Bolgatanga: Youth Harvest Foundation Ghana engages stakeholders to validate SIMAH initiative

Youth Harvest Foundation Ghana has held a workshop with stakeholders in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region to disseminate and validate the baseline data for its Shifting Gender Norms for Improved Maternal and Adolescent Health (SIMAH) initiative.

The engagement was to afford the stakeholders including healthcare professionals, educationists and women’s groups, among others, the opportunity to make significant contributions to ensure accuracy in data collection and the effective implementation of the initiative.

The SIMAH initiative, a three-year project, is tailored to weed out cultural and social beliefs that impede access to maternal and adolescent health by young people.

It is being implemented in three districts – the Bawku West and Talensi districts in the Upper East Region and the West Mamprusi district in the North East Region.

Speaking at the engagement, the head of the project Gabriel Ananya acknowledged the importance of collaborations and inclusivity, saying the support of the stakeholders was crucial in helping to shape the project’s baseline data accurately to be able to tackle the needs and challenges faced by the beneficiary communities.

He said findings have identified some cultural norms and poor attitudes as root causes responsible for the increasing rate of teenage pregnancies and unsafe abortions.

”the SIMAH initiative has to do with the realization that there is a challenge when it comes to adolescents accessing health and some of these challenges have to do with some of the cultural and social beliefs that prevent young people from accessing healthcare.

“So, as an organisation, we sought to address these challenges. In addressing these challenges then we have to go and look at the root causes which are some of these norms and others that need to be addressed and come out with the best interventions to address them.”

Touching on implementation, Ananya said nurses and other useful personnel have been recruited and trained to provide youth-friendly services in the respective communities. He mentioned that the nurses would employ the gender transformative approach which seeks to challenge gender inequality by transforming harmful gender norms, roles and relations while working towards redistributing power, resources, and services more equally.

Ananya expressed hope that the active participation of the stakeholders will help shape the project’s strategies and interventions, underscoring the importance of a community-driven approach to achieving positive results in the implementation.

”our main goal is that, at the end of this three-year project, we want to see that some of the norms that prevent young people from coming are tackled, “Ananya said.

Youth Harvest Foundation Ghana is a non-profit organization operating in the Upper East Region chiefly focused on youth empowerment, sexual and gender issues and promoting sustainable development.

Reporting by Senyalah Castro in the Upper East Region

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