Community Radio for Change – Ending Child Marriage
Renel Ghana Foundation, with support from Mundo Cooperante, used radio engagements on Eagle FM (West Mamprusi) and NOBYAH FM (East Mamprusi) to reach over 12,000 listeners with targeted messages to end child, early and forced marriage. The broadcasts convened community leaders, educators and survivors to share evidence, local solutions and success stories from Wulugu and Wungu.
Objectives
- Mobilise collective action by clarifying roles for families, schools, traditional leaders and service providers.
- Raise awareness about the harms of child, early and forced marriage and its long‑term impact on girls.
- Promote girls’ education as a primary prevention strategy and pathway to opportunity.
- Share local solutions and amplify community success stories that demonstrate alternatives to harmful practices.
Key messages and discussion points
- Impact on girls’ futures: early marriage truncates education, increases health risks and limits economic independence.
- Education as prevention: keeping girls in school reduces vulnerability and expands life choices.
- Community solutions: local by‑laws, mentorship programmes, school support funds and community monitoring can reduce incidence.
- Shared responsibility: parents, teachers, chiefs, religious leaders and youth all play a role in prevention and response.
- How to act: where to report, how to support a girl at risk, and how to access social and legal services.
Outcomes and next steps
- Monitoring: track number of referrals, school re‑enrolments and community by‑law adoptions as short‑term indicators of impact.
- Reach and engagement: over 12,000 listeners reached; multiple follow‑up calls and messages received from community members seeking support.
- Immediate actions: distribution of radio scripts and short referral cards to local clinics and schools; compilation of caller questions for district social welfare follow‑up.
- Planned follow up: organise community dialogues in Wulugu and Wungu to convert radio momentum into local action; pilot school re‑entry support packages; schedule repeat radio slots to sustain messaging.
