By Eunice Tekie Tei
Anyinam (E/R), Sept. 24, GNA – Rainforest Alliance, an international Non- Governmental Organisation (NGO), and its implementation partner, Edmark Rescue Foundation, a Community Based Organisation (CBO) have held a district level stakeholders engagement forum at Anyinam in the Atiwa East District of the Eastern Region.
The forum, which formed part of a larger project funded by the Norwegian government through NORAD seeks to complement government’s effort at tackling forced and child labour in Ghana’s cocoa and mining sectors.
This is through empowering communities to hold companies and governments accountable to their commitments in tackling child and forced labour.
Speaking on the theme,” Deepening Commitments and Actions to Tackle Child and Forced Labour in Cocoa and Mining Districts”, the representative of the District Chief Executive, Mr. Mesack Asare, commended the NGO and its partners for the strides they had taken to minimize child labour particularly in the Atiwa East District, where the activities were rife and appealed to all stakeholders to play their parts especially the cocoa companies to strictly honour their commitments towards achieving results.
Mr. Damanka the Executive Director of Edmark Rescue Foundation, said the over 12-month project, implemented by the foundation in collaboration with Rainforest Alliance and its partners had lived up to expectation with positive outcomes which also benefited people living within the various communities in the Atiwa East District and contributing towards reducing child and forced labour it faced.
He also urged the district assembly to collaborate with the foundation and other NGOs with similar or different projects for the betterment of the people in mining and cocoa communities and lauded the initiative, which had brought change to the district.
Mr. Damanka, expressed gratitude and satisfaction to all the stakeholders for their dedication and support to work. “I think I can see some enthusiasm on the part of the stakeholders, government companies, community leaders, monitors to contribute in diverse ways to reduce child and forced labour.
“We all share in that vision of being part of the solution of contributing to the reduction of child labour” he stressed.
The Senior Project Manager, Mrs. Joyce Poku- Marboah stated that the knowledge acquired by the communities was an asset that could not be taken away from them and should be used profitably.
She encouraged the community volunteers to be pro-active and leverage the network they had built with the cocoa companies, goldmining associations and relevant government agencies at the district level through the quarterly dialogue and to lobby for interventions for the eradication of forced and child labour through continuous improvement.
Edmark Foundation, together with Rainforest Alliance and the implementing partners believe that dialogue was a major step that could build relations and promote effective teamwork towards the elimination of child and forced labour and other human right abuses.
“Ultimately, a comprehensive, multi-stakeholder approach is needed to address the root cause of child and forced labour and create a sustainable solution to this problem”, Mr. Damanka added.
GNA