The Ghana Education Service (GES) has trained about 600 adolescent boys and girls from 60 senior high schools across four regions in the country: North East, Ashanti, Eastern and Volta regions, to serve as peer educators and promote reproductive health awareness among their colleagues.
The initiative, implemented through the School Health Education Programme (SHEP) Unit with support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) under its Adolescent Girls Programme (AGP), seeks to equip young people with the knowledge and skills to make informed decisions about their reproductive health.
Speaking during a media engagement following a one-day capacity-building training for journalists organised by the Media and Communication Advocacy Network (MCAN) in collaboration with UNFPA on Thursday, 5 November 2026, Programme Officer at the SHEP Unit, Ernest Amoah Ampah, said the training focused on developing adolescents’ abilities to educate their peers on reproductive health through SHEP coordinators in the various senior high schools.
He added that students had been educated on how to advocate for the reproductive rights of their peers through group discussions and peer-led educational sessions.
“We’ve trained them on how to advocate for their peers and how to lead peer sessions. We’ve trained the adolescents as peer educators. We’ve trained the club leaders on menstrual hygiene management, adolescent reproductive health and how to prevent gender-based violence,” he said.
Mr. Ampah said GES had introduced a tool called the “Power Model”, designed to guide adolescents in making informed decisions about reproductive health and other concerns affecting them.
“We use what’s called a Power Model and the Power Model is a tool that we use to help the adolescent to make the right and informed decision about reproductive health and anything that they may be worried about,” he explained.
He added that GES has also developed activity cards covering reproductive health, gender-based violence, HIV and sexually transmitted infections, as well as life skills development.
Mr. Ampah also stated that club leaders in the participating schools had been trained in leadership and communication skills.
“And also the club leaders in the school, we’ve also trained them on leadership and communication skills,” he said.
The programme covered 24 districts across the four regions, comprising four districts in the North East Region, eight in the Ashanti Region, seven in the Eastern Region and five in the Volta Region.
Story by Emmanuella Ntowbea Marbell | univers.ug.edu.gh
Edited by Vanessa Katrin Ohene
