MR. BUKARI (STANDING) TAKING PARTICIPANTS THROUGH THE NEW GUIDELINES
The Atebubu-Amantin municipal office of the Department of Social Welfare and Community Development has organized a day’s sensitization programme for stakeholders on the Inter-Sectoral Standard Operating Procedures which will serve as a national guideline for child protection and family welfare case management.
According to Mr. Emmanuel Bukari the municipal head of the Department, the initiative seeks to strengthen inter-sectoral collaboration among stakeholders namely: his outfit, security agencies, the media, health institutions, traditional authorities and local government actors in the provision of social services at the decentralized and national levels to improve social services delivery across the country.
He indicated that the training programme is part of the integrated social services initiative sponsored by UNICEF through the Local Government Service with the goal to reduce poverty and vulnerability of children and families through an increased access to an integrated set of social services.
Mr. Bukari said the aim of the initiative is to support local government authorities to implement the policy objectives of the National Medium Term Development Planning Framework related to child and family welfare and social protection, strengthen capacity, coordination and systems at the local and national levels to enable sustainable delivery of integrated services with focus on child protection, social protection and health services whiles supporting metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies to access funding related to social and child protection programmes.
He took stakeholders through gaps in existing child protection case management guidelines and their attendant problems adding that the ISSOPs provide a harmonized framework of agreed standards, principles and procedures for all stakeholders to understand each other’s role and responsibilities.
The meeting also discussed the legal framework and policies on child protection, case categorization, roles of stakeholders under the new guidelines, levels of risks and vulnerability faced by children and the expected timelines for response as well as pathways for reporting child welfare issues, response and referrals.
Stakeholders drawn from the Ghana Police Service, Ghana Health Service, The Ghana Education Service, the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, the National Commission For Civic Education, Labor Department, the municipal assembly, the National Health Insurance Authority, traditional authorities and the media shared ideas on how they can collaborate to attain the goals of the ISSOP in the municipality.
A number (0595 505730) dedicated to reporting child welfare issues to the appropriate authorities in the municipality was made known to participants.