MELR holds three-day child labour workshop for Community Child Protection Committees

The ILO/EU Trade for Decent Work Project in collaboration with the Labour Unit of the Ministry Of Employment and Labour Relations is holding a three-day workshop to train Community Child Protection Committees (CCPCs) on child labour issues.

The Ghana government in collaboration with partners including the International Labour Organisations (ILO) and ILO over the years have designed and implemented numerous interventions to fight child labour in a bid to eliminate the practice.

One strategy that has been tested by government and partners is the use of Community Child Protection Committees to address child labour in the communities. The CCPCs are made up of opinion leaders and representatives of groups and associations in the communities.

The CCPCs concept is on the principle that the people in the community if empowered with the requisite skills can effectively address child labour in their respective communities since they live in the same communities and thus have a better understanding of the main activities in the community and what children normally engage in.

In a bid to keep the members of the CCPCs empowered to carry out their mandate, the Ministry Of Employment and Labour Relations is this week organising a three-day workshop to train them.

Engaging journalists on the sidelines of the workshop, Chairman of the Community Child Protection Committees, Mr. Thomas Agyei lauded the MELR and its partners, the ILO and EU for organising what he says is an important workshop.

“It is very good that the ILO and the EU have organized this workshop because you know human beings, we are bound to forget things.

“I think this workshop is reminding us and we are sharing more experience so after this workshop if we go back to our villages or our communities we are going to tell them more about what we have learned. So it’s very useful,” he said.

On calls for the CCPCs to have a law to back their mandate, Mr. Thomas Agyei stressed that it will only be in the right direction.

Mr. Agyei who is also the president of the New Juaben Cocoa Union said “If they will pass a law that will support what we are doing I think it will be very supportive because if they know there will be a penalty for such a behavior I think they will not do it.”

Playing a key role in the workshop, Mr. Peter Antwi who is the Focal Person on Child Labour at the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations recapped on the responsibilities of CCPCs and took them through an overview of working towards child labour free zone.

He explained, “This workshop seeks to train them, bring them to speed with the changing trend in the world of work so that they will be able to support the work of the minority and the government in the fight against child labour in the various communities.”

Just like Mr. Thomas Agyei, Mr. Peter Antwi wants the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations to liaise with the local government to push parliament to pass a law that will empower the Community Child Protection Committees.