A Ghanaian NGO addresses child protection issues using a community-based approach
A grassroots group collaborates with local communities to address child labour in Ghana, an international alliance calls on the EU to protect crime victims irrespective of their residence status, and a report says the Ukraine war is reinforcing harmful gender stereotypes.
Around the Lake Volta area of Ghana, where 300,000 people rely on fishing and its related industries for their livelihoods, traditional skills are handed down through an informal apprenticeship training system in which children and young people learn from adult fishers – often, but not always, their parents or members of their extended family. However, this system can be fraught with complications and the large number of children involved in Ghana’s fishing industry has been of concern to the Ghanaian Government, development partners, and CSOs for a number of years.
According to an analytical study by ILO and the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), several thousand children in the Lake Volta area are involved in fishing-related activities, including catching, processing and trading; child labour, the report says, is “a coping strategy due to increasing levels of poverty”. The majority of working children do not receive regular, if any, wages, do not have a contract of any kind, and often engage in hazardous tasks without access to protective equipment. And, while some working children attend school, the majority combine schooling with fishing which affects their learning and, ultimately, leads to high drop-out rates.
While some recent studies have stated that 57 per cent of children working in the southern part of Lake Volta were trafficked, and that 52 per cent of households in the area have trafficked at least one of their children, other experts and investigators disagree with these numbers and suggest they reflect a limited understanding of the lived realities of local communities. However, while there is very little independent data on the pervasiveness of child-trafficking on and around Lake Volta, vulnerability factors such as poverty, lack of social services, and limited educational opportunities are certainly present.
One barrier to tackling child protection issues is the perception that children should learn the family trade and contribute economically to the household; in coastal areas, the occupation is not simply a job but rather a way of life that has been ongoing for hundreds if not thousands of years. Additionally, some adults who worked when they were children dismiss the issues around child labour because they also worked as children, they survived, and they now view it as a kind of right, local experts say.
Given the complex social issues involved, external interventions alone cannot solve the problem. Instead, a grassroots organization is working to end child trafficking, forced labour, and other forms of exploitation in Ghana through a community-based approach that uses peer-to-peer education, child empowerment, and family support to alter patterns of beliefs and behaviors and challenge exploitative practices. With a focus on culturally competent methods, and staffed mainly by local people and survivors of trafficking and forced labour, the Volta Revival Foundation (VRF) works to establish educated, healthy, and sustainable communities.
Implemented through its Liberate Me program, VRF’s approach includes collaborative practices such as partnering with local leaders and changemakers to be the eyes and ears of the anti-trafficking movement in the community, and giving agency to children through peer-to-peer education. VRF also provides trainings and workshops for local agencies and government actors, and builds consensus on best practice and strategic partnerships, so that stakeholders can work together to protect children more effectively. Another significant aspect of VRF’s work is continuous support for rehabilitated children through case management, payments for school fees and supplies and, in some cases, boarding school sponsorship; it also establishes vocational training apprenticeships for survivors who’ve aged out of school.
VRF alters its program model based on the specific contexts and requests of the community, and remains flexible enough to pivot its implementation process at any time. This systematic yet collaborative strategy to increase community engagement, provide development support, and carry out education alongside long-term monitoring and rehabilitation programs helps to keep children safe, and the organization hopes to share this model and scale its work in local communities, around Ghana, and beyond.
Here’s a round-up of other noteworthy news and initiatives:
An alliance of international and European organizations is calling on EU negotiators to enhance the rights of crime victims, irrespective of their residence status, highlighting concerns about the potential obstacles and ambiguities in the ongoing revision of the EU Victim Rights Directive. The organizations emphasize the need for safe reporting mechanisms, data protection, unconditional access to support services, provisions for undocumented children, individual assessments, immigration detention issues, issuance of residence permits, and compensation rights for victims.
This new study, conducted in Indonesia, Iraq, and Nigeria, explores the plight of children associated with groups designated as "terrorist," revealing that their abduction, recruitment, and exploitation involve severe rights violations, such as grooming, sexual abuse, and direct involvement in fighting. The research highlights the lack of reliable data and stresses the urgent need for evidence-based responses, including specialized policies and programs.
This article features an anti-human trafficking activist originally from Assam and now based in Bengaluru in India, who established the Impact and Dialogue Foundation after uncovering instances of false COVID-19 declarations linked to illegal organ harvesting. It highlights the challenges she faces, including convincing law enforcement and addressing underreported missing persons cases, and emphasizes the importance of collaboration with various stakeholders to prevent human trafficking and protect survivors.
A new report from Plan International says the war in Ukraine has deepened harmful gender stereotypes, reinforcing perceptions of masculinity in which men and boys are seen as defenders of the country while domestic responsibilities fall to women and girls. It also highlights the rapid increase in gender-based violence, with girls and young women in particular exposed to intimate partner violence, sexual violence, harmful online content, and sexual exploitation and abuse.
In the latest episode of Last Week Tonight, John Oliver highlights “Pig Butchering” scams and the connection to human trafficking in Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan Ministry of Foreign Affairs has affirmed its continuous efforts, in collaboration with its embassy in Myanmar, to rescue and repatriate Sri Lankan nationals trapped in situations of human trafficking in the Myawaddy area. The Thai Embassy in Laos also warned against illicit employment in a Special Economic Zone near Thailand’s Chiang Rai province.
Many companies in China rely on a vast program of forced labour from North Korea, according to a New Yorker article. The program is run by various entities in the North Korean government, including a secretive agency that funds the country’s nuclear- and ballistic-missile programs.
Share your news
Post your experiences from the field and initiatives to feature