The project has specifically focused on the advocacy of the prevention of child marriage alongside the project objectives to keep young girls in secondary education for as much time as possible, by providing education, sanitary facilities and sanitary wear.

​

Project overview

​

AFAWI aims to target the large societal barriers women face in child marriages, lack of access to basic health care and obtaining sustainable income. Some of these obstacles can be overcome by a better access to education, advice for young girls, and a challenging of social stigma for both women and men.

United Nations Development Programs 2020 report indicates that the Northern Region has the highest multidimensional poverty in Ghana. In Ghana, one in 20 girls is married before her 15th birthday and the highest prevalence of child marriage in Ghana occurs in the Northern regions.

UN Ghana have stated, “there is overwhelming evidence that girls’ education, especially at the secondary level, is a powerful transformative force for societies and girls themselves: it is the one consistent positive determinant of practically every desired development outcome.”

The project began in 2023 as an expansion of the empowering girls project to the Northern region and has specifically focused on the advocacy of the prevention of child marriage given the link between child marriage and female education, the project endeavours to keep young girls in secondary education for as much time as possible, by providing education of menstruation, child marriage workshops, sanitary facilities and sanitary wear.

 

In 2024 AFAWI distributed 300 reusable sanitary kits to girls of appropriate age at a school in the northern region. Many of the girls did not have access to appropriate sanitary wear so were prevented from coming to school during this time of the month and were missing out on a big sector of their education.

 

Toilets and wash room facilities were built within the school grounds, the students now have access to sanitation facilities and hygienic practices while in school. Including seated toilets connected to plumping, not pit latrines. Separate facilities for male and female, and cubicles with full doors for privacy, to facilitate the girls ability to manage their periods in increased privacy and hygiene.

​

Education sessions were carried out on the drawbacks of child marriage, the benefits of staying in school and career prospects for those who had a complete secondary education. Other topics included puberty, menstrual hygiene management, pregnancy and issues around STDs and HIV/AIDS, encouraging open discussion. An emphasis was placed on education empowering both young men and women to have more choices in their future, aiming to increase female attendance rate, reduce child marriage and STD rates via an increase in awareness and knowledge.

 

In 2025 AFAWI aims to diversify the projects reach by focusing more on community workshops for parents on Child marriage, and to carry out further education session and to expand the project to partner schools.