Ministries In Ghana In Charge Of Child Welfare, Their roles, challenges, and why they must do better
In Ghana, child maintenance is recognized as a mandatory parental obligation enforced by the Department of Social Welfare and the Court through social workers. Still, the government is supposed to step in when parents are incapacitated to provide for the child. There are various ministries in charge of child welfare in Ghana, but their impact is not felt as children's welfare seems to be less of a priority. Studies have attributed these to limited funds, but that cannot be entirely through as the welfare of children is not highlighted strongly in the government’s annual budget review.
Walking through the capital city of Ghana, Accra, and seeing numerous children begging on the highways speaks volumes of the importance given to children’s welfare in Ghana. Going to villages and seeing children walking naked with no or little education is saddening. Visiting orphanages and seeing the children to caretaker ratio gap sounds a great alarm that all is not well with the welfare of children in Ghana. Yet Ghana prides itself as the first country to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990) and has signed or ratified most major international instruments relating to child protection.
The government is responsible for organizing the redistribution of the goods necessary to satisfy all society members' basic needs or the money to purchase these goods—hence, the social welfare system for children and the vulnerable in society. I am proud, but sorry to say Ghana has the best policies and diverse ministries assigned to protect the welfare of children. Still, until the various ministries in charge of children’s welfare ensure these policies are fully implemented to the letter, the welfare of children will keep deteriorating each day. In my next post, I will share Ghana’s various child welfare policies.
Ministries in charge of child welfare
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Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection: The Department of Social Development, under this Ministry, is responsible for providing several services for children under the Children’s Act 1998 (Act 560). The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP) was created by Executive Instrument 1 (E.I. 1) in January 2013 as a successor to the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs. The primary objective of its establishment was to have a Ministry responsible for policy formulation, coordination, and monitoring and evaluation of Gender, Children, and Social Protection issues within the context of the national development agenda. This will lead to the achievement of gender equality, equity, and the empowerment of women and girls, promoting children’s survival and development, thus ensuring their rights. It will also ensure harmonizing social protection interventions better to target the vulnerable, excluded, and persons with disability and integrate fulfillment of their rights, empowerment, and full participation into national development.
Ministry of Justice and Attorney Generals Department: This Ministry has under it the Attorney Generals Department and Legal Aid Scheme that have a role to play within the existing justice for children system. The Attorney General’s Department came into being in 1877. It first started as the office of the Judicial Assessor, who was the Principal Legal Advisor to the Executive Council established in 1850 for the administration of the Gold Coast Colony. Then with the promulgation of the first Supreme Court Ordinance in 1876, which provided the framework for the administration of justice in the Colony, the office of the Judicial Assessor was abolished and replaced with the Queen’s Advocate Office. More about this ministry can be found here.
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