In a bid to end child marriage and violence against women in the Upper West Region, Plan International Ghana together with the Jamia Al-hidayah Al-Islamia and the Social Initiative for Literacy and Development Pogramme (SILDEP) has organised a trainer of trainer session for Imams and Islamic tutors in the Wa Municipality.
Staff from the Ghana Police Service, Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) took turns educating the participants on Child Marriage, its effects on child development and what the laws of the country say about Child marriage as well as Gender Based Violence and its effects of the development of women.
The training of Islamic leaders forms part of the Girls Advocacy Alliance (GAA) Project. The GAA project was started in 2016 and will end in 2020.
The project is to help eradicate child marriage by educating families, religious and traditional leaders on the negative effect of child abuse and repercussions far same under the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.
In the Upper West Region, SILDEP serves as one of the implementing partners of the GAA project.
Speaking to GBC at the sidelines of the training workshop, the Project Manager for the Girls Advocacy Alliance (GAA) Project at Plan International Ghana, Anna Nabere said a strategy being used under the project to end child marriage is to employ the services of ‘Change Makers’.
“Madam Nabere described the ‘Change Makers’ as people in influential positions in society who help shape the societies they live in. The GAA project therefore identified the selected Imams as ‘Change Makers’ thus the training,” Madam Nabere said.
The Project Manager for the Girls Advocacy Alliance (GAA) Project at Plan International Ghana said it was unfortunate that some individuals had misinterpreted the Qu’ran with regard to issues of child marriage to mean that when a ‘child is 15 and menstruating, she is old enough’.
Madam Nabere insisted that as Ghanaians, the Rule of Law is supreme and thus all other laws or notions in religion are subsumed under the national law.
Madam Nabere expressed hope that all the new knowledge acquired by the Imams would be disseminated when they returned to their respective communities.
The Chairman of the Jamia Al-hidayah Al-Islamia in the Upper West Region, Alhaji Yussif Issah, said as a society that seeks development, certain practices like child marriages and violence against women must be stopped.
He disclosed that in some published research, “one in five girls between the ages of 20 and 24 married before the age of 18”. Alhaji Issah said this was unfortunate as it constituted a violation of the laws of the country.
He commended Plan International Ghana and their partners for their continuous support to end child marriage in the region.
He encouraged the Imams present at the training workshop to use their influence in society to ensure that child marriage and violence against women become a thing of the past.
A Programs Manager at SILDEP, Ibrahim Wasor speaking to GBC said it was unfortunate that child marriage persisted in Northern Ghana.
He said another worrying trend particularly in the Sissala East Municipality is the commercial sex exploitation of girls. He said due to the increased commercial activities in the area and the lack of parental care, young girls had been forced to exchange sex for things like money, dresses and mobile phones.
Mr Wasor opined that if these practices are to end; parents, traditional and religious leaders must use their influence to encourage young girls to be in school while reporting persons who force their children into marriage of men who abuse women.
Story filed by Mark Smith.
