Philip Quaque Girls Schools: Building the confidence of girls to speak up against SGBV

Pupils of Philip Quaque Girls School in Cape Coast has been oriented on Sexual and Gender-based Violence to help detect such abuses in their homes and communities.

The effort is to help reduce the incidence of sexual and gender-based violence and for them to reject abuses as "normal" to help adequately prepare them for life as young women.

The School Health Education Programme (SHEP) Coordinator at Philip Quaque Girls Basic in Cape Coast, Dorothy Araba Sackey, who also handles the Power to Choose Programme at her school, said it aims at empowering young girls to take advantage of opportunities that their environment presented them.

The Power to Choose is a seven-year project funded by Global Affairs Canada (GAC) through OXFAM to address barriers that hinder young women and adolescent girls' access to quality sexual and reproductive health and rights.

It also targets adolescent boys and men, community leaders and parents, health professionals and administrators, policymakers and teachers towards building more harmonious abuse-free communities where everyone is encouraged to maximise their potential.

Implementing communities

In the Cape Coast Metropolis, the project is being implemented in communities including Ekon, Brabedzi, Ankaful Fie, Kwapraw and Idan.

The girls being taken through lessons on SGBV

“Usually for a Power to Choose meeting at the Philip Quaque Girls School, about 80 girls are seated for these sessions, she said.

“At these sessions, the girls have the opportunity to ask questions about their well-being.

"There are a lot of scenarios that happen in the communities some of my girls come from which constitute abuse but which have been normalised," she stated.

Ms Sackey said many of the girls came from Ntsin, Amissahekyir and other communities with some form of domestic violence in their homes and communities.

“We teach them to know when an environment is abusive and report for support," she said.

She said some of the girls were living in abusive environments without them knowing but with education and support they had come out of such abusive homes.

Ms Sackey said at the meeting, the girls were educated on their responsibilities and rights and were encouraged to report abuses they suffer.

Ms Sackey said there had been situations where some of the girls also left home to leave with boys in the ghettos. “When we hear these, we investigate the issues, resolve them and help them to go back home”.

Ms Sackey said these girls also served as peer educators and helped to sensitise their peers to what to do in an abusive environment.

She said the programme had also built the confidence of the young people and they were now able to speak up against abuse.

She said the meetings also served as a safe space where the girls opened up and received support and counselling on their sexual and reproductive health and added that girls must be consciously taught not to accept abuses as "normal."

"Sometimes we move in to help family tensions that negatively impact the well-being of the girls in the domestic setting.  

Testimonies

Gifty Godslove Degraft Johnson, a pupil and a member of the Power to Choose Club said she had become more confident.

Some of the girls going through their lessons

"I understand that if I work hard and set myself to achieve it, I can achieve it with God's help."
Another pupil, Christabel Gyamfua said she now knew the meaning of going for one's dreams without limitation.

"I am now assertive and I am more confident as a girl now. I understand the dangers of teenage pregnancy and choose to abstain. I know I can achieve all that I set my mind to do," she added.

Another pupil, Faizatu Mohamed said she had understood her reproductive health and how to manage herself appropriately due to the lessons at the sessions.

"I have taught my colleagues and peers many of the things I have learnt.

I know what to do when I am treated wrongly. I don't entertain those who mistreat me," she said.

Lawrencia Koufie, another pupil said she had learnt about sexual and gender-based violence, how to be assertive with people who would want to abuse her sexually and how to strive for excellence at everything she did.