To commemorate the International Day of the Girl Child with the theme – ‘Invest in girls’ rights: Our leadership, our well-being’, Plan International Ghana, with their She Leads campaign, organized a 4-day bootcamp aimed at preparing girls and young women to fill the gap in female leadership in the near future.

The nationwide media campaign which was launched on the annual International Women’s Day in 2021 is set to empower the girl child and all stakeholders in society to recognize the difficulties faced by the girl child and steps to be taken to rectify this national issue.

The 4-day girls’ leadership boot camp took the girls through empowering topics to boost self-esteem and self-confidence, increase their political consciousness, and guide their career path towards leadership and effective participation in decision-making.

The participating girls were students from senior and Junior high schools in the North East, Ashanti, Upper West, and Central Regions.

The bootcamp climaxed with the celebration of the International Day of the Girl Child on 11th October 2023. This event allowed the girls and young women the opportunity to present a petition to the president of Ghana through the Minister of Gender, Children, and Social Protection regarding the high cost of sanitary products and the passage of the Affirmative Action Bill into Law.

As part of his welcome speech at the event, the Head of programs and Influencing at Plan International Ghana, Asum-Kwarteng Ahensah, touched on the importance of educating the girl child. He said “Investing in girls education means we ensure girls have equal right to education. We have to make a conscious effort to create an environment to make it easy for the girl child to make informed decisions in society.”

The event ended with two communique being read and presented; “Communique passage of Affirmative Action Bill”, read by Faustina Prempeh, representing Girls and young women.

“Communique on making sanitary products accessible and affordable for all” – read by Leticia Nuruyang, representing girls with disabilities. The communiques were presented to Mrs. Sheilla Minkah-Premo, the convenor-Affirmative Action Bill Coalition, and Vera Karikari Bediako – Rep from the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection. Also in attendance is a representative from UNICEF – Christin McConnell and Karen Odoi, a representative from WILDAF Ghana.

The She Leads Project is a 5 year (2021-2025) strategic partnership between Terre des Hommes, Plan International, Defense for Children/ECPAT, African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.

Mrs. Sheilla Minkah hinted that the Affirmative Action Bill has finally been reviewed. She stated that the Cabinet has given approval to be laid in parliament.