SOS Children’s Villages and NCCE formalise strategic partnership

The SOS Children’s Villages in Ghana and the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), have entered into a strategic partnership aimed at promoting the welfare of children.

The collaboration, which was achieved through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), focuses on promoting child rights, enhancing civic education, and encouraging sustainable community development nationwide.

The MoU was signed between Mr Alexander Mar Kekula, the National Director and Chief Executive of the SOS Children’s Villages, and Madam Kathleen Addy, the Chairperson of the NCCE, in Accra.

Through this united effort, the two organizations would work collaboratively to eradicate harmful practices and all forms of violence against children and amplify civic education on child protection, welfare, and fundamental human rights.

It would also empower families and communities with the knowledge and resources to build safer, more nurturing environments for every child.

This all-important initiative is made possible through the generous support of the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) and SOS Children’s Villages Norway.

SOS Children’s Villages in Ghana, with funding from the Norwegian Government through Norad and SOS Children’s Villages in Norway, is implementing a five-year project, dubbed, “Protecting Children at Risk of Losing Parental Care,” through its partners in the Greater Accra, Central, Bono East, and Volta regions.

The project focuses on building stronger communities and district-level child protection structures, as well as strengthening the capacity of civil society organizations and key partners to advocate for the prevention of child-family separation effectively.

Mr. Kekula, said the organisation had been operating in Ghana over the past 51 years and that its goal was to ensure that every child had a parent and that no child should grow up alone.

He said currently, they were working with over 12,000 children from the south to the north of the country, making sure they stayed in the safety net and continued with education.

“We have been working with thousands of children who have grown up to be young men and women,” the reason why they wanted to learn and work with the NCCE.

“Through your vehicle, we can reach a lot more families with messages so that children are protected. Children do not have to come on the street because of what is happening in their homes,” he aadded.

Madam Addy on her part, said the signing of the MoU was very important in safeguarding the welfare of children.

She noted that the protection of children would always be shaky if the state and the community did not get involved.

“We have a situation right now where there’s an uptick in things like teenage pregnancy, for instance, meaning that children are being exposed to defilement, abuse, and a wide range of other things.

“We are also aware in recent cases about the lack of safe spaces for children in schools and abuse by those who are supposed to protect them and all of that.

“So, children’s issues are very important. And as a country, children are the future. Children are the ones who inherit what we have now and hopefully build on it,” she said.

Madam Addy said if society do not support the children, secure them, and give them a safe space to grow and thrive to achieve their full potential, the very existence of the state would be under threat.

“So the whole idea here is to work together to secure children, to make sure that they are safe wherever they are, they are safe from abuse, they are safe from physical violence, and that they are able to exist in a space where they are free to achieve their full potential.”

Madam Addy said children must be secured so they develop “normally like all other children in homes where they are valued, in communities where their rights are taken very seriously, in communities where when their rights are trampled upon, there’s a system that will take care of them, that will rescue them, that will place them in safe spaces.”

She reiterated that the collaboration falls squarely within the mandate of the Commission.

“And so, we are very happy to be a part of it. For us at NCCE, collaborations and partnerships are the bedrock or the key foundation for our success…” she said.

GNA