National Day of the Ghanaian Child 2007

His excellency The President of Ghana

The children of Ghana had a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the National Day of the Ghanaian Child with the President on Friday the 31st of August 2007. The President has a tradition of making time for children and therefore accepted to celebrate the nation children’s day with children.

The programme was dubbed 'Meet the President' with the theme 'Ghana @ 50 the children and the future'.

State Representatives and Plan staff in the row behind

Over 500 Children with representatives from the 10 regions of Ghana including 53 children from Plan Ghana assisted communities participated in the event. In attendance was the Minister of Women and Children’s Affairs, the Deputy Minister of Education, Science and Sports, other ministers of state, and members of the diplomatic core among others.

Doleances to the President on behalf of the children

Addressing children's needs

As part of the Programme lined up for the day, a core group of selected children had a Junior Parliamentary session to deliberate on the address delivered by the President. The children offered recommendations on how the government could ensure their rights enshrined in the Children’s Act 560.

Representant from Mangoase children’s club delivered a statement on behalf of all the children on the 'state of the Ghanaian Child' and  presented it to the President.

representant from Mangoase hands children's doleances to the President

In his speech, the young boy appealed to the President to ensure the establishment of child panels in each of the districts in the country. This will enable that minor criminal cases involving children be handled in a child friendly manner.

Young girl from Tumu children’s club in the Upper West Region gave the vote of thanks on behalf of the children of Ghana after the programme.

Young girl presents her gratitude to the President on behalf of the children of Ghana

She recounted her first encounter with the President during an exposure tour by the members of the children’s club to the castle (an activity that Plan sponsored in 2005).

Plan Ghana, UNICEF, Pepsi, Right to Play and other donors, sponsored the programme. The event was organised by Child Rights International, the Department of Children under MOWAC, and Ghana Education Service. The organiser will present the outcome of this session to the President. It will further become an advocacy tool for child focussed NGOs.

A few days later, the government responded, eventhough not positively, to the children. This is how Plan aims to make children's opinion have an impact on governmental decisions.The most important thing is that the government did aknowledge the children's message.