Stop tea-drinking workshops - Otiko Djaba tells NGOs, CSOs

Gender, Children and Social Protection Minister Otiko Afisa Djaba has advised non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society organisations (CSOs) to step up their work by concentrating on how to create a real impact on communities where they are needed.

"Stop the tea-drinking workshops thinking that someone has to solve your problem. The problems are in the communities. We do a lot of things in the nice conference rooms and we are talking about beneficiaries who are far away from the conference rooms,” she said.

The minister made these comments when she was addressing a gathering of CSOs and NGOs in the Volta Region at the Regional Coordinating Council conference room as part of a familiarisation tour of the region.

The tour offered the minister the opportunity to interact with the various stakeholders related to her ministry and also to have first-hand information on activities and programmes undertaken by agencies under her ministry.

According to the minister, Ghana has had enough of capacity building in the area of social protection and is now time for more action to cause the necessary societal changes to better the lives of the vulnerable and the marginalised in society.

She also called on NGOs to focus on their various specialised areas so that a lot could be achieved within the shortest time possible.

"Have a map of all the areas. Know the baseline of the issues. Depending on your area of specialisation, you go to that area and these are the targets,” Madam Djaba urged.