A three-day training workshop on gender-based violence and other critical issues affecting the reproductive health among young adolescents has been organised for journalists and media practitioners in the Upper East Region.
The workshop, organised by the Forum for African Women Educationists (FAWE) Ghana chapter was to equip participants with the requisite knowledge and skills in reporting gender issues, bearing in mind the sensitive nature of such reports.
It formed part of the Adolescent Sexual Reproductive Health Rights (ASRHR) and Gender Equality (GE) project being implemented by the organisation in partnership with Right to Play, WaterAid Ghana and FHI 360, with funding from Global Affairs Canada.
Addressing the participants on Wednesday, the Senior Field Officer of FAWE Ghana chapter, Emmanuel Tongya Gazari, disclosed that FAWE had prioritised issues afflicting the development of adolescents, and would continue to offer training to journalists on gender-sensitive reporting to foster a culture of inclusivity and ethical journalism.
“So, as part of the project design, FAWE Ghana, which is specialised in advocacy, has been handling the advocacy aspect of the project.
Prior to the beginning of the project, we realised there were still issues affecting our young people. Some of them have to do with the reproductive health and rights of the teenagers, gender equality, and the issue of harmful traditional practices, where some communities still hold the view that the place of the girl or woman is in the kitchen or another man’s house,” Mr Gazari said.
He, therefore, urged the trainees to commit to advocating the rights of adolescents in their news stories, including the ability of young girls to remain free from unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and all forms of sexual violence.
The Senior Field Officer further indicated that the issue of teenage pregnancy which was on a decline in the project operational areas such as the Bongo and Builsa North districts, as well as the Kassena-Nankana and West municipalities, had begun to surge again following the activities of illegal mining, popularly called “galamsey”.
The “galamseyers”, he alleged, lure the teenage girls in those areas with money, truncating the education enterprise of youngsters.
As a result, he called for deliberate efforts to tackle the illegal mining menace, so as to spare the young girls from a “blurred” future.
David Kwesi Wi Ghartey-Tagoe, a community radio initiator and lecturer, urged the media to be culturally and gender sensitive while addressing sexuality and gender issues.
