By Anthony Adongo Apubeo, GNA
Sandema (U/E), July 11, GNA – Young beneficiaries of the Sexual Health and Reproductive Education (SHARE) Project say a community-based mentorship intervention has transformed their lives by boosting their confidence, improving financial discipline, and equipping them with practical life skills.
The mentees shared their experiences at the close-out of the five-year SHARE Project, implemented by Right To Play in partnership with FAWE Ghana, WaterAid, and FHI 360, with funding support from Global Affairs Canada.
The project, rolled out in the Kassena-Nankana and Builsa North Municipalities and the Kassena-Nankana West and Bongo Districts, aims to advance gender equality by providing access to age-appropriate sexual and reproductive education and gender-responsive care for young people, especially girls and young women.
Under the mentorship intervention of the project, both in-school and out-of-school adolescents were targeted with age-appropriate sexual and reproductive education, financial literacy, life skills, and sexual and reproductive health education aimed at enabling them to make informed decisions.
Miss Michelle Amoabiik, an out-of-school beneficiary, said the mentorship sessions helped her overcome feelings of inferiority and empowered her to value herself as a young woman.
She said the programme challenged misconceptions that girls were less capable than boys and equipped participants with knowledge on menstrual hygiene management, including how to produce reusable sanitary pads.
“I used to depend on my parents for all my basic needs because I did not know how to save. Through the mentorship sessions, we learnt how to save and become responsible adolescents. Today, I can plan for my needs and feel more confident,” she said.
Miss Amoabiik noted that the confidence she gained through the project had encouraged her to pursue her dream of becoming a teacher after rewriting some of her examinations to qualify for admission to a teacher training institution.
Another mentee, 13-year-old Keziah Akusung, said that before joining the programme, she could not speak in public or express herself before strangers.
She said the mentorship activities, which used play-based learning approaches, had significantly improved her self-confidence and communication skills.
“Now I can stand in front of people and express myself confidently. I have also learnt how to save money for things like sanitary pads, books, and pens, which will reduce the burden on my parents,” she said.
The beneficiaries said the financial literacy component of the mentorship programme had encouraged them to distinguish between needs and wants, budget their limited resources, and cultivate a savings habit that would enable them to meet their personal needs independently.
Ms Elizabeth Anafo, Head of Programmes at Widows and Orphans Movement and SHARE Project Lead for the Builsa North Municipality, said the community-based mentorship programme had reached about 535 out-of-school adolescents in the municipality over the past three years.
She said that beyond improving adolescents’ knowledge of sexual and reproductive health and rights, the project deliberately integrated financial literacy and livelihood skills training to build self-reliance among the young people.
“We taught them budgeting, saving, and how to prioritise their needs. We also trained them in livelihood skills such as crocheting and doughnut making. Some are now using these skills to generate income to buy sanitary pads and meet other personal needs without depending on others,” she explained.
Ms Anafo said the project also bridged communication gaps between parents and adolescents, strengthened trust between communities and health workers, and used community mentors to simplify sensitive topics in local languages, making them easier for adolescents to understand.
She called on community leaders, traditional authorities, and government institutions to sustain the mentorship structures established under the project to ensure that more out-of-school adolescents continued to benefit from the intervention after the project’s closure.
Mr Harrison Akubor, Interim Country Director of Right To Play Ghana, said the project had empowered adolescents to better understand their rights, responsibilities, and available reproductive health services while improving menstrual hygiene awareness and informed decision-making.
He said the organisation had developed sustainability plans with the Ghana Health Service, Ghana Education Service, and local authorities to maintain the gains achieved through the project beyond its implementation period.
GNA
Edited by Caesar Abagali/Kenneth Odeng Adade
Reporter: Anthony Adongo ApubeoÂ
[email protected]