A section of the street youth being engaged on their Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR).

In the spirit of giving this Christmas season, the UNFPA Ghana Country Office partnered with the Enhancing Youth Education and Health (EYEH) Soup Kitchen—an NGO—to engage young people and adolescents living on the streets of Accra on their Sexual & Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR).

The street youth were drawn from various parts of the Central Business District to the Efua Sutherland Children’s Park, where they were given peer education so that they can stay safe from contracting Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) through unprotected sex. They were also informed about the helpline to the Orange Support Centre—0800 111 222—which exists to provide safety, security, legal, psychological, and psychosocial assistance, among others, to victims and survivors of Sexual & Gender-Based Violence.

After engaging the first group of young people living on the streets of Accra at the Efua Sutherland Children’s Park, the team moved to Opeibea House on the Liberation Road and Shaishie to reach out to another set of young people.  After receiving SRHR information, the young people were also provided with dignity kits with which they could maintain personal and menstrual hygiene for the females among them.

Some of the young people engaged in the outreach taking turns to receive the dignity kits.

Ensuring that the potential of every young person is fulfilled forms part of the mission of UNFPA. The outreach allowed the YoLe Fellows, who acted as peer educators to educate their youth counterparts of the dangers of unprotected sex, including teenage pregnancy, which often truncates the education of adolescent girls, thereby, entrenching poverty and gender inequality.