By Eunice Hilda A. Mensah
Accra June 02, GNA – Nana Oye Bampoe Addo, the Deputy Chief of Staff, says Plan International Ghana’s “She Leads” project is a force for accountability, transforming deeply embedded gender norms for promoting gender equality and shared opportunities.
The force is also uniting local, regional and national effort to empower girls and young women to take up space and demand their rights.
Government, she said was therefore, ready to partner the non-governmental organisation to push the force and achieve their collective goal of promoting gender equality and same opportunities for all.
Madam Addo made the remark at the launch of the She Leads Social Movement by Plan International Ghana in Accra.
The She Leads Project has mobilized more than thousand girls and young women across Ghana into a dynamic social movement advocating gender equality, inclusive leadership, and the protection of girls’ rights.
The network includes student clubs, community advocates, change champions, and partner organizations.
The She Leads Social movement is a network that brings together more than one thousand girls and young women and partners of the She Leads programme to act as change agents to promote equal opportunities for girls and young women and help address systematic barriers which limit their participation in leadership and decision making.
Madam Bampoe Addo, giving the keynote address, said it was prudent to strengthen the collaboration between government, youth-led and gender movements to achieve real and lasting change.
“To every girl and young woman listening to me today, sit at the table of decision-making with or without a chair. Take up space, lead boldly, challenge injustice and hold your leaders including me accountable,” she said.
The collaboration had become necessary because women constituted 50.7 per cent of the population, yet held only 14.9 per cent (41) of parliamentary seats as of the 2024 elections, a slight increase from 14.5 per cent in 2021, she said.
At the local government level, the disparity, she said was even more pronounced with women making up just 4.1 per cent of elected assembly members in the 2023 District Level Elections.
The Deputy Chief of Staff said regionally, Sub-Saharan Africa had seen women’s representation in national parliaments rise from 12 per cent in 2000 to 25 per cent in 2020.
However, the progress was uneven, with countries like Rwanda achieving 63.7 per cent female parliamentary representation, while others lagged significantly behind.
“These figures underscore the systemic barriers that continue to limit women’s full participation in leadership and decision-making roles,” she explained.
Madam Addo advising members of the social movement said: “Leverage your voice, use digital platforms, build communities, mobilise for change. You have the tools, you have the power and you have our support. The future is not being handed to you, it is being claimed by your voices, your actions and your unity.”
Mr Constant Tchona, the Country Director of Plan International Ghana, said the launch of the She Leads Social Movement was not just an event, but a bold declaration that girls and young women
would no longer stand at the margins of leadership and decision-making, but at the center, where they rightfully belonged.
At Plan International Ghana, he said they believed deeply in the power of girls and young women.
“When they are given the tools, the platform, and the space to lead, they do more than transform their own lives – they uplift families, reshape communities, and challenge long-standing systems of exclusion and inequality,” she said.
The She Leads Project, he said had been a living testimony to what was possible when an investment was made directly in girls and young women.
“We have witnessed them lead powerful advocacy efforts on menstrual hygiene, quality education, child marriage, climate justice, and gender equality – with courage, clarity, and unwavering determination.
“To the girls and young women here today, I see you. I believe in you. Your voice is powerful. Your dreams are valid. Your leadership is essential. Never stop believing in your potential. Never stop speaking up. You are not just the future – you are the now,” he said.
GNA
Edited by George-Ramsey Benamba