The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence is an international campaign to challenge violence against women and girls. This campaign runs every year from 25th November (the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women), through to 10th December (International Human Rights Day). The 16 Days of Activism was initiated in 1991 by the first Women's Global Leadership Institute, held by the Center for Women's Global Leadership (CWGL) at Rutgers University. Since then, more than 6,000 organizations from approximately 187 countries have participated in the campaign. The theme for 2021 campaign is “Orange the world: End violence against women now!”

Listen to the team as they discuss ‘The Significance of 16 Days of Activism’

Host - Mavis Naa Korley Aryee

Panelists- Jemima Mornuu, Samuel Quaye, Jonathan Mensah & Charles Folley.

Producer - Michael Tetteh Doku
Executive Producer - Kingsley Obeng-Kyereh

Signature Tune - “The Curious Ring” by Roger Ebo Quansah

Share your thoughts and comments with us via @cmghana on Instagram & Twitter, and Curious Minds-Ghana on Facebook.

Curious Minds Podcast

The Significance of the 16 Days of Activism

Ghana has been classified as having a generalized HIV epidemic over the years, and while the country has made good progress in its response to end HIV and AIDS over the years, Ghana's effort to end the this scourge by 2030 appears to be in jeopardy due to a high rate of new infections among young people aged 15 to 24.

According to the Ghana Aids Commission, out of the 18,928 new HIV infections registered in 2020, 5,211 were young persons between the ages of 15 and 24, accounting for 28 % infections. On this episode of Curious Minds Podcast, the team discusses ‘HIV and Young People’

Host - Mavis Naa Korley Aryee

Panelists- Sarah Adjeley Boye, Jemima Mornuu, Ransford Owusu-Ansah and Michael Tetteh Doku.

Producer - Michael Tetteh Doku
Signature Tune: “The Curious Ring” by Roger Ebo Quansah
Executive Producer - Kingsley Obeng-Kyereh

Share your thoughts and comments with us via @cmghana on Instagram & Twitter, and Curious Minds-Ghana on Facebook.

HIV and Young People

Gender-based violence (GBV) is a serious violation of human rights and a life-threatening health and protection issue. It is estimated that one in three women will experience sexual or physical violence in their lifetime. During displacement and times of crisis, the threat of GBV significantly increases for women and girls. Described as the shadow pandemic, gender-based violence occurs worldwide, although it is preventable. Facts and figures provided by the UN Women, show that 35% of women have ever experienced physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence, or sexual violence by a non-partner and this figure does not include sexual harassment. The local context reflects the Global situation. According to the Ghana 2016 survey on domestic violence, 27.7% of Ghanaian women had experienced at least one form of domestic violence (physical, economic, psychological, social, and sexual violence). In addition, the survey shows that 38.2% of women aged 15-19, 40.4% of women aged 20-24, and 38.3% of women aged 30–39 reported having experienced at least one act of sexual violence. 

Five years later, how far have we come? How different is this menace? On this episode of the Curious Minds Podcast, the team discusses Gender-based Violence– The Ghanaian Reality.

Host: Mavis Naa Korley Aryee
Panelists: Jemima Mornuu, Kenneth Ohene Dovu, Charles Okai Folley, Abigail Dansowaa.

Producer - Michael Tetteh Doku
Signature Tune: “The Curious Ring” by Roger Ebo Quansah
Executive Producer - Kingsley Obeng-Kyereh

Gender-Based Violence- The Ghanaian Reality

Child marriage is defined as "a formal marriage or informal union of children under the age 18". It is considered a violation of human rights and a harmful traditional practice affecting more girls than boys, leading to numerous negative health and developmental consequences and limiting girls' economic and individual empowerment. In response to this situation, fighting child marriage has become a core development and human rights issue. 

In Ghana, 1 in 5 girls aged 20-24 years were married before the age of 18. And while the prevalence of child marriage in Ghana has declined over the past three decades, progress has not been even within regions.  
On this episode of the Curious Minds Podcast, the team discussed Ending Child Marriage in Ghana– The Role of Young People. 

Host: Jemima Mornuu
Panelists: Mavis Aryee, Kenneth Dovu, Sarah Boye, Ransford Owusu-Ansah, Abigail Dansowaa. 

Producer - Michael Tetteh Doku
Signature Tune: “The Curious Ring” by Roger Ebo Quansah
Executive Producer - Kingsley Obeng-Kyereh

Share your thoughts and comments with us via @cmghana on Instagram & Twitter, and Curious Minds-Ghana on Facebook.
#CMGhana #TheCMPodcast

Ending Child Marriage in Ghana- The Role of Young People

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is one of the most widespread, persistent and devastating human rights violations in our world today remains largely unreported due to the impunity, silence, stigma and shame surrounding it.

In general terms, it manifests itself in physical, sexual and psychological forms, encompassing:
▪️ intimate partner violence (battering, psychological abuse, marital rape, femicide);
▪️ sexual violence and harassment (rape, forced sexual acts, unwanted sexual advances, child sexual abuse, forced marriage, street harassment, stalking, cyber- harassment);
▪️ human trafficking (slavery, sexual exploitation);
▪️ female genital mutilation; and
▪️ child marriage.

Nearly 1 in 3 women have been abused in their lifetime, most of which were perpetrated by men and boys.  On this episode of the Curious Minds Podcast, the team discussed Ending Sexual Harassment & Violence- The Role of Men and Boys.

Host: Mavis Naa Korley Aryee
Panelists: Nana Aba Appiatewaa, Prince Kwesi Bonney, and Dr. Michael Baah Biney.

Producer - Michael Tetteh Doku
Signature Tune: “The Curious Ring” by Roger Ebo Quansah
Executive Producer - Kingsley Obeng-Kyereh

Share your thoughts and comments with us via @cmghana on Instagram & Twitter, and Curious Minds-Ghana on Facebook.

Ending Sexual Harassment & Violence- The Role of Men and Boys

Cyberviolence is defined as online behaviours that criminally or non-criminally assault, or can lead to assault, of a person’s physical, psychological or emotional well-being. It can be done or experienced by an individual or group and happen online, through smartphones, during Internet games, etc. Although cyberviolence can affect both women and men, women and girls experience different and more traumatic forms of cyber violence.

Some examples of cyberviolence include but are not limited to: cyber stalking, non-consensual pornography (or ‘revenge porn’), gender-based slurs, hate speech and harassment, ‘slut-shaming’, unsolicited pornography, ‘sextortion’, rape threats, death threats, and electronically facilitated trafficking. Contrary to what a lot of people think, cyber violence is not a separate phenomenon to ‘real world’ violence, as it often follows the same patterns as offline violence, affects people offline and has ‘real world’ implications.

On this episode of the Curious Minds Podcast, the team discussed Cyberviolence Against Women.

Host: Mavis Naa Korley Aryee
Panelists: Angel Cudjoe, Ransford Owusu-Ansah, Samuel Quaye.

Producer - Michael Tetteh Doku
Signature Tune: “The Curious Ring” by Roger Ebo Quansah
Executive Producer - Kingsley Obeng-Kyereh

Share your thoughts and comments with us via @cmghana on Instagram & Twitter, and Curious Minds-Ghana on Facebook.
#CMGhana #TheCMPodcast #VAWG #Cyberviolence

Cyberviolence Against Women

Growing up in a typical Ghanaian/African community comes with the regular and varying forms of punishment largely aimed at reprimanding, rebuking and most often correcting the actions and inactions of a child. For some, these set of actions are very important as they help form and mold the attitudes of children and inherently prepare them to become better adults. Unfortunately, these actions, though mostly aimed at correcting children, tend to be carried out in violent and abusive ways, which most often that not creates a cycle of other social challenges that could have been prevented. On this episode of the Curious Minds Podcast, the team discussed Correction and Punishment– Where Do We Draw The Line?

Host: Mavis Naa Korley Aryee
Panelists: Samuel Quaye, Prince Bonney, Ransford Owusu-Ansah.

Producer - Michael Tetteh Doku
Signature Tune: “The Curious Ring” by Roger Ebo Quansah
Executive Producer - Kingsley Obeng-Kyereh

Share your thoughts and comments with us via @cmghana on Instagram & Twitter, and Curious Minds-Ghana on Facebook.
#CMGhana #TheCMPodcast #ChildProtection #Punishment

Correction and Punishment- Where Do We Draw The Line?

Curious Minds Ghana is a youth led development and advocacy organisation based in Ghana working 24/7 for children and youth since 1996

We work to ensure that all children and youth are well informed and meaningfully participate in decision-making that affects their lives by advocating, generating knowledge, sharing information, building partnerships and training young activists at local, national and international levels.