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The Ghana Mission has expanded its program in girls'
education to support the activities of Strategies for
Advancing Girls Education (SAGE).
With USAID support, NGOs have developed programs to
establish HIV/AIDS clubs in schools and sensitize teachers
and parents about HIV/AIDS. In addition, a nationwide
HIV/AIDS prevention training program has been established
in 34 teacher training colleges. All teacher trainees
are required to undergo HIV/AIDS training as part of
their teacher preparation program.
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USAID addresses social, economic,
and cultural barriers to education that negatively
impact access, quality, enrollment, and safety for
girls.
Strategies for Advancing Girls' Education (SAGE)
The SAGE program, implemented by the Academy for Educational Development
(AED) and local partners, strengthened national, regional,
and community level capacity to ensure that schools
are more girl-friendly by mobilizing parents and leaders
to more actively support girls' schooling.
During the pilot phase, SAGE mobilized 35 communities around girls'
education issues and worked with the Ghana Education
Service to develop tools to enhance girls'
education.
Sara Clubs
Through the Quality Improvements in Primary Schools (QUIPS)/Sara Clubs, girls
and boys read stories about Sara, an adolescent role model, and her friends,
who handle problems related to sexual harassment, HIV/AIDS, sexual exploitation
by "sugar daddies", teenage pregnancy, positive girl-boy relationships, and girls' retention
in school. The Sara Clubs are organized on school campuses to increase girls' self-esteem
and prepare them to effectively handle issues related to schools and sexuality.
USAID/Ghana distributed some 5000 Sara Club kits, including videos, comic books,
posters, and discussion guides, and trained 350 trainers to form the Clubs
and use the kits. Over 400,000 children have participated nationwide.
Safe Schools
In January 2004, a team of USAID gender and education experts conducted an assessment
of how welcoming or unwelcoming schools are for students and teachers and what
makes students so uncomfortable they do not want to return. In Accra and eastern
and northern Ghana, the team interviewed teachers, officials from the Ghana Education
Service, NGO staff members working in education, legal rights activists,
HIV/AIDS prevention officers, representatives from the teachers' union, and members
from the Federation of Parents. The interviews were the first steps of the pilot
Safe Schools Program,
that aims to reduce school-related gender-based violence and achieve gender
equality in education.
Ghana's Program Objectives
Education
Economic Growth
Civil Society
Health
Selected Activities
Strategies for Advancing Girls' Education (SAGE)
Sara Clubs
Safe Schools
Enterprise Development Program
Micro-entrepreneurs
Women Artisans
Male Involvement in Safe Motherhood
Queen Mothers
Reproductive Health Care
Capacity Building
Legal Equity and Political Empowerment for Women
Visit USAID/Ghana link to the
Mission
Global Snapshots: Ghana
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