Bongo: The Bongo Traditional Council has intensified efforts to eliminate child marriage, teenage pregnancy, and other harmful cultural practices in the Bongo District, positioning traditional authorities as key drivers of social transformation and child protection.
According to Ghana News Agency, the Council, through its network of chiefs and queen mothers, has embarked on sustained community engagements, school sensitisation campaigns, and advocacy initiatives aimed at safeguarding the rights and future of children, particularly girls.
Through these intensified efforts, many communities, particularly parents, have become aware of the dangers associated with teenage pregnancy and child marriage and have stopped the practice of giving their children, particularly girls, out for marriage.
The move has helped to reduce the incidence of teenage pregnancy and child marriage in the area, for which the Bongo District was known to have a high prevalence.
These came to light in Bongo during a stakeholder engagement among officials of the Upper East Regional Coordinating Council, the Departments of Gender and Children under the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and the Bongo Traditional Council.
The engagement was a follow-up meeting to review progress made following the district's 2024 declaration to end child marriage and to discuss strategies to sustain the gains achieved as part of efforts to eliminate child marriage, funded by the UNFPA.
Naba Baba Salifu Atamale Lemyaarum, Paramount Chief of the Bongo Traditional Area, said the Council remained committed to ensuring that child marriage became a thing of the past in the district.
Naba Lemyaarum noted that since the declaration, chiefs and queen mothers had undertaken extensive sensitisation programmes across communities and educational institutions, resulting in a significant shift in attitudes among parents.
"Parents now understand and accept that they should not force their teenage daughters into marriage, which used to be a common practice," he said.