GloMef upscales measures to tackle emerging needs of adolescents

By Dennis Peprah, GNA

Sunyani, (Bono), Nov. 25, GNA – The Global Media Foundation (GloMeF), a human rights and media advocacy non-governmental organisation has upscaled measures to tackle diverse challenges inimical to the holistic growth and development of adolescents in the Bono Region. 

In that regard, the NGO and its local partners have held an adolescent conference to intensify awareness creation on emerging and pressing adolescent concerns including child labour and exploitation and cocoa growing communities in the region. 

The day’s conference on the theme: “Empowering the next generation: GloMeF and partners deliver high impact,” sought to mobilise societal support to tackling child labour and other challenges inimical to the holistic growth and development children and adolescent boys and girls. 

At the opening session of the conference at Sunyani, Mr Vincent Antwi Agyei, the Sunyani Municipal Chief Executive, commended the NGO and its partners for impacting adolescent lives in the Municipality and beyond. 
The GloMeF in collaboration with Citizens Watch, and Indigenous Women Empowerment Network, also NGOs with support from Star Ghana Foundation, Unifor Social Justice Fund (Canada), West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI), ActionAid Ghana (AAG) organised the conference. 
It brought together adolescent boys and girls, teachers, parents, community leaders, and duty bearers, discussing diverse issues ranging from teenage pregnancy, mental health, child labour, as well as reproductive health and barriers to quality education. 

“The Municipal Assembly highly appreciated the immense efforts of the GloMeF towards championing adolescent empowerment at times youth vulnerabilities continue to rise,” Mr Agyei stated and called for more funding support for the NGO to do more to shape the lives of the youth. 

Mr Agyei urged the adolescents to remain focused and concentrate on their education, urging them to avoid negative peers, and endeavour to make responsible choices that align with their future dreams and aspirations. 

He said: “It’s worrying that many promising young people derailed their future through bad friends and peers,” and reiterated the government’s commitment towards improving adolescent welfare. 

Mr Agyei said initiatives like increased allocation for the Free Sanitary Pad Programme, improvements in textbook supplies as well as health facilities, and community water systems were testament of the government commitment to better the lives of the people. 

He called for concerted efforts to tackle the emerging needs of adolescents, calling for active collaborations between families, teachers and relevant stakeholders to protect the rights and dignity of children and adolescents. 

Earlier in a welcoming address, Mr Raphael Godlove Ahenu, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the GloMeF described the conference as a landmark initiative designed to reposition adolescents at the centre of the nation’s development agenda. 

He said the nation ought to do more to empower her adolescents by investing in the social, economic, and moral foundations of the future generation. 

Mr Ahenu said: “Today marks not just an event, but the beginning of a movement that seeks to place adolescents at the heart of national discourses,” saying despite their creativity, innovation and potential, adolescents were still faced with significant vulnerabilities. 

Those vulnerabilities include limited access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health information, cyberbullying and harmful online influences, rising teenage pregnancy and school dropout rates, unaddressed mental health challenges and barriers limiting leadership and civic participation, he said. 

Mr Ahenu explained that the conference sought to reverse the trend by providing a safe and enabling environment for adolescents to express their needs, aspirations, and proposed solutions.  

GNA 

Edited by Christabel Addo