By Solomon Gumah
Yunyoo (NE/R), June 11, GNA – The Department of Gender has organised a consultative workshop to solicit stakeholders support on child marriage and other harmful socio-cultural practices in the Yunyoo/Nasuan District in the North East Region.
The workshop, with funding from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) under its Country Programme (8) was to sensitise, increase awareness and make available information on issues of child marriage and other negative cultural practices that affect the holistic growth and development of women and girls in the area.
It was also aimed at providing the platform to discuss with chiefs, queen mothers, youth groups, Assembly members and other community opinion leaders, the detrimental effects of child marriage and the need to collectively strategise on ways to address its prevalence.
The event brought together about 50 community members including people living with disabilities (PwDs) and other key stakeholders in the district.
Madam Bushira Alhassan, the Acting Northern Regional Director, Department of Gender, said the workshop formed part of efforts to empower community members to serve as change agents (whistle blowers), using all available platforms to address these harmful practices and cultural norms, which impeded women and girls’ development in the area.
She said it was to solicit the support of community members as well as educate and help create awareness on the benefits of family planning and sexual and reproductive health rights of women and girls.
She used the platform to encourage parents and guardians to prioritise investing in the education and skills development of their children emphasising that parenting was a shared responsibility that required maximum time and resources from both parents.
Mr Iddrisu Sunday, the Northern Regional Director, Department of Children, said harmful cultural practices such as female genital mutilation, child marriage, allegations of witchcraft and banishment of victims from the communities were criminal offences that were punishable by laws of the country.
He said it was sad that some of these harmful practices like betrothal of young girls and child marriage in some instances, may curtail victims’ education, cause health complications during childbearing and delivery, and facilitate mental health issues due to trauma and stress they went through.
“This negative impact, therefore, calls for the urgent need for all stakeholders to support end child marriage and other harmful practices in our communities,” he said.
Mrs Salamatu Mejira, a Midwife at the Yunyoo/Nasuan District Health Directorate, who facilitated the workshop on Sexual and Representative Health Rights (SRHR), expressed worry over the increasing rate of teenage/adolescent pregnancy in the area.
She said the Yunyoo/Nasuan District recorded 247 teenage pregnancies in 2023 whilst 60 other cases were recorded in the first quarter of 2024.
She attributed the surging cases of teenage pregnancies to inadequate SRHR education, poverty, peer pressure, and decline in moral values, which had some devastating effects on adolescents, including increased risks of HIV and AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.
Mr Konlan Bitian, the Yunyoo/Nasuan District Chief Executive, said as part of measures to end child marriage in the area, the district had collaborated with the Department of Social Welfare and other community development agents to inaugurate the District Child Protection Committee to help safeguard children against all forms of abuse.
He called on the participants to set the milestone of being ambassadors who would champion the process to end child marriages and teenage pregnancies in the various communities.
Participants during the workshop among other proposals, urged parents to desist from demanding money from their teenagers who were in school and not earning income, saying such development put undue pressure on their children to get into early marriages and other harmful practices that could jeopardise their future.
GNA