By Yussif Ibrahim
Kumasi, Aug. 19, GNA – Girls and young women, under the She Leads Project, are advocating the voices of women to be heard as well as equal opportunities for them to contribute meaningfully to national development.
They also want policy makers to show commitment to the implementation of gender equality policies to create a level playing field for women to realise their full potentials.
This was in a statement issued by the Defence for Children International Ghana (DCI-Ghana), implementers of the She Leads Project, to commemorate the International Youth Day.
She Leads is a five-year strategic partnership between Plan International Netherlands, Defence for Children International/ ECPAT Netherlands, African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET), and Terre Des Hommes Netherlands, with sponsorship from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.
The project aims to increase sustained influence of girls and young women on decision-making and the transformation of gender norms in formal and informal institutions.
The statement, signed by Faustina Osei Prempeh, Programmes Manager of DCI-Ghana, and copied to the Ghana News Agency, called for the participation of the youth in decision-making to shape their lives.
It said the participation of the youth, especially girls and young women in decision-making, was not just a right, but key to sustainable development.
“The youth of the world face different challenges and barriers to prosperity, depending on which part of the world they are living in,” it said.
“Young people living in developed and developing countries are more prone to facing mental and social challenges.”
Even more difficult, the statement said, were the challenges girls and young women in underdeveloped countries face.
It said such girls were confronted with problems rooted in a lack of basic needs such as education, health, and employment; gender stereotypes, gender discrimination, and patriarchy.
Other challenges include gendered division of roles and responsibilities for boys and girls, Gender Based Violence and low representation of girls and young women in leadership.
GNA