A teacher and her baby in Cape Coast, Ghana for the Hope Education Project, Ghana, a sex trafficking education and awareness program
A teacher and her baby in Cape Coast, Ghana for the Hope Education Project, Ghana, a sex trafficking education and awareness program

OUR CONCERN

Human Trafficking - The Other Epidemic

Committed policy in Ghana
“…the government will commit to implementing a coordinated campaign strategy to deepen the awareness and understanding of trafficking, in schools, communities and in families perceived to be at risk”
National Plan of Action for the Elimination of Human Trafficking in Ghana 2017-2021

The Government launched “The National Plan of Action for the Elimination of Human Trafficking in Ghana 2017-2021” in June 2017. The TIP21 report found that sex trafficking exists nationwide and that reported cases of human trafficking in Ghana doubled in the reporting period with the majority being identified as children.

Ghanaian girls and young women from the rural northern regions are increasingly moving to urban centres to seek work as porters, known locally as Kayaye. Once in urban areas, TIP21 found that girls, and to lesser extent boys, are highly vulnerable to being trafficked for sexual exploitation.

Women and young girls are trafficked within Ghana, to the Middle East, other West African countries and Europe for commercial sex work. There is scant research data on the extent of the increasing problem of child sex trafficking in Ghana. The country is a destination for sex tourism and the often small scale research that has been undertaken points to child sex trafficking being prevalent throughout the country.

The Hope Education Project will launch its pilot project in the area of most need: the West Mamprusi District of the North East Region. It’s from here that the women and young girls of the Mamprusi ethnic group make the long trek to the markets of Accra and Central Region. Forced to compete for increasingly low paid work in the markets – carrying customers baskets while they shop – sleeping rough on the streets or inside the markets, the Kayaye are especially targeted for sexual abuse and trafficking. In its Global Monitoring Report of 2014, ECPAT found that 20% of kayaye girls were forced to have sex against their will

The US Department of Labour 2020 report “Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor: Ghana” found that the Kayaye were particularly vulnerable to sexual abuse and exploitation. It is common for kayaye, 29% of whom are aged between 10 and 14 years, to experience unplanned pregnancies, illegal abortions, gender-based violence, and human trafficking according to a 2012 UNEFPA report.

For the pilot program, the Hope Education Project will build capacity with our partner NGO based in Tamale. Together with our Lead Technical Advisor and M&E specialist from a leading US university’s human trafficking faculty we will deliver the program within a group of 20 schools in the West Mamprusi Municipal District. After the first phase of implementation, the project will be evaluated and refined to enable the program to be scaled across the whole of Ghana.

The Government launched “The National Plan of Action for the Elimination of Human Trafficking in Ghana 2017-2021” in June 2017. The TIP21 report found that sex trafficking exists nationwide and that reported cases of human trafficking in Ghana doubled in the reporting period with the majority being identified as children.

Ghanaian girls and young women from the rural northern regions are increasingly moving to urban centres to seek work as porters, known locally as Kayaye. Once in urban areas, TIP21 found that girls, and to lesser extent boys, are highly vulnerable to being trafficked for sexual exploitation.

Women and young girls are trafficked within Ghana, to the Middle East, other West African countries and Europe for commercial sex work. There is scant research data on the extent of the increasing problem of child sex trafficking in Ghana. The country is a destination for sex tourism and the often small scale research that has been undertaken points to child sex trafficking being prevalent throughout the country.

The Hope Education Project will launch its pilot project in the area of most need: the West Mamprusi District of the North East Region. It’s from here that the women and young girls of the Mamprusi ethnic group make the long trek to the markets of Accra and Central Region. Forced to compete for increasingly low paid work in the markets – carrying customers baskets while they shop – sleeping rough on the streets or inside the markets, the Kayaye are especially targeted for sexual abuse and trafficking. In its Global Monitoring Report of 2014, ECPAT found that 20% of kayaye girls were forced to have sex against their will.

The US Department of Labour 2020 report “Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor: Ghana” found that the Kayaye were particularly vulnerable to sexual abuse and exploitation. It is common for kayaye, 29% of whom are aged between 10 and 14 years, to experience unplanned pregnancies, illegal abortions, gender-based violence, and human trafficking according to a 2012 UNEFPA report.

For the pilot program, the Hope Education Project will build capacity with our partner NGO based in Tamale. Together with our Lead Technical Advisor and M&E specialist from a leading US university’s human trafficking faculty we will deliver the program within a group of 20 schools in the West Mamprusi Municipal District. After the first phase of implementation, the project will be evaluated and refined to enable the program to be scaled across the whole of Ghana.