Yen Daakye' Movement launched

Published in the Daily Graphic on 23/06/2010, pg 11

Story: Matilda Attram
A CIVIL society organisation aimed at contributing to the elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour (WFCL) in the country has been inaugurated.
Known as ‘Yen Daakye Movement’, the organisation is a community-based movement that works in collaboration with Participatory Development Associates Limited (PDA), a non-governmental organisation. It is funded by the International Cocoa Initiatives (ICI) and aims at eliminating child labour in cocoa producing communities.
The first edition of the organisation’s report, which was launched during the inaugural ceremony, gives an account of some projects it had undertaken by ensuring the safety of children in very deprived cocoa growing communities.
Dubbed ‘Securing the Future of our Children, Getting on Track with Basics in Education’, the 16-page report highlights on programmes undertaken by the organisation, its aims and achievements, and some testimonies from beneficiaries.
Addressing the ceremony in Accra, a Lecturer at the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness College of Agriculture and Consumer Sciences at the University of Ghana, Rev Samuel Asuming-Brempong, indicated that the issue of child labour in cocoa cuiltivation, had been a common problem in all nations, especially developing ones which needed great interventions.
He said the problem which, was identified in the early part of the 19th century had received much attention from stakeholders in the country, but remained a disturbing factor in the development of children.
He stated that although the development of children required some training to enable them acquire skills for their future, there was the need for the education and sensitisation of parents and guardians to their interpretation of the difference between child work and child labour.
He defined child work as activities that enabled children to acquire the necessary skills for their future without interfering with their development, education and health, while child labour constituted activities that deprived children of their development, education and exposed them to health hazards.
Rev Asuming-Brempong, emphasised that apart from hazardous tasks given to children that posed a threat to their development, activities such as house chores and light work on farms were considered normal and healthy to the proper upbringing of children adding that “Traditionally family farms and with family enterprises is seen as part of the process by which children are trained towards adulthood.”
In her address, the Director and Founder of Rescue Foundation, Ghana, Madam Sylvia Hinson- Ekong, spoke about problems confronting children in schools in cocoa growing communities and mentioned lack of motivation of children and teachers, lack of proper school infrastructure, lack of trained teachers, lack of access to district scholarships, and inadequate learning and teaching materials as some of the factors that influenced child labour practice in the country.
Giving a brief on the project, the Project Co-ordinator, Mr Joshua Roland Baidoo, said the project which started in 2004, employed a community-based approach to enable cocoa farmers, their families and communities to make necessary changes in their labour practices as well as help them understand child development and educational needs.
The Director of PDA, Mr Tony Dogbe, who launched the organisation and its report, called on all to join in the fight against child labour and appealed to government to consider the children of cocoa farmers in rural communities since they (cocoa farmers) produced large income for the economy of the country.