Partners in child labour urged not to damage Ghana's image

Partners working with government to eliminate worst forms of child labour, have been cautioned against giving out false information that are detrimental to the country's image. Mr Antwi Boasiako Sekyere, Deputy Minister for Employment and Social Welfare, said partners in child labour should tell the truth about the real situation on the ground but not lies. He was addressing the Ninth Partners Forum for elimination of child labour at the Champion Hotel at Santasi, Kumasi, on Thursday. The two day meeting is discussing a draft report "Facilitator's Manual on Best Practices" and to strategize for the coming year. The Deputy Minister reminded them to always submit their quarterly reports to the Secretariat of the National Programme for Elimination of Worst Forms of Child Labour in Cocoa (NPECLC) to ensure that their activities contributed to the achievement of national objectives and enhance the capacities of the district assemblies to deal with the problem. Mr Sekyere announced the decision to start the implementation of the Community-based Child Labour Monitoring system (CCLM) beginning 2010, to build a more reliable database. He called for united campaign to address the complex challenge of wiping out child labour from the society. "I therefore call on you to eschew competition over resources and rather focus more on partnership." The Deputy Minister said a communication strategy on the dissemination of hazardous child labour activity framework had been developed and encouraged the partners to translate it into simple information materials like posters, flyers and hand bills to aid attitudinal changes. Mrs Rita Owusu-Amankwah, the National Programme Manager, NPECLC, said they would use the meeting to discuss key issues to avoid unnecessary competition and duplication.