United Nations Fund for Population (UNFPA) country representative, Deji Popoola, has challenged institutions implementing the sixth country programme to translate their plans into action that would improve the quality of life in rural areas.
Addressing participants attending a four-day workshop on behaviour change communication strategy at Pilgrim Motel in Kabwe today, Dr. Popoola praised the participants for developing quality plans with real issues affecting girls and women in the community.
However, Dr Popoola said the good plans from the workshop should not end up on paper but be translated into action that would improve the quality of life for many girls and women.
He said he has been saddened by the rate of school drop outs among girls, high incidences of teenage pregnancies and socio-cultural practices that expose young girls and women to HIV/AIDS.
He expressed sadness at the number of girl children dropping out of school in Northwestern province, which has the worst number of girl-child school dropouts due to teenage pregnancies and bad cultural practices.
“I was recently in Northwestern province where I found at one school 29 girls had dropped out in a single term due to pregnancy.
“On my way I also witnessed at a camp where a young girl in grade three, was being initiated and that night she was supposed to have sex with an elderly man. There are three things that were going to happen to her, either she was going to get pregnant, get HIV/AIDS or get pregnant and HIV at the same time,” Dr Popoola said.
Dr Popoola however expressed happiness that these were exactly the issues that the participants to the workshop were discussing and developing a behaviour change communication strategy.
He threatened to withhold money for workshops in future if the strategies being developed for behaviour change were not followed up by action that would make a difference in the lives of women and girls, especially in rural areas.
The workshop has drawn participants from Luapula and Northwestern provinces where UNFPA and the government of Zambia are implementing a population and development programme, with focus on improving the quality of life among women and girls.
And speaking at the same occasion, Zambia News and Information Services (ZANIS) Assistant Director for Research and Public Relations, Francis Banda, assured the UNFPA representative that the behaviour change communication strategy being developed would be translated into action.
Mr. Banda said, after the workshop tomorrow, a ZANIS team would leaving for Luapula province where it would train drama groups that would implement communication plans in communities for behaviour change.
He said a comprehensive plan would also use other communication tactics that would reinforce interventions to better the lives of women and girls in the country.
ZANIS/SNK/ID/KSH/ENDS
Babylon works with threats because dem scared of a strong Black nation. That’s why me and them can’t work things out. Who needs yu blood money? Pull out a we land and mek we rule our destiny.
Hey guyz, Do we have to get new passports while abroad?
It`s good Dr Popoola many a times we have seen workshops after workshops but little if no implementation of what is discussed. may be if funds are withdrawn one would begin to think to be focussed on what they plan.
holding workshops to review other workshops!
you hold workshops to review previous workshops. that’s how you survive and manage to build those houses in Chalala. But nature has its own way of sorting you guys out in UN organisations and NGOs. You die of AIDS! .
A country full of workshop tourists
ala mwandi it is too much of workshop after workshop to valuation the previous minutes of the previous workshop. When are we going to see work being done and presented at these workshops? No wonder the “Village Boy” was annoyed yesterday over the same issue! Lets change this atitude and we shall see results. Many mansions in chalala are a result of these workshops and there is no one to monitor. Yaba
If only a greater portion of the funding that go GRZ Ministies and Local Authorities is channelled toward tangable projects to improve our general envoronment and wefare. Its been observed that there are too many meeting taking up too much of our time that we hadly have time to effectively implement resolutions. The reason – allowances now attached to these meetings. So even have the chick to decide which meetings to attend ie depending on the economic returns for sitting. Shame
#8 Did u mean ‘tangible’ and not ‘tangable’
yap whatever