Mr Kwamena Duncan, the Central Regional Minister on Monday lauded the United Nations Population Fund and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNFPA-UNICEF) Joint Programme on the empowering adolescent girls in Ghana.

He said empowering the girl child was the best form of investment the two UN Agencies could focus on, because the education of girls is a strategic development priority.

The UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme, dubbed “Empowering Adolescent Girls through Improved Access to Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) and Rights-Based Quality Sexual and Reproductive Health Services in Ghana”, is being funded by the Canada Global Affairs in 36 districts in eight regions.

It is designed to support Government implement its adolescent girls’ vision and deliver more integrated and multi-sectoral responses to address the interrelated needs of adolescent girls in Ghana.

The timeframe for implementation is 2018-2020.

Mr Duncan gave the commendation when a delegation of the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme Steering Committee (JPSC) paid a courtesy call upon him in Cape Coast in the Central Region.

Members of the delegation include Mr Christian Tardif, Director, Cooperation, Canadian High Commission; Madam Anne-Claire Dufay, UNICEF Country Representative in Ghana; Mr Niyi Ojuolape, UNFPA Country Representative in Ghana; and Reverend Dr Comfort Asare, Director for Gender, Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection.

The visit forms part of the JPSC’s three-day field visit to project districts within the Central Region.

In line with the JPSC’s role to provide strategic direction and oversight of programme implementation, the joint field visit to districts such as the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem, provided an opportunity for UNFPA and UNICEF to showcase relevant interventions and results, share experiences with the JPSC and local stakeholders, and promote stronger synergies and coordination in convergence districts.

Mr Duncan hailed both UNICEF and UNFPA for undertaking a number of projects within the Region.

He expressed gratitude to the Canadian Government for its support to Ghana over the years, especially in the area of agriculture modernisation.

Mr Tardif praised the long standing relations that exist between Canada and Ghana.

He said Canada also has got a long standing project partners, both with UNICEF and UNFPA in the areas of water and sanitation, and child protection.

With regards to the project, Mr Tardif said women empowerment is important to the government of Canada; stating that “the empowerment of women is key to our foreign policy”.

Mr Ojuolape said the purpose of the project was to give CSE to adolescent girls.

On why the need for the project, he noted that “If you train a girl, you are training a nation. If you want this nation to succeed, to be strong in the future, you will have to look at the adolescent girl now.”

He said CSE was not just about sex education, but also includes the kind of education and training a girl would need to enable her become a full-fledged adult.

Mr Ojuolape called for an end to female genital mutilation, child abuse and gender based violence.

He said UNFPA was augmenting the project to ensure that the quality of lives of Ghanaians was improved and that the Government’s agenda of Ghana Beyond Aid was also achieved.

Madam Dufay said this year; they were also celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Right of the Child.

She said Ghana is the first country in the world to ratify the Convention on the Right of the Child, stating that “by doing so, Ghana showed commitment to protect the child and fulfill children’s right”.

“But there are some rights, essentially the right to education, right to protection, right to health - when it comes to the right to education; we see that too many girls because of poverty cannot continue their education.”

Madam Dufay said there is the need to support the girl child to pursue her education to enable her contribute to societal development.