Ministry, NGO partner to mentor girl child

THE Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion have joined a local organisation, Girl Hub, to give basic knowledge and skills in health and education to young adolescent girls. The programme, meant for 12 year olds plus connects girls to mentors who help them to improve their lives.Under the progamme, the ministry will play a central role in the elaboration and dissemination of guidelines as well as serve as the custodian of the data of the girls identified and selected.During a workshop held in Rubavu, it was resolved that this ministry will actively participate in overseeing the implementation of the progamme. Rwandan girl children are in diverse categories, with different physical, physiological and psychological needs.As they go through puberty, they are often subjected to a combination of social, economic and sexual pressures whose consequences this programme seeks to address.Dr Fidel Ngabo, the Director of Maternal Child Health at the Ministry of Health, says that his ministry will share experience on existing programmes such as Community Health Workers to strengthen the mentorship process.“It’s important to integrate these experienced health service providers to serve as Peer Educators in addition to local community leaders and other key stakeholders being sensitized about the programme so as to ensure coherence,” he saidThe major rationale behind this idea, according to the official, was to target vulnerable girls mainly those out of school and the poor from households with one or no parents. The implementation will be channelled through schools being used as the primary mechanism for selection of the girls.Denise Uwera, a school health expert at the Ministry of Education observed that her ministry would reinforce the procedures under which the content of this curriculum will be delivered to the girls.

National

Ministry, NGO partner to mentor girl child