Children urged to be ambassadors for change
The fourth Ghana Children and Youth Forum (GCYF) has been launched in Accra with a call on children to be worthy ambassadors of change in their communities.
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Dubbed: “The role of children and youth in sustaining water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services”, the forum brought together 30 basic school pupils from selected public and private schools across the country.
The pupils, between the ages of 11 and 16, are expected to deliberate on their role in ensuring sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene services.
Participants will be exposed to issues concerning WASH in Ghana; define key issues that need to be tackled, as well as the benefits of sustaining WASH in their various communities.
They will also be equipped with basic information to conduct effective monitoring and evaluation of WASH activities.
The outcome of the forum will be organised into a report and a communiqué that would represent the voices of children and their role in the WASH development agenda.
In a statement read on her behalf, the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, said child participation had become necessary since the issue of WASH affected them directly.
“Engaging children in dialogue and exchange allows them to learn constructive ways of influencing the world around them,” she said.
She expressed her profound appreciation to the partners of the programme for giving the children the opportunity to contribute their quota to efforts being made to “change the world”.
Delivering the welcome address, the Minister of Water Resources, Works & Housing, Alhaji Collins Dauda, said the unavailability of water in some communities had had a toll on the education of children, especially girls.
He, however, expressed the hope that the forum would help find solutions to those problems and health dangers associated with water, sanitation and hygiene.
“It was important that you put into practice what you learn here and also tell your friends and parents when you return,” the minister urged the pupils.
The Director General of the Ghana Education Service, Ms Benedicta Nana Biney, said the benefits of observing hygiene were enormous and challenged the students to share the knowledge they acquired at the programme with their peers.
According to him, sharing with others would help ensure that more people contributed to the sustainability of WASH services.
The National Director of World Vision Ghana, Mr Hubert D. Charles, who chaired the function, said to attain the WASH target, “a concerted effort of all citizenry, including children and the youth, was required” and called on all to join hands to ensure the success of the programme.
By Vida Essel/Daily Graphic/Ghana
