Child marriage and other harmful traditional practices continue to threaten the education, health, protection, and future opportunities of children, particularly girls, in the Upper East Region. To sustain progress made through earlier engagements, the Department of Gender, with support from UNFPA Ghana, conducted follow-up meetings with traditional authorities in the Bongo and Navrongo Paramountcies. The meetings assessed the implementation of community action plans, reviewed progress, identified challenges, and strengthened local responses to ending child marriage and other harmful practices.
Discussions in the Bongo Paramountcy highlighted the critical role of chiefs and queen mothers in preventing child marriage and adolescent pregnancy. Following previous capacity-building initiatives, an 11-member working committee was established and has since led sustained awareness campaigns through schools, PTA meetings, churches, mosques, and local radio discussions. These efforts have contributed to increased community awareness, greater parental support for girls’ education, and encouraging signs of declining adolescent pregnancy and child marriage. Traditional leaders also reinforced the message that pregnancy should not mark the end of a girl’s education.
Despite these gains, participants acknowledged persistent challenges, including poverty, illegal mining activities, harmful social norms, inadequate resources for community outreach, and weak parental supervision. They called for stronger collaboration with government and development partners to enhance community sensitization, strengthen child protection systems and local by-laws, and provide the technical and logistical support needed to safeguard children.
The follow-up meetings achieved several key outcomes, including:
• Reviewed progress on community action plans to end child marriage.
• Strengthened accountability among traditional authorities and key stakeholders.
• Identified implementation challenges requiring additional support.
• Enhanced knowledge of child protection systems and referral pathways.
• Reinforced collaboration between traditional leaders and government institutions.
• Renewed commitments from chiefs, queen mothers, elders, and community leaders to sustain advocacy and community action.
The meetings provided an important platform for reflecting on progress, sharing lessons, and reaffirming collective commitment to ending child marriage and protecting the rights of children. The recommendations and renewed commitments from traditional leaders will inform future interventions and strengthen community-led efforts to promote girls’ education, gender equality, and child protection across the two paramountcies.
