The Centre for Development and Policy Advocacy (CEDEPA) on Saturday, March 26, 2022, inaugurated a Child Rights Protection Committee (CPC) in the Zangbalun Traditional Area, as part of community-led initiatives to promote child rights and equal opportunities for children in the streets and other vulnerable situations.
The event took place at a key stakeholder meeting, organized to launch series of activities to mark the 2022 International Day for street children in Ghana. The meeting was attended by various stakeholders, including the chief and elders of the Zangbalun traditional area, youth and women groups and sister NGOs, namely, Sung Foundation, Centre for Initiatives Against Human Trafficking (CIAHT), and the Coalition of NGOs Against Streetism (CONAS).
Mr. Mohammed Ibrahim, a senior Programmes officer at the Kumbungu district office of the National Commission for Civic Education(NCCE), administered an oath of commitment to the members of the CPC, and urged them to take their work serious. He told the gathering that care and protection is a right that children are entitled to, under the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, and warned that, parents could be prosecuted, if they fail to discharge their constitutional responsibilities towards their children.
The Executive Director of CEDEPA, Mr. Ziblim Alhassan assured members of the CPC that, experienced staff from the NCCE and the department of social welfare would be engaged to work closely with them, in order to build their capacities in the field of child rights promotion.
Speaking at the same event, Hajia Fati Seidu Tambo, executive director of Sung Foundation charged parents to desist from sending their young girls to kayaaye, since it amounts to putting the girls' lives in harm's way. She ask them to take advantage of the free senior high school policy by government to empower the young girls economically, by giving them good education and vocational skills, so that, later, they can get decent jobs to take care of themselves and their families.
CEDEPA would be holding similar stakeholder meetings at Gbrimani in the Tolon district and Kotingli in the Tamale South sub-metropolis, where the same Child Rights Protection Committees would be inaugurated. CEDEPA's Executive Director, Mr. Ziblim hinted.
The 2022 International Day for street children is commemorated on the theme: "Creating Specialized Solutions to End Child Streetism: Breaking the Gender Barriers to Girls' Vocational Skills Training in northern Ghana".
Mr. Ziblim disclosed that apart from the stakeholder meetings, there would be media advocacy, using local drama, to change the misconceptions that young girls are incapable of learning certain vocational skills.
Mr. Ziblim expressed gratitude to their financial partners, Adamfo Ghana, a charity organization in the Netherlands, led by Dr. Adu-Ampong and his wife, Mrs. Marre Adu-Ampong.
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Stakeholders, chief and elders of the Zangbalun traditional area, youth and women groups