Ghana NGOs Coalition on Rights of the Child (GNCRC) has called on Department of Social Welfare and other identified bodies to give good parenting and counselling support services regularly to parents and children.

The GNCRC said these services would help promote the primary responsibilities of parents and other care givers to their children and create the conducive environment for children to relate to their parents cordially.

GNCRC also called for financial and technical support that would broaden the scope of the awareness raising at the grass roots about strengthening empowerment of children and their care givers.

“Social protection programmes should be coordinated to ensure that parents or families who receive these kinds of support do not neglect their primary responsibilities towards children,” Mr Barima Akwasi Amankwaah, Acting National Coordinator, GNCRC, said at a media engagement in Accra.

He noted that family support and services play a critical role in the development of children especially their cultural and socialisation development.

He said though there are programmes such as Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty, School Feeding Programme, free school uniform among others, the scope and coverage of the these programmes are inadequate leaving some vulnerable families unreached.

“The government of Ghana does not give enough focus on the family and customary structures in Ghana,” he said.

Mr Amankwaah said are no programmes and services aimed at building capacity of parents to effectively deal with issues that confront children and youth as well as strengthening families to perform their primary responsibilities in the upbringing of their children.

“For instance there are no places where parents who have parenting challenges can go for support and counselling neither are there safe homes or shelters for children suffering abuse at home.”

He called for an increase awareness raising on the types of legal aid services that are available to parents, families and children in difficulty circumstances.

“There should be increase education on child participation in decisions affecting them (children) and their core responsibilities towards their parents, families, communities and country”.

He called for a national plan of action and an appropriate budget towards the implementation of the child and family welfare policy being developed by the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection.

Mr Amankwaah observed some cultural practices in some parts of the country, being promoted and allowing children to be married below 18 years as a major challenge to GNCRC.

“Our major challenge as child rights organisation is the contradiction aspect that makes it liberal for some cultural practices in some parts of the country to be promoted and allowing for marriages below the age of 18 years,” he said

Among their 2014 activities, Mr. Amankwaah stated that GNCRC embarked on the implementation of the various interventions targeting relevant issues confronting the Ghanaian child, held a girls’ camp which benefitted 202 children, trained patrons and patroness on child rights issues and child participation concept.

The body also used football to empower girls and young women and educated community members on their role in community and national development among other interventions.

He expressed GNCRC’s continuous contribution to the development of children and in 2015 the activities of the coalition would include the sensitisation of 10 regional child clubs in schools and communities, an advocacy meeting with child rights organisations, advocacy for the formation of national children’s parliament, meetings towards the discussion of child and family welfare policy and child justice policy.

There would also be media engagement as well as trainings on safe and sensitivity risk among others to ensure that children enjoy their full development and also unearth their potential talents.

“It should be noted that GNCRC will be relentless in our efforts until our objectives is achieved,” he said.