WORKSHOP ORGANISED FOR NORTHERN REGION CHILD PROTECTION NETWORK

Millions of children worldwide most especially in Africa are subjected to violence, exploitation and abuse including the worst forms of child labour in communities, schools and institutions.

Some of these also occur in situations like armed conflict and the application of harmful cultural practices such as female genital mutilation and forced marriage.

Millions more, not yet victims, also remain without adequate protection. Protecting children from violence, exploitation and abuse is an integral component of protecting their rights to survival, growth and development.

Against this background, National Commission on Civic Education in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), has held a three day workshop on child protection during emergency situations for members of the Northern Region Child Protection Network.

The workshop, organised in Tamale, was aimed at finding ways of providing adequate and effective protection for children in emergency situations. It was also intended to build the capacities of members of the Child Protection Network so that it would enable them act decisively and appropriately to ensure the safety of children when the need arises.

The Child Protection Network has a membership of about 40 drawn from governmental and non-governmental organizations such as NCCE, Department of Children, Social Welfare, YouthAlive and District, Municipal and Metropolitan Assemblies and other institutions in the Northern Region.

Chairman of the Network, Haruna Husein Sulemana, said the Network exist to create an equal environment for the total growth of all children through governmental, non-governmental organizations and local people for successful implementation of programmes that ensures child rights and protection.

According to him, the Network serves as a platform for reference for promoting children rights and protection. It also try to better the lot of children by influencing policy change and implementation, develop membership policy and constitution as well as build capacities of its members on research and other relevant areas.

Mr. Husein Sulemana who is also the Northern Regional Director of NCCE, mentioned other interventions such as visits to Garizegu in the Tamale Metropolis during a chieftaincy conflict to ensure that there was peace so that children could go to school, and also Buipe in the Central Gonja District during the floods to find out how affected children were coping.

He stated that within the six years existence of the Child Protection Network, it has with the support of UNICEF achieved a lot including the establishment of an internet facility at the Network’s Secretariat, develop a five year strategic plan, institutionalized quarterly meetings and also documented the profile of all member organizations.

According to Shaya Ibrahim Asindua, UNICEF’s Chief of Field Officer, the agency works in five strategic focus areas including young child survival and development, Basic Education and Gender Equality, HIV and AIDS and Children, Child Protection and Policy Advocacy, Partnerships and Participation.

She explained that in Northern Ghana for instance, UNICEF is making sure there is safe drinking water in all guinea worm endemic communities, providing food and nutrition services to malnourished children, distributing treated mosquito nets to pregnant women and children and among others.