‘Work together with communities to address child protection issues’

General news for Friday, September 25, 2020

Source: GNA

2020-09-25

Augustine Bosrotsi, Eastern Regional Deputy Director of the National Civic Education Commission (NCCE), has commissioned the Eastern Regional Child Protection Committee (ECPC) to work together with communities to address child protection issues.

He noted that for a holistic approach to child protection issues, the committee and all other stakeholders must come together and devise strategies so that communities feel part of the processes and fully participate in the results.

He mentioned that the development of community profiles and community action plans could be used as tools to design specific approaches and methods to address each community, on child protection, education and health needs.

The ECPC is made up of representatives of the Human Rights and Administrative Justice Commission (CHRAJ), Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU), Departments of Social Welfare and Community Development, Civil Society Organizations (OSC), authorities traditional, non-governmental organizations Government organizations with a focus on child development and the media under the auspices of the Children’s Department of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection.

Nana Kwame Oppong Owusu, head of Jumapo in the traditional New Juaben area and president of the ECPC, asked parents to take a lot of interest in their children’s education, especially in these difficult times when children learn from home.

He urged parents to ensure that their children participated in home television and online learning programs to make up for missed school contact hours due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Mr. Kwame Darteh, Eastern Regional Director of the Children’s Department, revealed that corruption cases in the region were increasing, but most went unreported and accused the committee members of being vigilant to ensure that the perpetrators were taken to the books. He called on the Gender Ministry to ensure that abuse victims do not pay medical bills to encourage them to report these incidents, as well as resolve them at home to avoid monetary lawsuits.

Ms. Vera Allotey, East Regional Director of Community Development, noted that some children did not participate in the polio vaccination exercise that had just ended due to some religious beliefs of the parents and therefore wanted the ECPC to assume it to ensure that no child is left out of such health interventions.

He made a request for support to PLAN International Ghana for their team to train five officers in the 27 districts of the region, to sensitize communities about sexual abuse and child protection issues in general.