By ManoReporters Writer
The Executive Director of Kids Advocacy Network, Edmond Alim B Fornah on Sunday departed Freetown to attend the United Nations Regional Capacity Strengthening Workshop on Youth Leadership and Participation in Ending Child Marriage. The workshop is schedule to take place from 30 October to 01 November 2023 in Accra, Ghana.
West and Central Africa Region is home to 238 million girls that got married before the age of 18 and has the highest child marriage prevalence in the world.
UNFPA, in partnership with the UN children’s agency, UNICEF has led efforts to end child marriage through the Global Programme to End Child Marriage (GPECM) since 2016.
UNFPA West and Central Africa Regional Office (WCARO) is organising the
Accra workshop that was designed to equip a critical mass of personnel in the region, including United Nations staff, members of youth-led organisations and young parliamentarians, with enhanced capacities to provide functional youth
leadership following UNFPA Youth Strategic guidance.
During the workshop, the participants will engage in an interactive session to co-create innovative action plans aimed at enhancing GPECM program quality.
Mr Fornah, who is also the Chairperson for the 50 Most Influential Sierra Leonean Women Awards Committee, is attending as part of the Sierra Leone delegation that include UNFPA’s Gender Specialist, Ms. Betty Alpha and the Executive Director of the Girls Advocacy Development Network, Samesther Hannah Kargbo.
“I want to commend UNFPA for their relentless efforts in transforming the lives of girls and young people in Sierra Leone. This training is very timely as it will equip participants with enhanced capacities to strengthen youth leadership on ending child marriages. Moreover, I want to thank the West and Central office for including young people to develop the action plan: What’s for youth without youth is not for youth,” says Mr Fornah, who is also a final year student of the university of Makeni.
It can be recalled that in 2016, with funding from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, One family people and Kids Advocacy Network launched the ‘Her Choice Project’ to end child marriage and also established the ‘Her Choice Alliance’, a coalition of 20 youth and women’s organizations in the country, and Mr Fornah serves as Chairperson for the Alliance.
