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Kumbungu, Ghana – The Pan African Organisation for Research and Protection of Violence on Women and Children (PAOR-VWC) has engaged community stakeholders on how to reduce or end the high incidence of child marriage.
Early, Child and Forced marriages are much pronounced in most parts of the region preventing several girls from going to school.
The workshop which was held at Kumbungu in the Kumbungu District of the Northern Region was on the theme: “CHILD RIGHT PROMOTION AND PROTECTION IN THE KUMBUNGU DISTRICT; THE ROLE OF STAKEHOLDERS, TRADITIONAL LEADERS, RELIGIOUS LEADERS, QUEEN MOTHERS, YOUTH LEADERS.”
Stakeholders present were heads of departments of the Kumbungu District Assembly, District Commander of the Ghana Police Service, Chiefs and Queen Mothers, the Clergy, Officers from the District Education and Health Services, Officers from the District Births and Deaths Registry, Youth Leaders, and the Community Protection Personnel among others.
The main facilitator for the workshop, Hajia Halima Sagito, Gender Activist and Women Empowerment Advocate schooled participants on some of the National and International laws that protect children, and the role of decentralized state institutions such as the Ministries, District Assemblies and Departments as well as Civil Society Organizations (CSOs).
Hajia Sagito also outlined strategies to identify ways and means to strengthen and facilitate the process for more effective cooperation between district state institutions and CSOs to reduce incidence of Child Early and Forced Marriages (CEFM), Child Trafficking and other harmful practices against the rights of women and children.
The Pan African Organisation for Research and Protection of Violence on Women and Children is currently operating in five (5) Districts in the Northern Region of Ghana. They are Zabzugu, Tatale, Tolon, Kumbungu and Gushegu districts.
In an exclusive interview with Tamale-based 123 FM’s News Reporter Patience Nawang at the event, Country Director of the organization, Dr. Peter Ndonwie said the organization strategically focused on those five districts in the Northern Region because they are prone to the practice of child trafficking and early and forced child marriages.
The project is targeted at achieving goal five (5) of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals which seeks to promote gender equality and empowerment of women and girls.
Dr. Peter Ndonwie disclosed the organization is also mandated to ensure that both boys and girls of school going age are in school.
He stated that his organization works closely with stakeholders within the communities including Chiefs, Metropolitan Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs), Civil Society Organizations, Ghana Education Service, Ghana Immigration Service and the Ghana Police Service in child trafficking prone areas in an attempt to reduce all forms of abuse against the rights of children.
Pan African Organisation for Research and Protection of Violence on Women and Children is a Non-Governmental Human Rights and Development Organization registered in Ghana under the Registrar General’s Department and Social Welfare as a Charity Organization.
The NGO works closely with a German based donor partner Child Rights Africa (KiRA), through a collaborative effort between the Government of Ghana and German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
By SavannahNewsOnline.Com/Patience Nawang
