Curious minds, a youth-led development and advocacy organisation in Ghana has launched the Wa Chapter Club of Children and Youth in Broadcasting (CYIB-Curious Minds) with a call on stakeholders and policymakers to pay critical attention to issues concerning vulnerable groups in society.
The Executive Coordinator for Curious Minds, Mr Daniel Aburabura, who spoke at the launch at Wa on Wednesday said vulnerable groups in society included women and children who were exposed to early and child marriages, defilement, discrimination and other forms of abuse.
As from that objective, Curious Minds, he said sought to ensure that children and youth were well informed and participated in decision-making on issues affecting them by sharing information, building partnerships and generating knowledge.
He said children and young people in various communities were sometimes left in the dark in terms of development and were exposed to child abuse, child trafficking, forced marriages and violence, hence there was the need for combined effort to enlighten children on these issues.
“Children are the most vulnerable people in our various communities and need to be protected against any form of abuse, we need to channel our time and attention to children who play an important role in the society and the future leaders of our beloved county,” he said.
Mr Aburabura encouraged young people, women and children to speak up on issues that affected them.
The Regional Coordinator of Curious Minds, Mr Philip Tengsu, noted that the young people-led organisation, CYIB-Curious Minds, recognised the rights of young people as paramount for holistic development.
“Limited knowledge on and access to information on their rights and responsibilities is dire to the proper development of young people and children and lead to children dropping out of school, child labour, child trafficking, child streetism and many of such issues that are prevalent on the streets of Wa and other parts of the region,’’ he said.
He said Curious Minds was, therefore, creating the platform to interact with other like-minded stakeholders in the public and private sectors to officially announce the club’s presence in the region to help complement efforts in protecting the rights of women, children and the youth.
FROM RAFIA ABDUL RAZAK WA
