Ghana News Agency, the two-day workshop was designed to empower traditional leaders to foster environments that support the development of adolescent girls. The event focused on enhancing the leaders’ knowledge of Gender-Based Violence (GBV), gender-sensitive adolescent sexual reproductive health rights, and family planning. Experts educated the participants on various topics including the effects of child marriage and related issues like Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV), health complications, and legal provisions with existing sanctions for offenders.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Mercy Brown, Director of Stores at the Police Headquarters, underscored the importance of ed
ucating traditional leaders about the consequences of teenage pregnancy, early marriage, and child abuse, especially given the rising number of early child deaths. She highlighted that child marriages pose significant risks to the nation, warning stakeholders against being indifferent, as such attitudes could have detrimental repercussions. ACP Brown emphasized that it is inappropriate for parents to abandon pregnant girls to live with the men responsible for their pregnancies, as these actions contribute to the prevalence of child marriage.
ACP Brown further elaborated that the transition period from adolescence to womanhood is particularly challenging for girls. During this time, they are more vulnerable to influences, and the pervasive issues of gender inequality and poverty increase their risk of becoming school dropouts, experiencing child marriage, contracting Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), adolescent pregnancy, and SGBV, among other issues. She encouraged chiefs and queen mothers to engage wi
th police or courts to address complex cases of early and child marriages in their communities for effective resolution.
Explaining the legal framework, ACP Brown stated that the rules and regulations concerning child marriages and related offences are explicitly outlined in Ghana’s 1992 Constitution. She urged participants and stakeholders to take immediate and decisive action against these practices within their communities. Additionally, she suggested that customary laws preventing child marriages could be presented to the Presidency for inclusion in national legislation.
Mrs. Dorcas Sam Mensah, a Public Health Nurse at the Agona West Municipal Health Directorate, discussed some of the health complications young girls face during pregnancy and childbirth due to their undeveloped bodies. She noted that apart from dropping out of school, these girls are at risk of malnutrition, anaemia, STIs, premature childbirth, low birth weight, and fistula, which can lead to entrenched poverty, diseases, or even death.
Reducing child marriage, she asserted, would significantly enhance the health and well-being of girls, women, and their children.
The chiefs and queen mothers expressed gratitude to the program organizers for their efforts to help girls avoid early and child marriages. They assured their commitment to applying the knowledge gained to promote gender equality in their communities. The workshop concluded with a durbar at the Agona Nyakrom palace forecourt, marking the end of community engagements. During this event, the Agona Nyakrom Paramountcy in the Agona West District declared their commitment to ending child marriage as part of the ‘Ending Child Marriage One Paramountcy at a Time’ initiative.