The Obaapa Development Foundation (ODF) in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has engaged traditional and religious leaders in the New Juaben Traditional Area on advocacy to end Gender-Based Violence.  

The two-day capacity building workshop was on the theme: “Commitment To Curbing Teenage Pregnancy and Ending Harmful Practices Including Child Marriage In Ghana – One Paramountcy at a time.”   

The workshop was held in Koforidua, and brought together Directors of the Social Welfare Department, Gender, Ghana Education Service, Ghana Health Service, Legal Practitioners, among others to give baseline information on the topic.  

This will deepen participants understanding to enable them to tackle the issue in a shared responsibility where each group can direct his opinion to specific action to take in solving the problem.  

Nana Hemaa Adwoa Awindor, Executive Director of Obaapa Development Foundation, in her capacity as a custodian of culture, said the Foundation aimed to build capacity and facilitate programmes for traditional and religious leaders to ensure that discriminatory systems, gender, and social norms were addressed.  

She advocated an end to child marriage, teenage pregnancy and other harmful practices.  

She said she had interacted with parents on such issues to guide the path of their children and get them enrolled in skillful programmes, and at the universities.  

Nana Hemaa Awindor is also a Development Queenmother of Afigya-Kwabre, in the Ashanti Kingdom, and bears the stool name Obaapa Adwoa Ankyaa.  

Rev. Justice K. Asumeng, District Minister of the Presbyterian Church, Ascension Congregation, Koforidua, said, “Religious leaders will use Quoran  / Bible ethics in the upbringing and nurturing of  children to ensure chastity that liberates the youth from the shackles of teenage pregnancy.”  

Nana Twumasi Dankwa, Gyasehene of the New Juaben Traditional Area, emphasised the need for traditional leaders to put their shoulders to the wheel focusing on the authority vested in them to curb the menace.  

The UNFPA works to uphold the rights and choices of women, girls and young people across more than 150 countries, and also aims to ensure every young person can fulfil their potentials.