Adolescent boys and girls, parents, guardians, traditional leaders, and opinion leaders within Keta and Anloga areas have undergone a sensitisation programme on the effects of child marriage and adolescent reproductive health, to promote gender equality. The two-day event that recorded over 600 participants from various communities was an advocacy dialogue with families and communities to advance gender equality as well as create an enabling environment for adolescents, particularly girls to thrive. Madam Thywill Eyra Kpe, Volta Regional Director of the Department of Gender, in her presentation at Kedzikope, a suburb of Keta, touched on the various forms of gender-based violence such as psychological violence, physical abuse, economic violence, sexual abuse including rape and others. On child marriage, she explained that the issue could be attributed to several factors including the presence of poverty on the part of parents leading to poor parental care, disobedience, and pressure on the child, 'but thes e circumstances should not allow us to push our young girls into early marriage because its effects are damaging,' She advised. Madam Emelia Dzikpe, a Public Health Nurse from Anloga District in her turn, exposed participants especially the young girls to pre-marital sex and teenage pregnancy as a barrier to educational achievements, where she urged them to report any form of sexual abuse they encountered to the appropriate authorities for action. Assembly members from Tegbi Afedome and Kedzikofe Electoral areas who participated in the programme told the Ghana News Agency the project would impact the living conditions of the young ones, thereby reducing all forms of sexual abuse. 'We will embrace this project and make sure we utilise its effects to benefit our communities to reduce all manner of child sexual abuse.' The global initiative, being rolled out in phases, is under the support of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) with a target to end child marriage, focusing on how all stakeholder group s could work to end child marriage and its related issues. Some boys and others from the beneficiary communities would be selected to serve as models in shaping the minds of their peers. The beneficiary communities include Tegbi, Anyanui, Kedzikope, and Abolove-Nolopi all within Keta and Anloga Districts. Source: Ghana News Agency