Accra, March 17, GNA - ActionAid Ghana (AAG), has lauded Ghana as it pledged its support to the nation for not signing the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), a trade partnership agreement between EU and African/Caribbean countries.

"We are pleased to hear that Ghana would not sign the EPA," Ms. Adwoa Kwateng-Kluvitse, Country Director, AAG, said in Accra on Wednesday. Launching the 20th anniversary celebration of AAG, Ms. Kwateng-Kluvitse explained that after careful analysis of the agreement, AAG did not see any benefit accruing to Ghanaians and other small scale farmers. "Rather the benefit of opening our markets would accrue to Europe. We would therefore commend government and encourage it to scrutinise the agreement and not be coerced or inveigled to sign it," she added. Ms. Kwateng-Kluvitse said the issue on production of bio-fuel in the country was of immense concern to the organisation; because there were huge implications for food security, land usage, environmental and human rights as a result of the unregulated upsurge of bio-fuel companies into the country.

She said Ghana needed to have a holistic energy policy including bio-fuel companies which protected its citizenry from unscrupulous bio-fuel companies.

"We need to ensure that there is accessible and fertile land for the next generation of farmers. We need to ensure that the economic trees that many women depend on are not destroyed and also the bio-diversity of the environment is not compromised by this mono cropping of huge acres of Jatropha," she added.

Ms. Kwateng-Kluvitse noted that over the last 20 years, AAG had made a greater impact on the lives of children, women and traditional rulers in about 300 communities within the Northern, Greater Accra, Volta, Brong Ahafo, Upper East and Upper West Regions focusing on building the capacity and power within people particularly, girls to be more assertive. AAG also organises training programmes for community leaders as change agents in the fight for the eradication of all negative cultural practices including female genital mutilation, child and forced marriage, domestic violence, widowhood rites, non-education of girls, non involvement of women in decision making in their communities.

Other achievements of AAG include the building of 91 schools, four childhood development centres, 16 nurses' and teachers' quarters, a clinic, 17 dams and tube wells, 13 grinding mills, 23 farmers' centres, numerous seed and grain banks.

0n the way forward, Ms. Kwateng-Kluvitse called for an end to violence against women and girls. "Some girls even face violence in schools supposed to be a safe haven to study, develop, blossom and eventually contribute to nations' development", she said. "Instead schools have become an avenue where girls are harassed, sexually abused, forced to sell their bodies for grades. This is an indictment on all those in positions of authority. There is no justification for any teacher to be in any kind of relationship with a pupil or student. Any such teacher should be sent to the courts and duly punished. Ghana should have a zero tolerance for this", she stressed. Activities earmarked for the year-long celebration include series of discussions and programmes in the media, fun games between staff of AAG and media personnel, organising girls' camp for all alumni of the camp, which began 10 years ago. 17 March 10