A three day National Partners’ Forum (NPF) for implementing partners in Child Labour in the cocoa sub-sector ended successfully at the True Vine Hotel, Ahodwo, in Kumasi. The NPF was organised by the NPELCLC from 21st -23rd November, 2011 and brought together various stakeholders in the fight against child labour to deliberate on issues of concern, especially their activities in 2011 and look at the way forward in the coming years.
The NPF served to:
- Identify and share good practices and
- Inform partners of plans and programmes for 2012 activities and beyond and
- Strengthen the partnership among stakeholders and implementation agencies
In his key note address, the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare (MESW), Hon. Antwi Boasiako Sekyere:
- Cautioned the various organisations present not to see each other as competitors but rather compliment each other’s effort in the fight against child labour.
- Called for support to families in extreme poverty so that they are not compelled by circumstances to use their children for child labour activities.
He also noted that a powerful minority in society are always demanding a large portion of the national cake to the neglect of the voiceless who are in the majority, vulnerable and the poor. He therefore called on all partners to help in giving a voice to the voiceless and come out with good practices to support children in child labour.
He said the NPECLC is committed to working in collaboration with all stakeholders in the fight against child labour to help Ghana become a child labour free country.
The partners shared their achievements and challenges for the year 2011 and the outlook for 2012.
NPECLC
Key among the achievements of the NPECLC in 2011 was the development of the Ghana Child Labour Monitoring System (GCLMS) tools which are used to identify and track children in child labour.
Cadbury Cocoa Partnership
The Cadbury cocoa partnership had provided:
- 10,000 solar lanterns to their communities, and
- Solar panels in 22 schools for improved teaching and learning
World Cocoa Foundation (WCF)
The Out-of-School teen (OST) program of the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) had served 374 teenagers (12-17 years old) and helped re-enroll them in formal schooling. The Cocoa link Project delivered child labour messages to cocoa farmers through their mobile phones.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO)
In Mr. Kwame Mensah’s presentation, the ILO recognised the NPECLC’s achievements over the years and recommended that the NPECLC should:
- Decentralise capacity building in the GCLMS to the district and community levels
- Document and effectively utilise lessons and inputs made into the GCLMS pilot and
- Continue collaborating and coordinating with partner organisations.
Challenges
Funding was identified as one of the major challenges faced by the partners. This caused the delay in piloting the GCLMS and other programmes. It was agreed to develop more proposals for funding to meet various strategic objectives. Inadequate collaboration among partners was another challenge.
Partners agreed to work more closely to avoid duplication of efforts, wastage of resources, including time, in the fight against child labour.