Mr. Vitus Atanga, the Programme Officer-In-Charge of Reproductive Health, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), has said that the organisation would continue to strengthen institutions in the Volta Region to empower the youth.

He said the partnership would provide adequate services, counselling and training to enable young people to make informed decisions and choices about their sexuality and reproductive health.

The Programme Officer said the UNFPA recognised the importance of young people in nation-building and had over the years supported successive governments to equip and empower young people, especially adolescents girls.

Mr. Atanga, who was speaking at a four-day Mentorship and Empowerment Camp for some 120 select adolescents from four districts in the Volta Region, said the youth as agents of development must be given the needed empowerment and education.

He said the knowledge, capacity, self-assertiveness and confidence of the youth needed to be built to enable them to speak to issues that affect them.

He admonished the participants to avoid early and unprotected sex which could lead to unwanted pregnancy, saying UNFPA “envisaged a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every child birth is safe and that the potentials of young people are fulfilled.”

Mr. Atanga entreated adolescent boys to support their female counterparts and to avoid molesting them so they could utilise the opportunities for holistic development.

Mr. Prosper Afenyo, the Deputy Director in charge of Administration at the Volta Regional Coordinating Council (VRCC), urged the participants to take advantage of the opportunities to build a solid future for themselves.

He said based on a pact between the VRCC and the UNFPA, several activities tailored at enhancing and empowering young people were being undertaken by different departments and agencies in the Region under the supervision of the VRCC.

Mr. Afenyo, who deputised for the Regional Minister at the event, said the VRCC was determined to address the challenges of human resource development in the Region.

Some of the participants, who spoke to the Ghana News Agency, said the event helped build their confidence and were grateful to the organisers and the UNFPA.

The programme was organised by the VRCC and the Department of Gender with sponsorship from the UNFPA and the Canadian government on the theme “Adolescent Lives Matter.”