Parents have become ambassadors of sexuality education in the community

IPPF’s Member Association in Ghana -the Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG) facilitates an initiative dubbed ‘sista’s clubs’, which are participatory forums for adolescent girls and young women undertaken at the community level, where they discuss sexual and reproductive health (SRH) matters. The clubs create enabling environments for sexuality education through community-level advocacy. PPAG recently conducted training that strengthened the capacity of facilitators to effectively run the ‘sista’s clubs’ sessions. One of the facilitators, Zubaida Salifu, shares her experiences, noting the impact that the clubs continue to have in her community. Zubaida spoke to Maryanne W. WAWERU.

My name is Zubaida Salifu, 23, a final-year university student undertaking a bachelor’s degree in Education studies. I am passionate about imparting knowledge to young people, hence my aspiration to become a teacher. I am also a trained peer educator with IPPF’s Member Association -PPAG and based in their Tamale branch in Northern Ghana.

PPAG gives me the opportunity to engage in my foremost passion, that of educating young people on their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), and I am particularly passionate about empowering girls and young women.

Addressing teen pregnancies in the community

In my Katariga community located in Sagnarigu District, Tamale, teenage pregnancies have for decades been a worrying concern. When I was growing up, many of my friends dropped out of school after becoming pregnant. I witnessed, first-hand, the negative consequences of early motherhood, such as stalled education pursuits and ambition regression by young mothers. This sparked my desire to be a young changemaker.

Being a part of PPAG’s volunteer youth group has contributed to my realization of this goal. Today, I am one of the trusted female role models in Katariga, thanks to my education achievements and strong affiliation with PPAG.

Some of my responsibilities as a PPAG volunteer include convening safe discussion spaces for young girls in Katariga, through a forum dubbed ‘sista’s club’. Every Saturday from 9 – 11 am, I host a group of about 20 girls aged between 13 – 19 years. With my parents’ blessings, we meet within our home compound.

The ‘sista’s club’ sessions are held to educate adolescent girls and young women about SRHR. We discuss issues such as boy-girl relationships, menstrual hygiene, teenage pregnancy, HIV/AIDS and healthy relationships with parents. From the regular capacity building sessions and refresher trainings I receive from PPAG, I capably lead the sessions.

When parents become part of the movement

There have been noteworthy achievements from the ‘sista’s club’ forum I lead. In what initially began as an empowerment platform for teenage girls, it now extends to parents too. The genesis of this was a mother who, one day, out of curiosity, decided to follow her 17-year-old daughter to a ‘sista’s club’ meeting.

She silently sat through the discussions and, happy with the proceedings, went round the neighbourhood encouraging her friends – fellow mothers, to send their daughters to ‘Zubaida’s meetings’ on Saturday mornings. Impressed, she told them that the discussions were very helpful to her daughter.

This drew support from more parents, who then began encouraging their daughters to attend our meetings. Previously, parents would be apprehensive about their adolescent children receiving sexuality education, fearing that the discussions would induct them into early sexual activity. I’m happy to note that the ‘sista’s club’ sessions have allayed these fears by increasing their understanding of the importance of age-appropriate sexuality education.

Open conversations between adolescent girls and parents

The feedback I receive from the girls is very encouraging. They tell me that they now share the lessons they learn at the ‘sista’s club’ forum with their parents – something that did not happen before. Considering that many parents find it extremely difficult to discuss SRH matters with their children, the feedback I receive from both parents and their children is that our sessions are helping to open conversations between them.

Today, when I walk around the village, parents stop me and invite me to their homes to counsel their daughters about their SRHR needs as well as prioritizing their education at this pivotal stage in their lives.

Positive impact on girl’s education

I feel happy because, through the educational activities we have been carrying out in the community over the last two years, together with the collective effort of parents, more girls have remained in school. Cases of girls dropping out because of teen pregnancies are not as common anymore, because they are now better empowered with information on how to avoid early pregnancies.

I also know of several teen mothers who, with the encouragement of their parents through the discussions we have had, have returned to school. It’s good to see more parents supporting sexuality education activities in the community nowadays – something that was rare before.

With reduced teen pregnancies and more young mothers returning to school, I believe significant change is taking place in Katariga. We are building a community of empowered, educated women and this will in turn result in positive outcomes for everyone, for as they say: ‘when you educate a woman, you educate an entire community’.

From the positive impact I have so far observed of the ‘sista’s club’ sessions, I believe other IPPF MAs and other grassroots organizations can successfully replicate this model within their own communities. The forums have demonstrated that empowering girls with information about their sexual and reproductive health not only benefits the girls themselves, but also empowers parents and in turn, the wider community.