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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 9, 2003
Ghana Launches National Program to Encourage
Adolescents to Develop Skills to Fight HIV/AIDS Infection
ACCRA, Ghana - Ghana's Ministry of Education today launched a new Girls' Empowerment Program to improve the capacity of girls ages 11 to 15 years to prevent HIV infection and other factors that may threaten their ability to fully benefit from the educational provisions of the country.
 Sara - "I Know My Goal" is another phase of the ongoing and successful Stop AIDS Love Life national HIV/AIDS program, which began in February 2000. The implementation of the Sara Communication Initiative in Ghana is a joint effort of the Ghana Education Service's Girls Education Unit and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health/Center for Communication Programs (CCP) with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The Girls Education Unit will coordinate the campaign, which will involve all primary and junior secondary schools in Ghana and child welfare NGOs operating at community level. The Sara Initiative was originally developed in East Africa by UNICEF, who are a key collaborating partner in Ghana.
Today's launch featured the Minister of Education, Professor Christopher Ameyaw-Ekumfi; Mrs. Emma Mitchell, a member of Ghana's Council of State; several high-ranking government officials; and members of the Diplomatic Corp, including Mary Carlin Yates, the U.S. Ambassador to Ghana.
"Our failure to work towards the goal of making our girls and boys the responsible women and men of the future will amount to failure to fulfill the most significant responsibility placed on us as leaders of this nation, as teachers, as parents, and as a responsible society," said Ameyaw-Ekumfi. He added that he was pleased the initiative will enable Ghanaian girls to develop self-esteem, self-efficacy, decision-making skills, and personal risk perception that will enable them stay in school, develop positive boy-girl relationships, abstain from sex, and avoid HIV/AIDS.
"The first step to get the girl-child in school is for society to recognize that educating girls is not an option; it is a necessity," said Yates. "I especially like the slogan- 'I Know My Goal'."
Yates said the lack of such a goal can cause girls to have low self-esteem. "We believe this program will help girls stay in school, avoid teenage pregnancy, establish life goals, and develop healthy behaviors needed to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS;" she said.
Mitchell-a member of Ghana's Council of State, the highest advisory body to the President and Government of Ghana-listed inadequate life skills, peer pressure, misconceptions on reproductive issues, and a lack of parental guidance as factors that can lead Ghanaian youth to risky behaviors that may ultimately spread STIs and HIV/AIDS. "Let us all pledge our support for the Sara initiative and together we shall succeed in creating the foundations of a responsible society in Ghana," Mitchell said.
Sara - "I Know My Goal" - will target girls 11 to 15 years' old as a primary audience and boys, teachers, parents and community members as secondary audience. Training programs for 900 District Girls Education Officers and teachers will be held throughout Ghana to promote the formation of Sara Clubs in many schools and the facilitation of Sara activities in the communities. USAID supported the development of 5,000 Sara Club kits that contain videos, books, posters, stickers, Sara Game boards, and facilitation manuals. The kit materials deal with the following subjects: 1. The Special Gift: Girls retention in School; 2. Sara saves her friends: Sexual harassment and HIV/AIDS; 3. The Trap: Sexual exploitation by Sugar daddies; and 4. Choices: Teenage pregnancy and positive girl-boy relationship.
"The launching of the nationwide Sara program in Ghana is the first-ever application of the Sara Communication Initiative originally developed by UNICEF on a national scale," said Emmanuel Fiagbey, CCPs Country Representative in Ghana. He urged all Sara Coordinators and Facilitators to consider the campaign as a very important component of their work as teachers and the operation of Sara Clubs as a special mission.
"The launching of the nationwide Sara program in Ghana is the first-ever application of the Sara Communication Initiative on a national scale," said Emmanuel Fiagbey, CCPs Country Representative in Ghana. He urged all Sara Coordinators and Facilitators to consider the campaign as a very important component of their work as teachers and the operation of Sara Clubs as a special mission.
"You will be missing a most wonderful opportunity in life if you fail to belong to a Sara Club and participate in Sara Club activities," Fiagbey told the nation's girls. "You've got to be a Sara Club member and be the girl who knows her goal and strives to achieve it."
Publishing rights for Sara in Africa were granted to Maskew Miller Longman, (MML) in Cape Town, South Africa.
 More on the development of Sara, a role model for girls facing HIV and AIDS in Africa 
With representatives in more than 30 countries, CCP is a pioneer in the field of strategic, research-based communication for behavior change and health promotion that helped transform the theory and practice of public health communication. The Bloomberg School of Public Health established CCP in 1988 to focus attention on the central role of communication in health behavior and to provide leadership in the field of behavior change communication.
For further information contact: Emmanuel Fiagbey at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication Programs, 19 Akonsombo Str., Airport Residential Area, P. O. Box CT 5573, Cantonments, Accra, Ghana or E- Mail: office@jhuccp.org.gh
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