Child-Centred Prevention and Filling the Data Gaps in Ghana

Children’s Voices Expose Hidden Risks

In Northern Ghana, children themselves are showing us where protection systems fall short. In our pilot program in Tamale, junior high school students and out-of-school girls used theatre, storytelling, and role play to surface risks in their own words. One boy admitted he had accepted a Facebook friend request from a stranger promising travel to America. Several girls described unsafe migration south as kayaye, likening false job offers to “a cheap phone that breaks”, something that looks appealing but quickly fails. These conversations made prevention lessons memorable and they generated new, disaggregated data on vulnerabilities that national systems currently overlook.

The Call From the UN

This work echoes what Mama Fatima Singhateh, UN Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, told the Human Rights Council in September 2025: too many children remain “invisible” to protection systems because data on their lives is outdated, fragmented, or missing altogether. Without stronger evidence, prevention risks staying vague and reactive, while children continue to fall through the cracks.

Data Gaps in Ghana

The gaps are especially stark in Ghana. Systematic evidence on child trafficking, the sexual exploitation of girls and boys, and transactional sex remains scarce, particularly in northern communities. That is why the Hope Education Project (HEP) places research collaboration at the core of its work. Alongside field interventions, we partner with independent researchers at Master’s and PhD level, and with institutions such as the University of Texas at Austin, Montclair State University, and Washington University Brown School in St. Louis. Together, these partnerships help us document risks, test prevention strategies, and build an evidence base that can inform both policy and practice.

Building Protective Relationships

Prevention also depends on strengthening protective relationships. In Tamale, we asked every child to identify “three trusted adults” they could turn to if they faced risk. Many struggled at first, a finding that reveals the fragility of support networks. But by the end of the program, most had a clearer idea of who they could confide in and how to report concerns. That shift, from uncertainty to naming concrete sources of support, is prevention in action.

Linking Local to Global

I have also been encouraged since my involvement with ECPAT in 2024 when I was invited to participate in their African Regional Workshop in Senegal. The research and advocacy of ECPAT and their members highlight the urgent need to address commercial sexual exploitation of children globally and in Ghana. Their work reinforces Singhateh’s call: without better data and stronger prevention, far too many children remain unseen by the very systems meant to protect them.

From Slogan to Practice

The overlaps are striking. Participatory methods, local evidence, protective relationships, and cross-sector collaboration are not optional extras. They are the building blocks of effective prevention. Our experience in Northern Ghana shows that when children are given the tools to articulate risks in their own voices, given the tools to advocate like the HEP Schools Handout, and when those insights are linked to research and advocacy networks, prevention stops being a slogan. It becomes a practice that communities themselves can sustain.

You can download the Note by the Secretary-General, Mama Fatima Singhateh, UN Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, entitled “A child-centred response to the sexual exploitation of children in street situations” here.