Ms. Catelijine Mittendorff, Coordinator of ‘Her Choice Project’, said they should not shy away from discussing with them issues relating to menstruation, pregnancy planning, birth control methods and protection from STIs.

She said this was the way forward to help prevent young girls from getting pregnant and dropping out of school. Ms. Mittendorff made the call during a visit to Akode, one of the communities in the Eastern Region, benefiting from the ‘Her Choice Project’ to interact with school children and parents.

The “Her Choice” is a flagship project of The Hunger Project and aims at building communities where girls are empowered to decide when to marry on their own volition.  It is being implemented in selected communities in the Eastern and Central Regions and involves training of girls and women in alternative livelihood income sources to become self-sufficient.

Ms. Mittendorff indicated that it was not enough to tell children to abstain from pre-marital sex, more vigorous effort would have to be made to convince and get them to abstain. Research, she said, showed that 20 per cent of young people age 16 in Ghana, were sexually active and that was why everybody needed to be realist in their approach.

She counseled against early child marriage and asked that young girls were encouraged and motivated to pursue academic careers. Mr. Samuel Erasmus Afranie, Country Director of Hunger Project, expressed satisfaction with the enthusiasm of the beneficiary communities.