By Emelia Naa Ayeley Aryee / Freelance Journalist
Multiple award-winning Ghanaian journalist Regina Asamoah has left for the United States of America (USA) to participate in this year’s International Visitor Leadership Programme (IVLP) on gender-based violence.
Regina, who also doubles as the Founder and Executive Director of Missing Children Ghana, was the only one representing Ghana, following her nomination by the US Embassy in Ghana.
She joins other gender advocates nominated from 11 African countries, including Algeria, Cameroon, Cote D’Ivoire, Guinea, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nigeria, and South Africa.
Regina, known for her impactful journalistic works on gender-based violence, women, and children’s rights left Ghana on Friday, July 28, 2023, and will spend 3 weeks in America for the programme.
The programme is expected to equip Regina with increased knowledge on the subject, as a gender activist.
About the IVLP
The IVLP is the U.S Department of State’s premier professional exchange programme. The programme provides the platform for current and emerging foreign leaders in a variety of fields to get to experience the United States firsthand and cultivate lasting relationships with their American counterparts through short-term visits to the United States.
The participants for the three-week scholarly programme will have the opportunity to visit six states; Washington DC, Louisville KY, Manchester NH, Denver CO, Boulder CO, and Colorado Springs CO.
This is to afford all participants a better appreciation of all the thematic areas of discussions, in line with their professional interests and the foreign policy goals of the United States.
The programme starting from July 31 to August 18, 2023, will provide participants with the opportunity to review best practices for preventing gender-based violence and also discuss techniques to identify forms of gender-based abuse, report abuse, prosecute abusers, and provide assistance and protection to victims of gender-based violence.
It will also improve understanding of how social developments, such as economic opportunities, education, entrepreneurship, political participation, and leadership can serve as tools for combating violence.
The programme will also examine education and outreach initiatives that focus on women’s legal rights, the responsibility of men and boys to avoid perpetuating gender-based violence, and combating trafficking in persons.
Over the years hundreds of former participants under the International Visitor Program have risen to important positions in their countries. In Ghana, for example, we have former president J.A Kufuor as an alumnus.
Dr. Kwame Addo-Kufuor, together with a number of Members of Parliament, Ministers of State, Judges, private legal practitioners and senior journalists, and others.
About Regina Asamoah
Regina Asamoah is the 2019 Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Best Female Journalist. She is also a documentary filmmaker and media consultant.
She is the Founder/Executive Director of Missing Children Ghana. The first NGO in Ghana focused on finding and reuniting missing children with their families.
With over a decade of experience in media, in June 2023, Regina parted ways with her former employer, Atinka Media Village, where she served as news editor and content strategist for 8 years to give Missing Children Ghana more attention.
For more than 13 years, Regina Asamoah has been a passionate advocate for women and child’s rights, inspired by her love for knowledge sharing, and the opportunity she has to apply her professional skills to create social change.
For over a decade, she has been influential in developing, facilitating, and policy-making projects specifically related to gender activism and child protection as a journalist; hence, the birth of Missing Children Ghana (MCG).
The multiple award-winning documentary, MCG, which was first premiered in May 2021 has helped reunite 203 missing children and adults with their families and still counting.
Her Documentary; ‘Defiled and traumatised’ received special recognition from Plan International Ghana for Excellent Reporting on Girls’ Issues. After six years of legal battle, the girl who was featured in the Documentary – a defilement victim, finally got justice in August 2021.
Through her reports, several defiled girls have received justice and some have been put back in school on scholarship.
‘HOT OIL’, a documentary by Regina that highlighted the plight of a 9-year-old boy who suffered severe burns, afforded him the opportunity to undergo complete surgery.
Another Documentary by Regina titled: “The Aged and COVID-19’ led to proper targeting and care for older persons at the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Ghana. This documentary received Special Award for Covid-19 Reporting at the 25th GJA Awards.
At the 2022 Ghana Young Achievers Awards, she received the topmost Award – Young Achiever and Activist of the Year.
She has facilitated several high-level discussions. Key among them are the US Embassy Ghana “2021 Shifting the Blame Series: The Use of Ghanaian Language in Effective Reportage of Gender-Based Violence”, and the 2019 National Dialogue on Sexual Violence and Assault against Boys and Girls by Plan International Ghana and its implementing partners.
In 2021, the US Embassy Ghana selected her together with 14 others as “Champions of Ghana” to speak on Gender-Based Violence during the Observance of the Global 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence.
She holds a Master’s Degree in Development Communication from GIJ – having finished top of her class as the Best Graduating Student with Distinction.
She is a Bloomberg Media Initiative Africa (BMIA) Fellow.
