Nyokoko (UE), June 20, GNA- International Needs Ghana (INGH), a Non-Governmental Organisation, has sensitised parents of Abolato D/A Basic School at Nyokoko in the Bolgatanga East District of the Upper East Region on the need to adopt positive parenting practices and ensuring gender equity among boys and girls.
This is part of the organization’s strategies to ensure equity in the raising of boy and girl children to reduce gender stereotyping and ensure proper physical and academic development of all, especially the girls.
Mr Benjamin Awah, the Programme Officer of INGH, who facilitated the session, engaged parents, using the boys’ and girls’ roles analysis flashcards from the UNICEF Child Protection Toolkits.
The parents appreciated the uneven distribution of daily chores among boys and girls and agreed on the need for a balance in chores to reduce the burden on girls so that they could have adequate time and energy for academic work, which in the long run would contribute to improved human capital for the community and Ghana.
In addition to the engagement, the NGO helped to create a good relationship between the community leaders and the Department of Social Welfare in the district, to aid continuous support to ensure the protection of children from all forms of violence, abuse and exploitation.
After the session, Reverend Isaac Quarcoo, the Manager for the Education Unit of INGH, who spoke to the Ghana News Agency, reiterated the need for a collective response to the protection of Children.
“Our country’s laws and policies enacted to protect children are great but without our collective effort, the child can never be protected,” he said.
He said parent engagement was one of the many interventions implemented by INGH to create awareness and empower the community-level stakeholders to protect the best interest of the child.
To this end, he urged the government and non-governmental organizations to continue to support the district-level stakeholders vested with the child protection mandate to enable them to perform their functions effectively.
GNA