By Dennis Peprah
Sunyani, (Bono), Feb. 19, GNA – Residents of Island and Lake-communities at Afram Plains in the Kwahu North of the Eastern Region have launched a New Non-Governmental Organisation to tackle the longstanding social and economic challenges in the area.
The ‘Freedom Islands Right and Social Transformation (FIRST)”, the NGO serves as a grassroots movement to spearhead social justice and improve the socio-economic livelihoods of the people, with women and children.
“The launch of FIRST marks a significant step towards addressing pressing development challenges and seeks to empower the Island communities by advocating equitable resource distribution, improved public services, and sustainable development practices”, a statement issued by the NGO stated.
A copy of the statement signed by Mr Billy Benson, the Executive Director of FISRT and made available to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), explained the mission of the NGO was to promote social justice, human rights and sustainable development of the indigenous islanders and communities living along the Lake Volta in Afram Plains North area.
It also aims to amplify the voices of marginalized groups, including women, youth, children and indigenous populations, in decision-making processes.
The statement indicated that Dr Samuel Okyere, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom’s research findings inspired the communities to come together to form the NGO to pursue their rights.
It explained that Dr Okyere’s research was part of a project titled “Modern Marronage: The Pursuit and practice of freedom in the contemporary world” revealed that many of the island communities lack social amenities, including limited access to quality education and healthcare, electricity, lack of teachers and health professionals.
“Because of limited access to quality education, many of the children in the area have to cross the lake by canoe or walk long distance before getting access to school has compelled many of these children to follow their parents to fishing,” it quoted the research.
That has seen serious rights abuses against the communities by some organizations that claim to be combating child labour and trafficking on the lake in children’s work.
It quoted Dr Okyere calling on international human rights organizations to collaborate with the government and residents of the islands to look for innovative and pragmatic ways in addressing the economic marginalization of the area, instead of their “rambo style of rescuing the children which does not address the real issues”.
According to the statement, Mrs Betty Krosbi, the former Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, who was the guest speaker at the launch of the NGO held at Bridgeano, one of the communities in the area, said, “for too long, the people of Afram Plains North have been denied their fair share of development”.
“The MP was unhappy that successive governments have neglected the area when it comes to development thereby increasing poverty among the people. That forced many children who are sometimes breadwinners of their families to involve themselves in fishing”, it stated.
That highlights a major challenge in the area which is child labour in fishing activities that often led to high school dropout rates and limited educational attainment.
“Many families depend on fishing for their livelihood, but when children are engaged in the trade instead of attending school, it affects their future opportunities and perpetuates cycles of poverty”, it added.
GNA