Gifty Twum Ampofo adressing participants in Tamale
The Ministry of Gender, Social Welfare and Protection has collaborated with faith-based organizations in the Northern Region to reduce and eventually eradicate the vulnerability of children and women in the region.
Early this year, Ghana subscribed to the HeForShe global campaign initiated by the UN Women group. The campaign is aimed at ensuring gender equality and women empowerment.
According to the deputy minister for the sector, Gifty Twum Ampofo, the ministry has the mandate of ensuring gender equality and equity as well as promoting the survival and development of children and the vulnerable through social protection.
She added that the ministry would therefore explore all avenues necessary and available to achieve that mandate; hence the collaboration between the ministry and the faith-based organisations.
The collaboration is expected to mainstream social protection in the activities and policies of faith-based organisations and traditional authorities in the country.
Globally, social protection has proven to be a reliable tool for addressing poverty, vulnerability and exclusion which Ghana has also adopted.
In furtherance to government’s agenda for social protection and women and children empowerment, the ministry of gender has collaborated with the Christian Council of Ghana and organized a high-level national meeting with faith-based organizations and traditional authorities, following an earlier engagement on the same issue with UNICEF Ghana and Christian Council of Ghana organized last December.
The deputy minister indicated that 2,174,000 pupils in 6,213 public primary schools in all districts of Ghana are currently benefitting from the school feeding programme.
With support from the World Bank, the ministry has established and implemented the Helpline of Hope Call Centre, which aims at improving and managing grievances and cases associated with various social protection interventions, and other socio-economic issues.
Ms Gifty Twum Ampofo therefore appealed to the various faith-based organizations and traditional authorities to take advantage of the ‘Helpline of Hope’ system, and provide the needed support to their communities.
“I am very confident that our collaboration today in mainstreaming social protection into your policies, activities and plans will help Ghana achieve her poverty reduction agenda to ensure inclusive national development,” she stated, adding “the ministry is working assiduously to ensure the passage of social protection law by the year 2019”.
FROM Eric Kombat, Tamale