GREEN AND INCLUSIVE PROJECT PILOTED

The National Commission for Civic Education, NCCE, and the UNDP have engaged women groups, youth activists, and persons with disabilities to rolled out a pilot project, dubbed, 'Green and Inclusive Project' at Makovo in the Ketu South District of the Volta Region.

The project seeks to find solutions to how different actors or vulnerable groups tackled the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and how it affected the rights and freedoms of citizens in the areas of good healthcare, education, jobs or businesses, and agriculture.

The Volta Regional Director of the NCCE, Mr. Kenneth Kponor entreated participants to make the best out of the workshop to better engage their peers on the knowledge and training they receive.

The Director of Communications and Corporate Affairs at the NCCE, Mrs. Joyce Afutu said the COVID-19 pandemic affected different groups and persons differently. This has prompted the need to dialogue, engage and train these groups on the pandemic and its effects on citizens' rights and freedoms.

Mrs. Afutu used the platform to educate participants on their civic rights and responsibilities. She touched on Articles 27, 28, and 29 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana which guarantees women’s rights, children and youth rights, and the rights of Persons With Disability (PWDs) respectively. She however reminded the participants to equally perform their civic responsibilities and duties.

Citing Article 41(k) of the 1992 Constitution, Mrs. Afutu charged participants to fulfill their civic duties by protecting and safeguarding the environment. “Maintaining a green earth during a global pandemic includes continuous preservation of our environment, protection of our water bodies against galamasey, protection of our forest reserves from lumbering, desisting from quarrying as well as practice of waste segregation and recycling. It is our duty to safeguard and protect the environment for posterity." she emphasized.

Dr. Mrs. Henrietta Sarpong, Director, Research, Gender and Equality at the NCCE said the global community was hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic but women, children, the youth and persons with disability were the most affected. She said, "during the COVID-19 pandemic, domestic violence on women, teenage pregnancy, child delinquency, substance abuse and depression among the youth increased around the world".

The Development Planning officer at the Ketu South District Assembly, Mr. Mawunyo Sosa disclosed that the Assembly has begun mobilizing resources to support persons with special needs and the vulnerable despite the effects of the pandemic. According to Mr. Sosa although Government's funding and resources to the Assembly are inadequate, the Assembly continues to do its best to support all citizens within the Assembly with special focus on vulnerable groups.