By Anthony Adongo Apubeo
Zebilla (U/E), Aug 22, GNA – Plan International Ghana, a non-governmental organisation, has called for increased efforts to strengthen the resilience of communities and persons affected by crises.
It said disasters, conflicts and diseases, coupled with climate change continued to pose significant threats and risks to the lives of children and increasingly displacing vulnerable communities annually.
“A quarter of the world’s population now live in conflict-affected areas and humanity is witnessing the highest number of people who are displaced,” it said.
“More than 100 million people have been forced to flee from their homes, 40 per cent of them are children. Over 200 million people are affected by disasters caused by natural hazards each year. The effects of climate change are causing increased risks for children,” it said.
Mr Constant Tchona, the Country Director of Plan International Ghana, said this in a speech read on his behalf at the commemoration of the World Humanitarian Day at Zebilla in the Bawku West District of the Upper East Region.
He stressed the need for collective efforts to address issues of child protection, gender-based violence, and other human rights abuses while ensuring that no one was left behind.
As part of activities marking World Humanitarian Day, Plan International Ghana organised a capacity-building meeting to address child protection and gender-based violence.
This is part of its ongoing commitment to supporting the host communities and asylum seekers at Tarikom in the Bawku West District of the Upper East Region.
The meeting was to help raise awareness and strengthen the mechanisms for identifying, reporting, and addressing issues related to child protection and gender-based violence.
It was on the theme: “Act for Humanity” and brought together representatives from the Bawku West District Assembly, the Ghana Education Service, UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the National Youth Authority, the Department of Social Welfare and Community Development and some Civil Society Organisations.
Mr Tchona said Plan International Ghana believed in working with relevant stakeholders to strengthen the resilience of communities that went beyond providing immediate relief to affected persons.
“It is about restoring dignity, fostering resilience, and empowering communities to rebuild in the face of adversity. Our mission is to not only respond to emergencies but to lay the groundwork for sustainable, long-term recovery and growth,” he said.
Ms Esenam Ahiadorme, the Gender and Influencing Specialist at Plan International Ghana, identified gender inequality as a major factor hampering the growth and development of women.
She said men should support their wives in running unpaid care work at home, to reduce the burden on women and boost their participation in economic activities.
Ms Ahiadorme called for societal norms to be modified to encourage families to share and teach their male children to undertake household chores.
That, she said, would not only give the girl-child equal access to education but would help build an inclusive society devoid of abuses and cultural barriers.
The stakeholders lauded the efforts of Plan International Ghana and its partners for the engagement and pledged to replicate the knowledge to their communities to achieve maximum impact.
GNA