Founder of the Leading Ladies Network (LLN), a women’s leadership development organization, Madam Yawa Hansen Quao is advocating for an increase in awareness on the dangers social media could have on young girls who are oblivious of how to use such tools safely.
According to her, though social media had many importance, it also posed dangers to ignorant users, especially children and young girls.
She made the call last week during the final leadership mentorship session organised by her outfit for schoolgirls at the Ladies of Asumption Catholic School in the Ga North Municipality of the Greater Accra Region.
The event formed part of series of mentorship sessions organized by the LLN for school girls within the municipality.
One of the key training programmes the LLN had integrated into its plan of action she said was on social media which entailed how to teach young girls how to safely use such technological tools safely.
She also stated that as part of the engagements, the young girls were schooled on the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) and also how they could be entrepreneurially minded.
“Also we focused our programmes on mannerism and how these girls at their young ages could becomes professionals in the near future. We know that all the seeds we have planted in these girls during the mentorship programme will bear fruits.”
“We are grateful to the girl child education coordinator for the Ga North Municipality and the entire team for making this year’s edition of our mentorship sessions with young schoolgirls a success,” she added.
Madam Hanson revealed the LLN had started receiving positive feedbacks about the programmes, saying many requests have been received from various districts across the country for her outfit to replicate such mentorship programmes in more districts across Ghana.
“I am happy about this and feel encouraged by the fact that the schoolgirls are doing better in their respective schools, they are becoming student leaders and I think these interventions are very transformative and this really makes us feel encouraged,” she added.
Executive Director of an NGO called The Woman Called She, Ms Elsie Boateng in a presentation dubbed “Think before you Click” said due to the vulnerability of young girls on social media, especially when it comes to cyber bullying, there was the need for more coaching, to protect girls from becoming victims of such unpleasant situations.
She stated that there was a lot knowledge gap when it comes to awareness about the use of social media among young girls.
She therefore urged teachers and guardians to ensure they coached young girls on how to remain mindful about their engagements on social media and other online spaces.
BY RAISSA SAMBOU
