By Rosemary Wayo
Tamale, Aug. 04, GNA – Stakeholders in disaster management and child protection, have undergone a three-day training on Children Protection in Emergency (CPiE), a plan of action aimed at protecting children during disasters.
The training was to coordinate preparedness and strengthen resilience for child protection, in the potential of spillover effects from the Sahel crisis.
It also sought to sensitise stakeholders on incorporating child interventions during disasters taking into consideration the Child Protection Minimum Standards (CPMS).
The workshop was organised by the Department of Children under the auspices of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP), with funding from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
It entailed presentations from the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) as well as detailed education on CPiE and social protection in humanitarian actions.
Participants were development planners, social welfare and community development officers, security services and development partners drawn from the North East and Savannah Regions.
Madam Florence Ayisi Quartey, the Acting National Director of the Department of Children, said the programme targeted districts that were more likely to have influx of immigrants who had fled from conflict situations across borders.
It was expected to help districts reconsider their sector medium-term plans to ensure that plans for emergency situations included children’s safety, she said.
She stated that it was important to ensure that partners’ attention was drawn to the special needs of children in compliance with the international protocols signed by government, making child protection inclusive of interventions and not an afterthought.
Mr Emmanuel Nyarko-Tetteh, the Child Protection Specialist at UNICEF Ghana, said training officials in the field of children, enabled them to strategise in the prevention and response to child abuse, exploitation, and neglect in emergency situations.
He said UNICEF was aware of the Sahel crisis that had led to the trooping in of more immigrants into the country, and emphasised need to equip officials in border districts, to work towards preventing extremism, as well as to consider children in case of these emergencies.
Participants shared insights from the workshop, indicating the extent to which lessons learnt could facilitate efforts in preventing crisis and responding to the needs of children in case of any.
Mr Musah Issahaku, the Chereponi District Planning Officer, said district development plans towards crisis often did not adequately address the needs of children, hence the training was a call to integrate children’s needs in emergency plans.
He said participants were reoriented to think and look at situations through the lenses of children to protect them.
GNA