Traditional leaders in the Upper East Region have been urged to urgently increase efforts in their traditional areas to help end child marriage and foster a brighter future for children.
Yvonne Wonchua, the Upper East Regional United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Focal Person, who made the call, underscored the significant role of the traditional leaders in ending the phenomenon, which was entrenched in sociocultural beliefs and social influence. "We have been working to end child marriage, and we are seeing some positives, but we need to up our efforts, and our traditional leaders have crucial roles to play," she said.
Wonchua made the call at a day's engagement in Bolgatanga, with some traditional leaders comprising divisional and sub-divisional chiefs and queen mothers from the Bawku West, Kassena-Nankana West, Builsa South, Bongo, Nabdam and Talensi Districts.
The forum was organised by the Upper East Regional Coordinating Council and the Department of Gender with funding from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) under the auspices of the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Global Programme to end child marriage.