Feature by Christabel Addo
Accra, Dec. 22, - Strategic
partnership between Government and Community leaders, especially those who lead
the various religious groups, has been identified as a key step towards
national development, and also the realisation of major successes of health
programmers.
Religious leaders have for
instance played significant roles in promoting health programmes such as
national immunization programmes in their communities, and because of their
integrity and the reverence they command from their societies, they are able to
convince people to participate in such events for successful outcomes.
There is however a wide gap still
existing in the health needs of young people in deprived communities, while
risks ranging from harmful traditional practices, such as child marriages and
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), to maternal mortality continue to rain
devastation and death on young women and girls.
According to the United Nations
Population Fund (UNFPA), Ghana recorded one of the highest child marriage
prevalence rates in the world. “Marrying girls as children exists and persists
as a challenge in Ghana with a 21 per cent national prevalence rate of girls
married before 18”. This implies that one out of five girls will be married
before their 18th birthday.
For girls to fully enjoy their
childhood free from the risk of early marriages, they must experience
healthier, safer and more empowered life transitions while in control of their
own destinies. These include making choices and decisions about their
education, sexuality, relationship formation or marriage and also childbearing.
In order to halt and reverse this
negative trend, there is the need to strengthen partnerships with partners who are
constantly in close relationship with these vulnerable groups so that they can
provide the needed counselling and support to enable them make informed
decisions.
Religious leaders have over the
years ensured that programmes areas such as sexual and reproductive health,
family planning, HIV and AIDS, gender equality and empowerment of women, have
been successfully implemented and achieving meaningful gains.
In this direction the UNFPA has
underscored the importance of harnessing the powers of these religious and
traditional leaders in communities, to achieve national development and
successes in critical health interventions and programmes.
Mr Niyi Ojuolape, the UNFPA’s
Country Representative, at a recent breakfast meeting with a section of Muslim
and Christian religious leaders in Accra, said his outfit has a very vibrant
and stout network of Faith-Based Organisations (FBO) as allies, in support of
its reproductive health agenda in the “Post 2015 Development Processes”.
Yet the engagement with FBOs at
the country level, with regards to the Government of Ghana (GoG) and UNFPA
Country Programme Six (CP6), which is just ending this year, was very limited.
Mr Ojuolape said moving into the
GoG and UNFPA’s Seventh Country Programme (CP7) which will commence in 2018,
“there is the need to interact with identified men and women of God, to build a
strong faith-based movement in support of the demographic dividend, sexual and
reproductive health, family planning, HIV and AIDS, gender equality and empowerment
of women within the context of the Sustainable Development Goals” (SDGs).
“These would help strengthen
faith-based advocacy, learning, build their capacities and ensure strategic
interventions for successes in rolled-out programmes in especially the
hard-to-reach communities of the country,” he said.
In the CP7 to be rolled out in
2018, issues that are key such as maternal health, addressing the comprehensive
sexuality needs of young people, gender equality and improving national data
population systems to ensure the availability of credible records, will feature
prominently.
This is why the need for strong
partnerships is crucial to be able to achieve these outputs targeting the SDGs.
“The UNFPA is planning to hold a
bigger consultation with FBOs as key partners to create a network dedicated to
promoting the agenda of ensuring a Zero tolerance of maternal mortality,
gender-based violence leading to rape, teenage pregnancies and FGM and also a
Zero tolerance of Adolescent unmet needs for Sexual and Reproductive Health
(SRH),” says its Country Representative.
Some of these identifiable FBOs
include the Muslim community, Coalition of Muslim Organisations of Ghana
(COMOG) and the Christian Council of Ghana (CCG).
It has however been documented
that the endorsement of influential religious leaders to new ideas on
demographic dividend, family planning, HIV and AIDS, gender equality and
empowerment of women have helped communities to accept and adopt these
approaches.
For example, the Government of
Indonesia’s engagement with leaders of Islamic-based organisations has resulted
in several fatwas (religious decisions) that have been instrumental in the
acceptance of the issues by the wider community.
Some churches have also accepted
these new approaches and integrated them into youth and pre-marriage
counselling respectively, primary and secondary education, as well as in other
religious events, which is worth replicating in Ghana.
Reverend Dr Kwabena Opuni
Frimpong, the General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana (CCG)
welcomed the UNFPA effort to revitalise its partnership with FBOs, who have
over the years supported various programmes by operating from the periphery.
He admitted that the issues are
enormous and “we want to deepen our partnership so as to enhance
accountability”.
He has also pledged the full
support and partnership of the CCG to the UNPFA’s programmes to support the
Demographic Dividend, sexual and reproductive health as well as family
planning, HIV and AIDS, gender equality and empowerment of women within the
context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Sheikh Amin Bamba, the Director
of Bamba Islamic Institute, Ghana, and Principal Imam of the Qudwah Mosque in
Tamale, said with the government’s decision of going beyond aid, FBOs would
need technical assistance to be able to enhance their existing programmes.
Lt. Col. Umar Sanda Ahmed (Rtd)
also an Imam, and Hajia Hajara Muhammed, a Member of the National Commission
for Education, representing the Muslim community, admitted that the dynamics
were changing and it was important that parents got closer to their children
especially their girls, in order to help them through their difficult moments.
They all welcomed the renewed
partnership with the UNFPA and pledged their support to work towards improving
education, communication and closing the health need gaps of the hard to reach
communities.
It is worth noting that the
challenges facing young people today are many, especially with the advent of
internet and mobile phones, because they can be easily influenced by wrong
information. It is therefore important that some ancient barrier to
communicating SRH issues be broken in order to protect the future and health of
the younger generation.
It also requires a change in the
way things have been done in the past. There is the need to repackage for
instance controversial messages on family planning and other sensitive issues
that borders on sexuality, in order to make their presentation to the youth
much easier for religious leaders.
GNA
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