CODAC empowers teenagers at Duusi

The Community Development and Advocacy Centre (CODAC) has trained teenagers at Duusi, a community in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region, in employable skills to curtail rural-urban migration.

A total of 78 teenagers, some of whom were pregnant, went trough training in soap making, and were given start-up kits to start businesses of their own in their respective area.

CODAC is a Non-Governmental Organisation based in the Region and works to promote the rights of women and children including; persons with disability.
Mr Bukari Issahaku, the Executive Director of CODAC, at a programme to inaugurate the beneficiaries of the training, said CODAC for the past four years built capacities of women in the Duusi community with support from World Vision.

He said during their engagement with the women in the community, they realized that teenage pregnancy was common among the girls in the area.

“A lot of the girls here get pregnant and drop out of school, so we decided to assist those who want to continue their education and equip those who don’t want to continue with employable skills.”

Mr Issahaku said with funding support from the German Embassy, his outfit selected five groups in the community and trained them in soap making, “We are going to inaugurate and give them start-up kits.”

He said the initial proposal was to train 75 teenage mothers, but after a screening process, they had about 135, and out of the number, they were screened to 96 to select those interested in the concept.

Some of the girls, he said dropped out during the training, and only 78 successfully completed the programme. “The main objective of the programme is to ensure that the teenage mothers have economic activities to do or go back to school.”

The Executive Director disclosed that one of the teenage mothers who wrote this year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) got aggregate 18,
“So CODAC is picking up that student to support her continue her education.”

He said it was through certain influences and social vices that got some of the girls pregnant, and indicated that through capacity building and sensitisation, some of them saw the need to continue their education, while some engaged in the training.

He said apart from soap making, the girls were also taught how to market their soap after production, adding that based on the success of the programme, CODAC would extend the training to other Districts, especially the Bongo and Nabdam Districts, where teenage pregnancies were also high.