Gender Ministry to launch “I WILL” campaign on early childhood development
The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP) in partnership with UNICEF, the Ghana Health Service and the Ghana Education Service will Wednesday (August 17, 2022), launch the “I WILL” campaign, an Early Childhood Development (ECD) initiative.
The aim of the campaign is to promote quality caregiving practices for children aged zero to 8 years with an objective of promoting an integrated approach to ECD communication.
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It is also to ensure that all children zero to 8 years, especially the most vulnerable, survive, thrive, and develop their maximum potentials.
I Will Campaign
The 'I WILL' campaign has been designed to help address the challenges associated with the care of children zero to eight years and serve as a rallying call for parents, guardians and other stakeholders to increase their commitment towards the development of children in their early years of life, while acknowledging the power they have to ensure desired outcomes.
A statement issued by the Gender Ministry said “this campaign is therefore structured to give parents and stakeholders, an opportunity to pledge their commitment to implementing desirable behaviours which will facilitate effective early childhood development in Ghana”.
It said in addition to the launch, series of activities have been outlined in rolling out the campaign at all levels and these include media engagements to sensitise the public about the campaign on ECD issues, community engagements to sensitise communities and solicit support for implementation of the campaign, orientation and training of relevant stakeholders as well as digital promotion of the campaign on various platforms.
Communication packages
The Campaign's communication package includes posters, flash cards, counselling cards, as well as a facilitation guide.
These materials, it said provide relevant information on ECD to help improve the knowledge and skills of parents and stakeholders to support optimal development of children in their early childhood period.
It said the materials are available at the offices of the Department of Children, Ghana Health Service, Ghana Education Service, Department of Social Welfare, Department of Community Development, UNICEF Ghana's Civil Society Organisation (CSO) partners implementing ECD interventions in various communities, and online on the ministry's platforms including the Ghanaians Against Child Abuse (GACA) platform.
The statement said “as we heed to the clarion call of “leaving no child behind”, there is a compelling reason to intensify efforts to scale-up early childhood development (ECD) interventions to secure a good start for every child”.
“We therefore call on all shareholders to own and champion this campaign and also mainstream it into all existing ECD programmes”.