MINISTRY OF GENDER, CHILDREN AND SOCIAL PROTECTION HOLDS ITS MAIDEN SUMMIT




August 28, 2019 6:09 pm

The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection is holding its maiden week long Summit from Monday 26th August to Friday 30th August, 2019 in Accra as part of its mandate to ensure gender equality through mainstreaming of gender considerations, promote the welfare and protection of children and empower the vulnerable as well as the excluded, the aged and persons living with disability through social protection interventions to help contribute to national development.

The summit which is the first to be held is under the theme “Promoting Social Inclusion: Leave no one behind. The weeklong summit’s objective is aimed at taking stock of policy interventions, activities and programmes implemented over the years to highlight performances, successes, identify challenges and gaps and also formulate ways to improve future performances.

In her opening remarks, the Chief Director of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection said the Ministry has initiated the Annual Summit to provide an avenue of stocktaking through the review of performances, identify challenges and develop strategies to improve service delivery.

Honourable Cynthia Mamle Morrison, Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection in her keynote address said protecting and promoting the rights and well-being of the vulnerable in society is of utmost importance to any Government that wants to achieve an all –inclusive society. 

She further stressed that, her Ministry has been mandated to champion this cause which is in line with the President’s vision of a fair and inclusive society that is beyond aid.

 “The Ministry’s programmes, interventions and projects have been aligned with the President’s Coordinated Programme of Economic and Social Development and National Medium-Term Development Policy Framework 2018-2021 which have both been designed to create a society where no one is left behind in the development process”. She asserted.

Honourable Morrison also noted that, the Ministry with its partners have developed policies, strategic plans and legislations to support the implementation of social intervention programmes which is aimed at improving the lives of all citizens in Ghana. key among them are; Social Protection Policy, National Gender Policy, Ghana School Feeding Policy, Children’s Act, a 5-year strategic plan to address teenage pregnancy and a national framework on ending child marriage.

The Minister entreated corporate bodies, development partners, non-governmental organisations, civil society and the media to help in promoting the agenda of including all in the development process of Ghana as promoting of social inclusion where no one is left behind cannot be the sole responsibility of government.

Country Director for UNICEF, Anne- Claire Dufay in her solidarity message entreated all participants present to ensure there is zero tolerance for discrimination against children. She further advised that, violence should not be perpetuated against children as this have dire consequences on them.

In her statement, Chief of staff, Honourable Frema Osei Opare said the Summit is timely due to government’s resolve towards actively engaging stakeholders and practitioners in the social development sector in order to ensure sustainable social inclusion which is a testament to the fact that social development, particularly the drive towards achieving a gender-just society with adequate protection for all vulnerable persons, remains a shared goal and a national priority.

She added that, promoting social inclusion requires the efforts of all and sundry by instituting the requisite institutional and policy framework towards monitoring and tracking progress and deficiencies in order to ensure that no one is left behind.

Honourable Frema Osei Opare stressed that, government has adopted a broad and holistic approach through government’s special initiatives coordinated at the level of the Presidency aimed at ensuring that households are empowered to stay afloat of any form of vulnerability. These initiatives she said includes the implementation of the  planting for food and jobs, NABCO, Free SHS, one (1) district one (1) factory, one village (1) one (1) dam, and many others.

Her hope however is that, the Summit will rekindle ongoing collaborations between relevant social development partners and encourage the formation of new partnerships and strategic alignments for the betterment of the social development outcomes and goals.

There was an in-depth sector performance presentations, dialogue and discussions from heads of departments, development partners, civil society organisations and corporate bodies on key topics such as

  • Social Protections Interventions in Ghana
  • Gender Mainstreaming in Ghana
  • Deepening the rights of children in Ghana
  • Enhancing  Social Welfare Systems in Ghana
  • Combating Domestic Violence in Ghana
  • Eliminating Human Trafficking in Ghana
  • Empowering Persons with Disability for Development in Ghana

As part of the Summit, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection held a business summit with its development partners to discuss matters of development and implementation of matrix to combat social issues. These includes

  • Feedback on summit presentation and discussions
  • Social Protection Issues
  • Gender Mainstreaming
  • The Rights of the Child
  • Social Welfare Systems
  • Combatting Domestic Violence
  • Human Trafficking
  • Persons with Disability
  • Cross Cutting Issues

Source: MoGCSP

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