Social Sciences faculty discusses research findings on MDGs
The Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Ghana has held its seventh annual colloquium to discuss some research findings on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and how Ghana is positioned towards the achievements of the goals.
Advertisement
The colloquium provided the opportunity for the academic community to disseminate research findings to help the government and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to formulate policies towards the development of the nation.
The event – which was on the theme: The Social Sciences and Development in the Post Millennium Development Goals Era: Old and Emerging Issues – was supported by HFC Bank and the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER).
It was the first time after seven years since the Faculty of Social Sciences held its annual colloquium, but incidentally the last to be organised by the faculty as it has now become the School of Social Sciences Colloquium.
Tertiary Education
In a speech read on her behalf, Dr Regina Adutwum, Director General of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), underlined the need to position tertiary education to play a central role towards the realisation of the nation’s aspirations.
She said through capacity management and societal engagement, tertiary education could play a significant role in the nation’s development through the provision of evidence-based knowledge to assist the government to tackle crucial issues such as eradication of illiteracy and alleviation of poverty and disease which are key goals of the MDGs.
Dr Adutwum argued that strong and adequate reliable data were what the National Development Planning Committee needed for the development of the MDGs, saying that tertiary education could contribute a lot in that direction.
She disclosed that Ghana, since 1992, had made strides towards the realisation of the MDGs, particularly in the area of poverty alleviation, and stated that Ghana was the first in sub-Saharan Africa to reduce poverty by half as of 2012, but revealed that there were still problems with the nation in meeting the goals relating to secondary education and mortality rate.
In her welcome address, Professor Charity Akotia, the acting Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, said the colloquium would focus on emerging and current issues in social sciences such as poverty, mental health, ageing, climate change, migration, oil and gas and social protection, among others.
