By Emmanuel Nyatsikor
Kasoa, Dec. 14, GNA - Mrs Gifty Dansoah Appiah, National Director of Compassion International Ghana (CIG), has expressed concern about the worst forms of child abuse in the country fuelled by poverty.
She said the situation was a “national calamity" and vowed to work with the local churches to provide protection for children.
They would go to every length to make things better and called for national efforts “to move from programming to implementation”.
Mrs Appiah said this at the opening of a four-day national conference organised by CIG for 700 pastors and project directors of partner churches at Kasoa in the Central Region.
“Break Camp and Advance- a Movement together", was the theme chosen for the event.
It aimed at strengthening fellowship and fostering a common understanding of strategic partnership direction in lifting children out of poverty.
Compassion International, the parent organisation of CIG, is a Christian child sponsorship non-governmental organisation dedicated to the long term development of children living in poverty across the world.
Mrs Appiah said although Ghana was a party to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, she found it deeply disturbing its lack of a practical child welfare system, resulting in child labour, physical, emotional and psychological child abuses.
She said CIG was currently working with 34 local churches in seven regions and was taking care of 81,737 children until they reached the age of 22.
She called on all stakeholders to come together to fight child abuse.
Ms Joyce Aryee, Chairperson of the Advisory Council of CIG, commended Compassion, for its efforts at releasing children from poverty, and encouraged all church partners to come together irrespective of their denominations to make covenant to champion children’s issues.
She urged togetherness and effective partnership, adding “we must all join hands and effectively champion this movement so that we can break more grounds and advance our cause”.
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