SOCIAL WELFARE AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

(b) Assist and facilitate provision of community care services including:
Implementation of the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) Programme;
Registration of persons with disabilities;
Hospital welfare services;
Assistance to the aged; and
Socio-economic and emotional stability in families;

SPECIFIC TO THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT SECTION

1. Promote and provide alternative livelihood empowerment skills for the deprived in the communities
2. Promote entrepreneurial skills, business support services and linkages to financial institutions to beneficiaries of skills training programme
3. Provide avenue for other institutions to implement community development programmes
4. Mobilise and train voluntary leaders and community-based organisations as change agents in the communities
5. Undertake community entry processes for programme initiation, monitoring and evaluation;
6. Organise weekly adult education programmes
7. Hold community briefing sessions on the role of the Assembly and its Departments with key stakeholders and community members;
8. Identify, maintain and update data on various groups in the community;
9. Conduct community needs assessment;
10. Conduct community surveys and compile profiles;
11. Assist in the mobilization of resources for community development interventions;
12. Mobilise community members for communal labour and self-help projects
13. Teach women home management, child care and entrepreneurial skills
14. Organise community members for the collection of inputs for the preparation of budget and Medium-Term Development Plan
15. Provide technical support to development partners
16. Compile activity, quarterly and annual reports

SOME ACHIEVEMENTS

• The Department has so far registered Nine Hundred and Sixty-two persons with disabilities.
• As part of monitoring and inspection, the Department has so far visited about fifty (50) early childhood development centres within the Municipality.
• Over five hundred and fifty (550) school children and eighty (80) community members were sensitized on good hand wash and hygiene practices to help prevent diseases in communities
• Community members have been sensitized on the need to sleep under treated nets to help prevent malaria
• 14 home visits have been carried out.28 households comprising 7 male & 21 female were sensitized on the following:
Awareness raising on the launch of the newly created assembly.
(i) Home Management
(ii) Laser Fever
(iii)Hygiene
(iv)savings
• The department collaborated with the Community Health Adolescent Unit to sensitize 1108 school children on the abuse of Tramadol.
• 550 school children and community members were also sensitised on the importance of handwashing and appropriate ways in handwashing to avoid infections and diseases.

ROUTINE ACTIVITIES

CHILD PROTECTION/ CHILD WELFARE SERVICE

• Day – Care registration/ Monitoring
• Child Supervision/Orphanages
• Shelter/reunification of children
• School socialization
• Probation and court work – Adjudication of cases (Maintenance, family welfare, Custody, Access and Paternity)
• Reunification and support for misplaced person (Adults)
• Citizen’s Advice Bureau

GROUP AND COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES

• Demonstration on income generating activities such as cosmetology, fashion/design and sanitizer production.
• Weekly Group meetings with community members.
• Registration and Renewal of Non – Governmental Organizations.
• Registration and support to persons with Disabilities (PWDs)
• Monitoring of Person with (PWDs)
• Disbursement of 3% common fund to Persons with Disabilities (PWDs)
• Sensitization of market women on Negative effects of child labour.
• Bi-monthly disbursement of funds to LEAP beneficiaries
• Health screening for the Aged
• Handwashing sensitization/ vocational skills training for women

HOSPITAL WELFARE

• Adolescent health care
• Counselling
• Family tracing
• Screening of misplaced and abandoned children

LIST OF NUTRITION-ORIENTED INTERVENTIONS IN THE DISTRICT

SOCIAL SERVICES.
LIST OF SOCIAL SERVICES IN CENTRAL TONGU

CHILD RIGHTS PROMOTION AND PROTECTION

CASE ANALYSIS

VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN-CASES REFERED TO FAMILY TRIBUNAL

CASE ANALYSIS

SUPPORT FOR INTEGRATED SOCIAL SERVICES.

COMMUNITY CARE

CASH OUT STATISTICS

BREAKDOWN OF HOUSEHOLDS INTO MALE AND FEMALE

LEAP OFFICIALS ARRIVING AT THE SHORES OF THE RIVER

LEAP OFFICIALS DISBURSING CASH TO BENEFICIARIES

REGISTRATION OF LEAP BENEFICIARIES UNTO NHIS

BREAKDOWN OF LEAP BENEFICIARIES REGISTERED UNTO THE NHIS

WORK WITH DISABLES

UPDATED NO OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITY CAPTURED IN THE DISABILITY ALBUM IN THE DISTRICT

REGISTRATION OF INDIGENTS ONTO THE NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE SCHEME.

STATISTICS OF INDIGENTS REGISTERED UNTO THE NHIS

REGISTRATION OF PWDs ONTO THE NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE SCHEME.

STATISTICS OF PWDS REGISTERED UNTO THE NHIS

AVAILABILITY OF DEDICATED HOTLINE FOR THE VULNERABLE GROUP

Functional Hotline for Vulnerable Groups

TRANSITIONAL HOME / SHELTER.

NUTRITION

Orientation for Food Vendors and School Feeding Contractors in Central Tongu District

WORK WITH NGO

TITIAN MINISTRIES - WORK WITH THE AGED.

PANEL DISCUSSION ON ENDING ADOLESCENT PREGNANCY, ABUSE AND EXPLOTATION ORGANIZED BY INTERNATIONAL NEEDS(IN).

Arrival and registration of participants, opening prayer and introduction of dignitaries formed the preliminary part of program. This was accompanied by cultural and choreographic performance by some of the students of the International Needs Vocational School.

A message from International Needs Ghana was read by Vera Elikem Awuye (Senior Program Officer, Gender Empowerment) with much focus on efforts to ensure conducive environment for all adolescents, especially, girls thrive to their full potentials holistically against all odds. She emphasized the efforts of International Needs in ensuring all these.

A documentary on activities of Safe and Protective Environment for Adolescent Development (SPREAD) Phase II in the Central and Volta regions was projected for the gathering. The documentary showed some of the things done by IN under SPREAD-Phase II which were of great benefits to the people in the areas of education, economic empowerment, talent development and what have you. People testified about they have been positively impacted by SPREAD. Some of these people were parents, community members, teachers and heads of schools. Some children who dropped out of school due to poverty in the home ended up being enrolled in vocation learning, others going back to school and so forth and so on as a result of the support from SPREAD.

One of the students on behalf of the others presented a petition to stakeholders to end adolescent pregnancy, abuse and exploitation. In the petition, they indicated how most adolescents end up dropping out of school through teenage pregnancy, child marriage and abuse as a result of some parents pushing their girl children into intimate relationships just for the children to bring some money home to support the upkeep of the home. Other girls are also forced into engaging in intimate relationship to get money to buy sanitary pads during menstruation as well as provide their needs due to the failure of their parents to do so. They therefore appealed to the government and all stakeholders to get parents to be more responsible towards their children, especially, the girl children to prevent them from falling prey to teenage pregnancy, abuse and exploitation. The appeal also indicated that girls will be very appreciative if the government can at least make monthly supply of a pack of sanitary pad to every rural teenage girl or take off the importation task on sanitary pads to make them affordable.

Panel discussion on the topic “Ending Adolescent Pregnancy, Abuse and Exploitation” held with a five (5) member panel. Panel members were asked three rounds of questions to be answered from their individual capacities and perspectives. Panellists were: • to indicate their portfolios or designations at their work places and the role they can play in the lives of adolescent girls. • what their offices can do to bridge the gaps that bring about teenage pregnancy as spelt out in the petition of the adolescent girls.

In turns they all answered the questions posed to them in the following manner:  Starting with the Volta Regional Director of Social Welfare who outlined the following points from her jurisdiction: • Address issues faced by children and the vulnerable in general of which the adolescent girl is part. • Ensures the protection of the rights of the child including adolescents. • Case management on children, adolescents and the vulnerable in areas such as maintenance, defilement, rape, teenage pregnancy, child marriage, child trafficking, etc. • Community engagement to reduce the emergence of social issues in the communities through sensitization of community members using child protection toolkits.

 Girl Child Education Officer: • Ensures that girls attend school and remain in school. • Sometimes supplies sanitary pads to adolescent girls to prevent them from staying away from school during that time of the month. • Provides guidance and counselling to adolescent girls to aspire to higher heights in society by being dedicated and focused to their education and leading responsible lifestyle.  Ghana Health Service (GHS): • Education on adolescent reproductive health. • Monthly iron folic acid administration to adolescent girls to aid normal menstrual cycle.  Assembly Members: • Making of bye-laws to address issues that have been omitted in the national constitution to ensure the well-being of community members. • Direct social issues brought to their doorsteps which fall outside their jurisdiction to the appropriate institutions and departments for redress and follows up to their total conclusion.  Ghana Police Service: • Investigates social issues of abuse, violence, etc brought to it and ensure prosecution of perpetrators to deter others from doing same. At the end, each panellist was made to give his or her final contribution on the way forward on the topic, a closing remark was given and the curtain was drawn on the program.

CARE PROGRAMME

GOOD SAMARITAN HOME

STATICS OF CHILDREN AT THE HOME.

INTERNATIONAL NEED SAFE AND PROTECTIVE ENVIRONMENT FOR ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT (SPREAD) PROJECT (PHASE TWO).

During the quarter, seven children were rescued and sent to a shelter at Madina. The Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of Ghana Police Service was involved in the rescues process. The office is collaborating with International Needs Ghana to rehabilitate the rescued children from child labour. Some of these rescued children were found to be having some behavioural challenges due to the trauma they went through in the hands of the traffickers. For this reason it has become necessary for them to have some psychosocial counseling and rehabilitation. A court process was initiated and a care order and the children have been placed at a temporary shelter

COMPASSION INTERNATIONAL

GENDER ACTIVITIES:

SENSITIZATION PROGRAM IN COMMUNITIES ON SEXUAL BASED VIOLENCE