The Executive Coordinator of Curious Minds Ghana, Mr Kingsley Obeng Kyere, has called for deliberate allocation of resources to promote the rights and wellbeing of children in Ghana.
He explained that the resources should be used to support efforts aimed at protecting children from harmful practices such as early marriage, parental negligence of duty and other harmful societal that prevent children from discovering and reaching their full potentials in life.
Mr Kyere stated that the sustainable development goals and other such international declarations considered the well being of children, hence had enshrined specific clauses to promote the rights of children.
Mr Kyere who doubles as the Project Manager for the UNICEF funded GBC-UNICEF SBC Project made the call on Thursday at Wa in the Upper West Region during an intergenerational colloquium dialogue on ending harmful practices against children.
Organised by Curious minds Ghana as part of activities under the project, the dialogue which was on the theme; ‘Building a better Ghana: eliminating harmful practices for sustainable development’ sought to create a platform for dialogue on ending harmful practices including child marriage and teenage pregnancy.
Mr Kyere explained that people have had misconceptions about the rights of children and what was actually due them, stating that people believed allowing children to have rights meant promoting insubordination among children.
For his part, a director at the Regional Coordinating Council, Mr Dennis Bayuo encouraged the pupils who participated in the meeting to take their studies serious and shun practices that would truncate their pursuit for higher education.
The programme brought together representatives from the department of gender, youth authority, Ghana Health Service, among others who engaged the children on topics relating to staying chaste, preventing teenage pregnancies, among others.
FROM LYDIA DARLINGTON FORDJOUR, WA
