Standard Chartered Bank, Ghana, has launched a programme dubbed ‘Goal’ which is aimed at using sports and life skills to empower adolescent girls to make informed life choices.

The Goal programme is active in 21 countries and is delivered through local partners. The Right to Dream Academy is the local partner for Ghana.

Goal targets adolescent girls aged 12 to 20 in urban areas from low-income families. The programme will deliver training to 800 girls in the first year.

Goal was first launched and piloted in Delhi, India, in 2006 and reached 70 girls. Goal, as of last year, reached out to more than 285,000 girls from across the 21 countries and seeks to reach 600,000 girls from 2006 to 2018.

Commenting on the Goal project, Director of the programme, Natasha Kwakwa, said Stanchart recognises that gender equality is critical to economic growth, hence, the bank’s interest in investing in the project.

“Research demonstrates that one of the most impactful ways to enable women and facilitate economic equality is to ensure equal access to education. Countries with more equal education have on average a 23 percent greater income per capita,” she said.

“Educating girls and giving them tools to shape their own future has an incredible intergenerational multiplier effect on communities and societies. More educated women are healthier as their children who are more likely to attend school and study,” she added.