The Rebecca Foundation has launched another project aimed at providing social safety nets for poor and vulnerable girls in society while ensuring uninterrupted education and provide skills training for young girls and women who have dropped out of school, to secure their economic future.

Launching the project at the Wesley Methodist Church at Palladium in Accra today, November 11th, 2018, First Lady and Founder of The Rebecca Foundation, Mrs. Rebecca Naa Okaikor Akufo-Addo said the project, a collaborative initiative with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), will provide safety for the poor and vulnerable school girls and drop-outs who because of their predicament may be susceptible to the entrapments of menial jobs like Head porters (Kaya Yei) and social vices like teenage pregnancy and prostitution.

This initiative she said, seeks to ensure the continuous education of our girls, with the aim of leaving no one behind. Girls who have dropped out of school or at risk of dropping out will be identified and supported to ensure they stay in school. Those who cannot will be supported to acquire an income generating skill.

“The challenges to educating our girls remain daunting, ranging from financial constraints to social and cultural injustices. The remedies to these multifaceted and interrelated issues must be policy based and will require an active involvement of our communities”, Mrs. Akufo-Addo emphasised.

She said it is indisputable that education has been the best weapon for breaking the vicious cycle of poverty in most families thus the need to ensure that school children, especially girls, are given all the opportunity including financial assistance to realise their full potential while providing vocational skill training to those who were unlucky to drop out of school.

According to Mrs. Akufo-Addo, with the introduction of the Free SHS policy to compliment the Basic School Capitation Grant, the stage has been set for all parents, especially mothers to ensure that they take full advantage of the many education-friendly policies of her Husband’s government by putting and supporting their wards to climb the academic ladder, as a way of climbing out of the dark hole of poverty.

She said the Rebecca Foundation will continue work to make a difference in the lives of women and children by initiating and supporting projects which will champion their well-being and advancement.

Addressing the launch, Dr. Robert Mensah, Reproductive Health Specialist with the UNFPA said the “Because I Want To Be” project is wonderful initiative which will not only afford adolescents the opportunity to complete their education or acquire vocational skills, but even more importantly, will create the fertile platform for them to develop to their full potential, believe in themselves and break the shackles of poverty.
He said, the improvement of girls’ enrollment in schools across the country is an important indicator of socio-economic development as it captures goal number 4 target 4.1 of the Sustainable Development Goals because of its transformational impact on society.

Dr. Mensah assured of the UNFPA’s continuous support of The Rebecca Foundation as she continues to implement projects and programmes that impact positively on the larger society, especially women and children, stating that it is on similar principles that the UNFPA operates.