Strategic plan to fight child poverty in Northern Ghana launched
The Christian Children’s Fund of Canada (CCFC), a Tamale based international Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) at the weekend launched a six-year strategic plan aimed at fighting child poverty in deprived communities of the north.
The strategic plan, which spanning 2013 to 2018, is a roadmap for the implementation of CCFC’s strategic approach to addressing child poverty in its operational countries and communities across the world.
Mrs Gifty Akosua Baka, Country Director of CCFC -Ghana, said CCFC is an organisation working to alleviate challenges associated with child poverty and that its mission and vision was to give support to the vulnerable in society.
She said the NGO had the reputation of addressing poverty as well as giving development assistance to communities in its operational areas.
Mrs Baka said children’s experience of poverty differed from that of adults and child poverty emanated from deprivation of children, especially those from poor communities, of essential materials and conditions and services necessary for their survival, growth and development.
She said research by UNICEF and other world bodies revealed that one in three children from the developing countries had no access to good drinking water and improved sanitation facilities while in Ghana, more than nine million children had no access to safe drinking water.
Mrs Baka said CCFC would work with its local partners, government and communities to ensure the materialisation of the six-year strategic plan, which focuses on education, water and sanitation, health and nutrition, sustainable livelihoods and strengthening institutions and community organisations.
These were to address the root causes of poverty with focus on children’s right to survival, development, participation and protection, she said.
Mrs Baka said the six-year strategic plan had eight key strategies outlined for the period and that CCFC was currently working to meet the basic needs of about 10,000 sponsored children and their families from 72 communities in the Northern Region.
She expressed the hope that the six-year strategic plan would change lives of many children and have a greater social impact that would improve the health of children, school enrolment and performance of children in education and enhance employment of youth in gainful economic activities in the country.
She CCFC would soon extend its operations to the Greater Accra and the Eastern Regions to ensure that many more children in the country benefitted from education and health support to improve their livelihood.
Mr Moses Bukari Mabengba, Northern Regional Minister, in a speech read on his behalf, commended CCFC for the foresight and commitment to support children and their communities, which complimented government’s efforts in poverty reduction and improving on educational infrastructure.
He said the strategic plan, if well planned and implemented, would go a long way to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and that past achievements of CCFC was a testimony that the six-year strategic plan would be achieved.
He appealed to NGOs in the region to collaborate with one another and come out with strategic plans to create the awareness of areas of intervention of each other to avoid duplication of programmes in order to channel resources to other areas of importance.
Source: GNA