The Family As A Tool For Development For Future Generations...Right Interventions For Sustainable Community Empowerment (RISCE)

The International Day of Families, on May 15, was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 1993 with resolution A/RES/47/237 and reflects the importance the international community attaches to families. The year 1994 was proclaimed as the International Year of Families by the United Nations.

This was a response to changing social and economic structures, which have affected and still affect the structure and stability of family units in many regions of the globe. This is done to celebrate the importance of families, people, societies and cultures around the world. It has been held every year since 1995.

15^th May, 2015 marks the annual celebration of international day of families by the UN. The theme for the 2015 international day of families is “Men in Charge? Gender Equality and Children’s Rights in Contemporary Families”. The International Day provides an opportunity to promote awareness of issues relating to families and to increase knowledge of the social, economic and demographic processes affecting families. The symbol of the International Day of Families consists of a solid green circle with an image in red. The image consists of elements of simple drawings of a heart and a house.

This indicates that families are the center of society and provide a stable and supporting home for people of all ages. According to the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon “Equitable social and economic development depends on fair legal frameworks and social norms that support the rights of women and children. Discriminatory laws and practices that do not give equal rights to all, and that suppress women’s and children’s rights, have no place in contemporary families, communities, societies and nations.”

The United Nations recognizes the family as the basic unit of society. Families have been transformed to a great degree over the past 50 years as a result of changes in their structure (smaller-sized households, delayed marriage and childbearing, increased divorce rates and single parenthood), global trends in migration, the phenomenon of demographic ageing, the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the impacts of globalization. These dynamic social forces have had a manifest impact on the capacities of families to perform such functions as the socialization of children and care giving for their younger and older members.

Nearly all UN system activities touch on the family, in its various forms. With some UN bodies, the connection is direct and obvious. The United Nations Population Fund ( UNFPA) promotes safe motherhood, reproductive health, the needs of adolescents and youth and gender equality, and addressing the impact of HIV/AIDS on the family. The United Nations Children’s Fund ( UNICEF ) supports the family through such actions as promoting child survival, development and protection, gender equality, and the impact of HIV/AIDS.

Other UN bodies support the family indirectly, and powerfully, by promoting health, well-being and development. Among these are such bodies as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations ( FAO ), the United Nations Development Programme ( UNDP ), the World Health Organization ( WHO ), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees ( UNHCR ), the International Organization for Migration ( IOM ), the United Nations Permanent Forum for Indigenous Issues ( UNFPII ), UN Women , and so many more.

On the international day of families, a wide range of events are organized at local, national and international levels. These include: workshops, seminars and policy meeting for public officials; exhibitions and organized discussions to raise awareness of the annual theme; educational sessions for children and young people; and the launch of campaigns for public policies to strengthen and support family units. In some countries, tool kits are created to help people organize celebrations aimed at a particular section of the population, such as school children or young adults.

The family is a group of people affiliated by consanguinity , affinity (by marriage), or co-residence and/or shared consumption. Members of the immediate family may include, singularly or plurally, a spouse, parent, brother, sister, son and/or daughter. Members of the extended family may include grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews, nieces and/or siblings-in-law .

In the family setting, every member has a unique role. The way roles are balanced between the parents will help children grow and learn valuable life lessons. There is great importance of communication and equality in families, in order to avoid role strain.

The term " nuclear family " is commonly used, especially to refer to conjugal families. A " conjugal " family includes only the husband, the wife, and unmarried children who are not of age. In the 21st century, the " nuclear family ", according to the 2010 Census, is "disappearing at a rapid rate. The nuclear family is being replaced by other family structures such as blended parents, single parents, and domestic partnerships.

The term " extended family " is also common. This term has two distinct meanings. First, it serves as a synonym of " consanguinal family " ("of the same blood"). Second, in societies dominated by the conjugal family, it refers to " kindred " (an egocentric network of relatives that extends beyond the domestic group) who do not belong to the conjugal family. These types refer to ideal or normative structures found in particular societies. Any society will exhibit some variation in the actual composition and conception of families.

The term “blended family or stepfamily ” describes families with mixed parents with one or both parents remarried, bringing children of the former family into the new family.

“Traditional family” refers to a middleclass family with a bread-winning father and a stay-at-home mother, married to each other and raising their biological children, and “nontraditional” to exceptions from this rule.

"Family" is used metaphorically to create more inclusive categories such as community , nationhood , global village and humanism .

In most societies, the family is the principal institution for the socialization of children. Sexual relations among the members are regulated by rules concerning incest such as the incest taboo .

Times have changed and most of the Ghanaian households are now shifting from the traditional family system to the non-traditional.

The issue of gender balance in the Ghanaian society is distorting the harmony and balance of most families as most people and/or couples do not understand the fundamentals of gender balance. Women empowerment and gender equality has empowered lots of Ghanaian women to rise to the occasion and also contribute to the development of their families, communities and the nation as a whole. In terms of education, the barrier between a girl child and boy is almost close owing to the gender balance policy.

However the disparity between most couples as women attain the same level or rise above their husbands has led to the collapse of most marriages in the Ghanaian society. This owes to the fact that as most women attain this social dignity, they fail to conform to these biblical quotations; Colossians 3:18, Ephesians 5:22, Esther 1:20. Though there is the need for gender balance, women should not lose sight of these bible quotations to help them bring harmony in their lives and marriages.

Government and other stakeholders involved in Community Development, Poverty reduction and Vulnerability in the Ghanaian society especially in the rural/deprived areas can target households and/or families as units to address issues of development in these areas as families collectively forms the mass of these communities. Article 28(2) of the 1992 constitution of the Republic of Ghana provides that “every child has the right to be protected from engaging in work that constitutes a threat to his health, education or development” Most children from these deprived communities become victims of child labour as part of their struggle to get on in life. The elimination of the Worst Forms of Child labour should be seen as a priority for the enhancement of the living standards of people and the sustainable development of the country.

The National Plan of Action (NPA) has its main objective to reduce the Worse Forms of Child Labour (WFCL) to the barest minimum. Another important objective in the NPA is to mobilize society to respect and protect the rights of children and promote their welfare. Also, the Free Compulsory and Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) policy has been fully implemented with priority attention to deprived communities.

The Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda (GSGDA II, 2014-2017), identifies Child Development and Protection as one of its key focus areas which addresses the issues of; low awareness and regard for the rights of children; high incidence of violation of children’s rights; weak enforcement of laws on the rights of children; absence of a comprehensive child protection policy; prevalence of abuse, violence and exploitation of children including child trafficking and other worse forms of child labour. The GSGDA II has the policy objective to protect children against violence, abuse and exploitation under these issues and has put in place strategies to develop, adopt and implement National Child Protection Policy and also review and implement the Early childhood Care and Development Policy. These objectives and policies needs to be closely and strictly monitored to enhance their efficiency.

In light of this, the International Day of Families should be used to highlight early gender education on human rights to create gender equality and equity within harmony and family welfare. We can prevent the gender-based violence eventually and eliminate it by learning on Gender Harmony. The understanding about human's rights, including women's rights must be inserted into all education starting from early childhood. That would be a good way of people learning on proper position and relation of men and women or boys and girls. Gender Harmony (GH) is developed based on respect to human rights to support unity (family welfare) within effective communication. Testimonies noted that many couples after learning about GH could develop their coping mechanism into balance of harmonious living by putting back the respect to each other’s rights, fulfill it as best as they can and protect the rights within family harmonious life.

Gender education is needed, most importantly to bring human rights into people's mindset from early childhood beginning when they are boys and girls towards gender partnership between men and women. We can prevent biased perception among boys to girls vice versa; and get proper mindset to build the family life. Our children now are the couples for tomorrow and the future generation of the nations. It is the basic material to develop the future world we want.

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