Celebrating Success: SCEF Advocate Ophelia Allotey Elected President of Paralegals of Greater Accra

The Street Children Empowerment Foundation (SCEF) is proud to congratulate its Executive Assistant and Advocate Ophelia Allotey for being elected as the President of the Paralegals of Greater Accra. This is a remarkable achievement and a testament to her dedication and commitment to promoting justice and equality for vulnerable and marginalized communities.

This election comes after our Executive Assistant and Advocate attended a three-day training organized by the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA Ghana) and funded by GIZ alongside our Programme Manager and SRHR Officer at Sun Lodge, Tesano in Accra. The training aimed to equip them with the necessary skills and knowledge to shape SCEF’s gender-sensitive leadership, girls and women interventions, and positioning SCEF as a key SRHR organization championing the rights of girls and women.

SCEF is committed to achieving sustainable improvements in the lives of children in street situations. We recognize that street-connected girls and women, in particular, need specific support services. That’s why we introduced gender-sensitive leadership principles and programming to address this gap, leading to the creation of the Fawohodie Project, which focuses on empowering women and girls in vulnerable situations.

The Fawohodie Center is a drop-in centre located at SCEF that provides sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) information, education, and services. Our social workers, along with other professionals, work tirelessly to provide a protected space, legal aid, and counseling to survivors of gender-based violence and guide them towards seeking justice in court.

The recent court case involving James Armah highlights the challenges faced by victims in accessing justice, and SCEF remains committed to the enforcement of the “Child Safeguarding Policy and Sexual Harassment,” “Exploitation and Abuse (SHEA) and other Safeguarding concerns Overarching Policy.”

We do not tolerate any form of abuse, exploitation, or harm carried towards individuals, and our aim is to create a society where girls and women make autonomous choices about their bodies and reproductive health, become economically and emotionally independent, and liberate themselves from the oppressive constraints imposed upon them by their social background and norms.

We named our centre “Fawohodie” after the Adinkra symbol, which means freedom and symbolizes independency, liberty, and autonomy. We believe that this symbol represents our vision of empowering girls and women to become the protagonist in their own stories and promote gender equality in society.

SCEF is proud of our Executive Assistant and Advocate’s achievement in being elected president of the Paralegals of Greater Accra. We are confident that she will continue to promote justice and equality for vulnerable and marginalized communities and be a strong advocate for the rights of girls and women.

We also extend our gratitude to FIDA Ghana with funding from GIZ for organizing the training, which has been instrumental in shaping SCEF’s gender-sensitive leadership and girls and women interventions and positioning SCEF as a key SRHR organization championing the rights of girls and women.