Chief Director, Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Dr. Afisah Zakariah, has stated that the closest attention that can be given to children’s issues is to join the government at the community levels.
She noted that with challenges such as discrimination, child marriages, child labour, domestic violence, sexual violence, sexual abuse and teenage pregnancy still persisting, there is a need to develop by-laws and guidelines at the local level to manage children’s issues.
According to her, past experiences in intervention delivery has taught that sustainable child development, protection and resilience to shocks is only achievable through the development of the role of key community members and groups.
Their roles, she said, in the design, delivery, monitoring and evaluation and improvement of initiatives are imperative to change children’s situation.
Delivering the keynote address at the celebration of this year’s National Children’s Day on Monday in Accra, Dr. Afisah Zakaria noted that the Ministry will continue to use community-based structures such as the chieftaincy systems, traditional health and justice systems, traditional social units and family systems to provide entry points into the community and offer opportunities for interaction, co-ordination and delivery of responses to development challenges and day-to-day needs facing children in the communities.
“Through the engagement of the expertise, strategic and dynamic leadership of communities and traditional leaders, we will continue to mainstream laws and policies such as the Children’s Act, the Juvenile Justice Act, Child and Family Welfare Policy, the Criminal Amendment Code and other Offences Act, the Human Trafficking Act, the Domestic Violence Act, the Persons with Disability Act among others.”
“We will also continue to improve upon programmes and actions such as Free Compulsory Basic Education (FCUBE), Free SHS, LEAP, School Feeding Programme, NHIS and other social protection interventions in the communities towards the advancement of the rights of the child.”
“It is therefore imperative that irrespective of which level you find yourself in the community, we should all participate fully in all community engagements towards protecting our children,” she said.
According to her, not long ago the Child Protection Toolkit for community engagement was developed to help shape communities in the management of challenges children face.
She explained that as a follow-up, the Ministry is tracking the progress made so far after the rollout to establish areas that require realignment or strengthening to enhance the child protection systems.
Acting Director of the Department of Children of the Ministry, Florence Ayisi Quartey, in the welcome address, disclosed that National Children’s Day was instituted on 31 August, 1979 by the government as a key initiative to seek the general welfare and development of children in the country and to promote the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The theme for this year’s celebration “Role of community-based structures in protecting the rights of children,” will focus on the need to strengthen community-based structures for the protection of children.
The celebration, she said, is being carried out at the Community, Regional and National levels, to bring attention to the important role of the community-based structures in child protection.
Source: Mypublisher24.com