Community members and stakeholders at Walewale in the North-East Region have started discussions to deepen their understanding of gender-based violence (GBV) and strategise to curb the incidence in the area.

The engagement, facilitated by Participatory Action for Rural Development Alternatives (PARDA), a Non-Governmental Organisation, is the second in a series held in the region, specifically at Walewale and Nalerigu, under the Power to Choose (P2C), a Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) project.

The discussions focused on concerns of the communities on GBV issues and how they could be eliminated.

The seven-year Global Affairs Canada Funded project is being implemented in seven countries.

Oxfam Ghana, in partnership with PARDA, among others, are working to increase awareness on access to information and services related to family planning, maternal and child healthcare and Gender-based violence.

The project aims to improve the provision of gender-responsive and accountable use of SRHR services b
y providers for use by young women and adolescent girls and empower key stakeholders, particularly young women and youth-led organisations to advocate evidence-based health care policy.

Mr Maurice Haruna, the Project Officer, P2C, told the Ghana News Agency on the sidelines of the meeting that the project would propose bylaws to ensure the protection of those SRHR rights.

‘The stakeholders have told us the challenges they faced and how they would solve them so going forward what we want to stress is working on getting byelaws as community leaders and identifying people to monitor the implementation of such laws,’ he said.

Meanwhile in line with the P2C project, implementing partners are expected to hold campaigns to promote positive masculinities, address GBV through cyber activism with messages produced by young people and challenge dominant narrative and influence harmful social norms.

Source: Ghana News Agency