The Ghana government, through the National Population Council and with technical support from civil society organisations has developed national guidelines on age-appropriate Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) to provide reproductive and sexual health education to basic and high school students as well as out-of-school young people. The CSE guidelines are far-reaching and their successful implementation can greatly expand young people’s access to age-appropriate sexual and reproductive health information.
Having participated in the development of the national guidelines on CSE, the YHFG in partnership with its Swedish partner, RFSU is implementing the “Evidence to Action: Sexual Health Education Advocacy project”. The goal of the project is to produce the necessary data and evidence to support the Ghana Education Services to adopt and implement the CSE guidelines as an integrated curricular activity in basic and high schools within 2018 and 2022.
To achieve this goal, the intervention is planned to increase the understanding of the project implementation team (including teachers and education directors) in the adoption and implementation of CSE. The intervention also intends to produce a quarterly update in the form of policy briefs on the roll-out of the national CSE programme.
A number of studies are planned to produce evidence to support a successful roll-out of the national guidelines. First, a systematic review of the adoption and implementation of CSE in sub-Saharan Africa would be conducted. Second, primary research will be conducted among teachers and education directors to explore factors influencing their decision to (not) adopt and implement CSE. The outcome will enhance the development of strategies to influence decision-makers to adopt and implement CSE for young people in the basic and high schools.
Third, another scientific report on the availability and appropriateness of Teaching and Learning Support Materials (TLSM) in schools will be produced. Finally, the intervention intends to produce an effective evaluation report on the effectiveness of the CSE programme to delay sexual initiation and promote safe sex practices among sexually active adolescents.
Overall these activities are planned to be implemented with strong technical support and guidance from the key stakeholders on CSE at the national level and also from the adolescent health research group at the University of Cape Coast, Ghana.