Project details:
One of the key components of child protection system in Ghana is the behaviour and social change, which addresses the deep rooted social norms and practices that are unfavourable to the protection of children. It also focuses on promoting positive indigenous practices that promote the protection of children. To effectively facilitate discussion around child protection issues, a child protection community facilitation manual and toolkits were collectively developed by UNICEF, Government and other NGO partners.The toolkits included training manuals and several resources including flash cards, interactive games activities, information packs etc. for stimulating dialogue on a range of child protection issues including gender role analysis, child marriage and teenage pregnancy among others.
The tools will be used to engaged a variety of audience including community members, parents, community/traditional leaders, teachers and children themselves in different cultural settings across the country. The aim of the tools is to create a platform for communal reflection which
will trigger actions leading to behaviour and social change to create a safe and protective environment for children.The CP toolkits support open reflection and dialogue around sensitive child protection issues and this makes it possible to bring up very sensitive child protection issues which are not normally discussed openly. The tools have been very instrumental in provoking reflections and discussions leading to both individual and collective actions for behaviour and social change.
After two years of implementation with the tools for community engagement, it has become
necessary to produce more of the toolboxes to support the scale of the program to other MMDA’s and communities across the country