In a bold change of custom, traditional leaders in the Kassena-Nankana Municipality of the Upper East Region, are sharpening new tools of knowledge to support the fight against child marriage.
They said they had observed the harmful cultural practice had frustrated the bright future of dozens of young adolescents as scores of them had had their education truncated, with others living in misery.
The pledge was made at a two-day capacity building workshop on ending child marriage organised by the Obaapa Development Foundation, a non-profit organisation, at Navrongo, capital of the Kassena-Nankana Municipality.
The NGO, with funding support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has been embarking on the project, dubbed: “Ending Child Marriage” since 2023.
The project seeks to sensitise chiefs, traditional leaders who are the guardians of culture to rise to become champions of change, working assiduously to complement the efforts of government and its development partners to eradicate child marriage.
The Paramount Chief for the Navrongo Traditional Area, Pe Asagpaare Aneakwoa Balinia Adda II, pledged his unwavering commitment to use his influence to work toward lessening the phenomenon if not eliminated for the good of the young adolescents.
The Executive Director for the Obaapa Development Foundation, Nana Hemaa Awindor, told the gathering that, the organisation since its establishment had been immersed in the development of women and children, adding that it had actually been working closely with the traditional leaders to effect a change in some obnoxious cultural norms that militated against the growth of the female child.
Some representatives of the Ghana Health Service, Ghana Education Service and the civil society organisations promised their bid to join hands with the traditional authorities to stamp out the menace in the municipality.
Meanwhile, statistics from the District Health Information Management (DHIM) of the Kassena-Nankana Municipality reveals that, a total of 200 adolescent girls (between the ages of 15-19) became pregnant in the first half of 2025.
FROM FRANCIS DABRE DABANG, NAVRONGO
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