Empowering Rural Teenage Mothers

CIRCDev traines 15 teenage mothers at Gyankobaaa rural community in the Atwima Nwabiagya District of the Ashanti Region on beads making.
 

The project dubbed “Hope For Rural Teenage Mothers” with funding from The Pollination Project in the United States of America is designed to equip teenage mothers in rural communities of the Atwima Nwabiagya with economically viable and marketable skills to improve their lives.

The first phase of the Training program started on Tuesday, the 5^th of February, 2019 and ended on the 9^th of April, 2019.

The Executive Director of (CIRCDev) Francis Sarkodie stated that the training program was aimed at providing these 15 teenage mothers with beads making skills and support them with start-up capital to start their business.

“Teenage mothers decide what skills they wish to acquire to help their lives and that of their children” he indicated.

Teenage pregnancy has become a canker in the rural communities of Ghana which the Gyankobaa rural community in the Atwima Nwabiagya Municipality of the Ashanti Region is no exception.

According to report, 6 out of 10 teenagers in

the rural communities become pregnant before completing their basic education.Victims of teenage pregnancy have limited economic opportunity as result of their inability to attain higher education and loses their social status and dignity.

“It is therefore imperative to reintegrate victims of teenage pregnancy back into the society through education and skills training to provide them with economic opportunity to give dignity” Mr. Francis Sarkodie stated.

He advised young girls to plan their lives well and get a job or trade to enable them to fend for themselves before planning to have a baby in order to take good care for the child.

He also urged parents to stop the blame game when their child got pregnant and focus on the support for the child to have a better future for herself and the baby.

The Traditional Ruler of Gyankobaa, Bofour AtwimakwaaBoakye-Darkwa II, expressed his gratitude to CIRCDev for such a life-changing project.

He therefore urged the beneficiaries to utilize the support given to them by the organization and its sponsors to improve their lives and that of their families. He admonished the beneficiaries to avoid laziness in doing their business and also cautioned them on unnecessary spending which will affect the growth of their start-up capital.

To promote the campaign against teenage pregnancy in the rural communities and Ghana at large, Bofour supported the beneficiaries with GHc 500 to help them start their business.

Meanwhile, the assembly member of the Gyankobaa/Wioso electoral area, Hon. Charles Henry Opoku, commended CIRCDev and the “The Pollination Project” for their support in shaping the lives of 15 teenage mothers in Gyankobaa. He also advised the beneficiaries to be hardworking in order to help the organization achieve its mission as far as the project is concerned.