A 5-day training aim at improving the skills of core drug prevention educators in Ghana is currently underway in Accra. The program was opened yesterday by the Deputy Director General of the Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC), in charge of Enforcement, Elimination and Control, Mr Michael Addo.
It is being organised by the Economic Commission of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) of the United States.
The training is to enable the 25 participants, who are drug prevention educators, carry out effective evidence-based drug education in a sustainable manner to address drug use among children, adolescents, and young adults in communities across the country.
The programme, which is also a Training-of-Trainers (TOT), will build the capacities of the trainers to become certified Drug Prevention Professionals to train others in Ghana and other ECOWAS member states.
Two Universal Prevention Curriculum (UPC) trainers from Ghana and Nigeria, Sylvester Ebenezer Nana Koomson and Agwogie, Martin Osayande respectively are taking participants through the workshop.
According to the Principal Program Officer, Law Enforcement (Drug) and Project Coordinator for ECOWAS in Ghana, Daniel Akwasi Amankwaah, specific objectives of the training include “strengthening participant’s knowledge in the core elements of effective research-based prevention strategies; increase skills on how risk and protective factors are addressed in drug use prevention programmes.”
In his address as the chairman for the opening ceremony on behalf of his boss, the Director General of NACOC, Mr Michael Addo, Deputy Director General mentioned that illicit drug trafficking, drug use and dependence are dynamically developing phenomena in West Africa.
This, according to him, poses threat to public health, development and security and thus described as “heart-warming to have the ECOWAS Commission, in collaboration with INL, to introduce UPC training in Ghana with the aim of building professional drug use prevention workforce in Ghana.”
He encouraged the 25 identified participants to take full advantage of the opportunity offered to them to improve their skills in order to enable them “carry out effective evidence-based drug education to address drug use among children, adolescents, and young adults in communities across the country.”
The ECOWAS Resident Representative in Ghana, Ambassador Baba Gana Wakil was not physically present but reading a statement in his stead, Mrs Belangenyi N. Tehe Brigitte, Administrative Officer, ECOWAS Representation in Ghana indicated the hope that the training would be extended to other member states aside from Ghana and Nigeria.
The statement she read also stressed that “the choice of children, adolescents and young adults as a target group is quite perceptive as these are the young citizens of ECOWAS who will eventually define the future of the sub-region.”
On his part, Jeff Kee, the Director of the INL office in the United States Embassy in Accra, expressed their appreciation for the outstanding cooperation they had with ECOWAS and the excellent work of the Colombo Plan Drug Advisory Program, INL’s close partner in training, for their work in organising and supporting this training.
He noted that the courses are the result of a process to develop curricula that is based not just on the best scientific, evidence-based information and practices but is tailored for individual conditions in your environment, including cultural, social and other factors.
“Once you complete the design of the courses, you will begin the “train the trainer” stage of the course by training others and immediately begin to see impact in prevention in Ghana. In the future, you will assist in disseminating the training in the region and continent at large, in close collaborations with ECOWAS and the Colombo Plan Drug Advisory Program,” he added.
The 5-day workshop, which began yesterday, May 24, 2021 is expected to conclude on Friday, May 28, 2021.
The post 5 days ECOWAS–INL Training of Core Drug Educators opens in Accra appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
Read Full Story
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Instagram
Google+
YouTube
LinkedIn
RSS