By Edward Acquah, GNA
Accra, July 7, GNA – The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection has called for sustained financing to strengthen child protection against labour exploitation.
Dr Agnes Naa Momo Lartey, Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, said long-term investment was essential to sustain prevention, protection and justice interventions for vulnerable children.
She made the call at the 2026 National Justice Conference in Accra on Tuesday, organised by the International Justice Mission (IJM), on the theme: “Sustainable Funding for Child Protection Against Labour Exploitation.”
“Sustainable financing is not simply about increasing resources; it is about ensuring that available resources are strategically aligned, efficiently utilised and directed towards interventions that deliver lasting outcomes for children,” the Minister said.
According to UNICEF Ghana, about 21 per cent of children aged five to 17 in Ghana are engaged in child labour, while 14 per cent perform hazardous work, with poverty, weak enforcement and inadequate resources remaining key drivers of the problem.
Dr Lartey said protecting children required coordinated investment across the justice sector, law enforcement, social welfare, education, health, labour administration, local government, traditional authorities, civil society and the private sector.
She said investing in child protection was not only a social obligation, but also an investment in human capital, economic productivity and national development, stressing that prevention was more cost-effective than responding to abuse after it occurred.
The Minister urged government, Parliament, development partners, civil society organisations and businesses to strengthen collaboration and ensure successful child protection initiatives were integrated into national systems through shared ownership.
The conference brought together government officials, Parliament, the Judiciary, security agencies, development partners, civil society organisations and survivor groups to discuss practical financing strategies to combat child labour and trafficking and accelerate progress towards Sustainable Development Goal Target 8.7.
Madam Anita Budu, Director of West Africa Programmes at IJM, said the conference would deepen national dialogue on sustainable financing, promote innovative funding models and influence policy and budgetary commitments to strengthen Ghana’s child protection system.
She said commitments made at the 2025 conference had yielded results, including improved child protection data systems, enhanced monitoring of child labour and the training of 87 journalists and selected National Commission for Civic Education officers to strengthen public awareness.
Mr Andy Griffiths, President for Africa and Europe at IJM, urged Ghana to match its commitment to child protection with sustained investment, saying well-resourced justice systems ensured survivors received care and traffickers were held accountable.
He described Ghana’s Human Trafficking Fund as a critical mechanism for supporting victims and called for consistent public investment, cross-sector partnerships and data-driven decision-making to strengthen child protection.
Professor Lord Mensah, Head of the Local Government Service, called on Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies to dedicate budgetary allocations to child protection and promote public-private partnerships and community-based financing to reduce dependence on donor support.
GNA
Edited by George-Ramsey Benamba
Reporter: Edward Acquah
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