A youth-led organisation, Music for Change and Development Youth Band, recently hosted an engagement session for residents of Tinguri in the West Mamprusi Municipality of the North East Region, focusing on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) and cyberbullying.
The organisation, funded by Plan International Ghana, operates in five communities within the West Mamprusi Municipality, including Tinguri, Yawoku, Diani, Guabulga, and Manga, is using music as a tool for development and social education.
The event aimed to educate youth, young girls and boys, elderly individuals, and traditional authorities on protecting children from cyberbullying, sextortion, phishing, and online exploitation, which can negatively impact their future.
Sanbobi Mahama Issah, an officer at the Department of Social Welfare and Community Development, emphasised, “We want them to get to know the importance of protecting children against cyberbullying, against phishing, against sextortion, against sexual exploitation [through] online. This has been an important exercise because we hardly have an opportunity to engage the communities like this.”
Issah added, “It is important as a nation, as a region, and municipality that we prioritise protecting our children, especially adolescents on how to protect themselves from online bullying.”
Issah also stressed that “when you are online, you don’t accept friend requests from people that you don’t know.”
This is the second time Music for Change has organised such an event in the area using music as a tool to reach their target audiences.
The Programmes Director for Music for Change, Jehoshaphat Langah, in an interview with Asaase News, stated, “We are implementing a programme called Youth Empowered to Thrive, funded by Plan International Ghana, aiming to engage communities on SGBV issues.”
Langah noted, “statistics show various forms of violence and abuse against children and women in our social relationships.”
Jehoshaphat appealed for partnerships to expand Music for Change’s reach beyond the West Mamprusi Municipality. He reiterated that they will do more and touch more lives when they get support from other organisations.
Reporting by Dokurugu Alhassan for Asaase News in the North East Region
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