Co-principal investigator of the WomenRise Project, Deborah Mensah, has called for the urgent need for innovative, community-based interventions to support adolescent girls who are often excluded from traditional school-based health programs.
Speaking at a National Stakeholders Workshop organized by the WomenRise Project in partnership with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Mensah shared critical findings on the economic and health impacts of COVID-19 on adolescent girls in Artisanal and Small-scale Mining (ASM) communities in the Savanna and Bono East regions.
“Only 18% of the girls we interviewed, aged 10 to 24, were actually in school,” she revealed.This means traditional sexual and reproductive health interventions delivered on school platforms are not reaching our girls in these communities. We need to find innovative ways to meet their needs and ensure programming within the community.”
To bridge these gaps, the WomenRise Project has introduced targeted interventions, including economic support programs and mobile health clinics that bring reproductive health services closer to adolescent girls who otherwise struggle to access healthcare.
The workshop also provided a platform for project beneficiaries to share their experiences, highlighting the initiative’s role in improving access to education, healthcare, and economic opportunities for young girls in these communities.
Stakeholders at the event stressed the importance of collaboration and innovative solutions to address the pressing challenges faced by adolescent girls in ASM communities.
With insights from this research, the WomenRise Project aims to drive policy changes that will create a more resilient and equitable post-pandemic future for adolescent girls and young women.
