The Country Director of Plan Ghana International (PGI), Mr Solomon Tesfamariam, has stressed the need for adequate protection for children, particularly girls against all forms of abuses.
This, is to ensure that they live in a conducive environment for them to be adequately nurtured to face the future with confidence.
Mr Tesfamariam said Plan Ghana International would continue to promote gender equality among boys and girls, and provide justice for children in the country.
He called on parents and stakeholders not to discriminate against girls, but rather provide equal opportunity for both boys and girls to develop.
The Country Director of PGI who was speaking at the 2023 International Girls’ Day celebration at Jasikan in the Oti Region yesterday on the theme: ‘Girls Activism, Accountability and Resourcing,’ said girls were vulnerable, and needed to be protected against all forms of abuses in the society.
Mr Tesfamariam said it was important for girls to demand their rights to good health and education at all times, and also asked them to be responsible as children and urged parents to also live up to their parental responsibilities by protecting girls against sexual and social violence in the society.
He called on chiefs, the media, civil society groups and state institutions to strive hard to protect the rights of children, especially girls, from all forms of abuse, which were likely to affect the growth and development of girls.
According to him, it was important for children with emphasis on girls to be involved in the decision-making process to enable them to express their needs as well as challenges they faced, which should be included in the development process at the municipal and district assemblies.
Mr Tesfamariam said his outfit would work in Ghana in the next 15 years, and called for dialogue to address issues affecting the development of children in the country.
He also called for effective collaboration with relevant stakeholders to ensure that problems confronting the development of children and girls in particular, were removed to guarantee a brighter future for them.
He said PGI would provide the right platform for children to be listened to and stressed the need to motivate girls to enable them to grow into responsible adulthood.
The Oti and Volta Regional Manager of PGI, Mr Sulemana Gbana, said child abuse in the Jasikan Municipality such as psychological abuse, neglect, harassment, social abuse and sexual abuse cases were prevalent in the municipality, and called for concerted efforts to address the problem.
Mr Gbana said there was the need for communities, organisations and institutions to partner PGI to address the issues of child abuse, which called for mobilisation of resources in coordinated way to effectively deal with the problem.
He said the baseline survey of PGI showed that child care and protection were major challenges in the Jasikan Municipality, where his outfit worked to ensure that children’s interest were protected through collaborative efforts, and added that people should change their attitude towards children.
FROM SAMUEL AGBEWODE, JASIKAN
