The media, comprising journalists, broadcast channels, editors, producers and media owners, hold a crucial duty in society to inform and educate the citizenry. In Ghana, like in many other places, the media has been an important tool for facilitating advocacy and sending out information in non-formal ways.
UNFPA Ghana has been an active patron of the media in the quest to educate and inform people about the importance of family planning; the need to desist from engaging in Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) and harmful practices such as Child Marriage and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) as well as encouraging dialogue on critical issues such as youth empowerment.
To secure a mutually beneficial relationship and mutually deploy the power of the media to inform and educate the general public, UNFPA Resident Representative, Mr. Niyi Ojuolape paid a courtesy call on the Director-General (DG) of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), Professor Amin Alhassan at his office in Accra.
In their interaction, Mr. Ojuolape indicated the readiness of UNFPA to use GBC’s pervasive media channels to distribute content to garner nationwide support for the three (3) transformative goals of UNFPA, namely:
- Zero Preventable maternal deaths
- Zero Unmet need for Family Planning, and;
- Zero Sexual and gender-based violence and harmful practices
The UNFPA Country Rep also presented some publications by the organization; ‘The COVID Chronicles: UNFPA’s COVID-19 Response in Ghana’ and an Annual Programme Report on the Youth Leaders (YoLe) Fellowship Program (2018-2019) to Professor Amin Alhassan.
The Director General welcomed the partnership and said that GBC is a people centered media house rather than money centered. He indicated that most of their FM stations bring in no money but they still provide service to the people in all the regions in the country. Prof Alhassan said GBC has a nationwide coverage in terms of television and radio and are better placed for the partnership. He held that every arm of his outfit is open to communicate messages that seek to collectively improve the lot of the Ghanaian populace, echoing, ‘we exist to promote societal progress through development journalism.’ The DG was joined by the Deputy Director, Director Radio and the acting Director, TV for the meeting.
