Yen Daakye Movement: inviting you to stand up for Ghanaian children
The Yen Daakye (literally translated as “our future”in Akan-Twi) Movement is an effort by people who heartily advocate for the interests of children and want to change how children are viewed in Ghana. We want to mobilise a critical mass of people who are concerned about children to focus on specific attitudes towards children and get Ghana to stand up for its children.
Global and National context
In 1979, the United Nations set out to develop an inclusive, human rights treaty for all the world's children. As a result The convention on the rights of the Child (CRC) was adoptedby the United Nations General Assembly in 1989 and instituted as international law in 1990. The Republic of Ghana was one of the first to ratify this document and shortly after passed the Children's Act of 1998.
Ministerial departments have been using this as a guide to develop and implement policies and programs that best address and fulfill children's needs. For example, The Early Childhood Care and Development Policy has valuable policy targets related to eradication of childhood malnutrition, expansion of primary school enrolment, elimination of gender disparities and very importantly the strengthening of the information base by improving the availability of quality data on children and their families.
What is happening on the ground?
We are seeing a mixture of success and failure in relation to our children. There has been a vastly improved primary school attendance. The World Bank cites a 50 percent improvement since the year 2002 in their Education in Ghana Report (Feb 2011). But according to United Nations Development Programme for Ghana (April 2010) despite the increasing enrolment ratio, the survival or completion rate is a significant challenge.
The World Bank Education in Ghana Report (2011) talks about finding new solutions to tackle the persistent disparities and limited learning outcomes that our districts are facing. Their findings make a convincing call for Ghana to address equity, efficiency and accountability within the education service.
According to the 2008 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey, 28 percent of Ghanaian children are stunted, with 10 percent being severely stunted resulting from malnutrition. The prevalence of stunting varies by region and stands at an alarming 38 percent in the Eastern region.
Challenges we are facing
The required administrative and institutional structures are arguably in place here within Ghana, but they still do not provide the quality of services for which they were established. Implementation remains critical and policy still needs to be turned into more effective practice. There are many complex social and economic factors that need to be unpacked in order to resolve these challenges including:
- · Lack of parental engagement
- · Local government incapacity and lack of resources
- · Certain traditional and cultural practices being inconsistent with current thinking
- · Inadequate data to monitor and evaluate change
- · Split Ministerial responsibility for issues related to children in Ghana
Changing culture in order to change lives
Changing attitudes and behaviors is extremely demanding and everyone within Ghanaian society has an active role to play. The Yen Daakye Movement (YDM) is about a national drive to find ways to overcome these challenges. YDM calls on all people concerned about the future the Ghanaian child to work together to create a critical mass to put pressure on the government and its institutions, parents and the entire Ghanaian society to deal with these challenges. This is about moving on mass and we would like to invite you to be a critical part of this by signing “Standing up for the Ghanaian child: My commitment to change”!
The members of the YDK movement held their first general meeting on the 9th of December 2009 at the Coconut Grove Miners' Lodge at Obuasi.
An Interim Management Committee(IMC) was elected by members to steer the affairs of the movement .The committee members are;
- Robert Obiri Yaboah- The Executive Director of Community Development Consult (CODESULT) Asankragua Western Region of Ghana
- Richmond Antwi Bediako- The Executive Director of RECA in Wassa Akropong in the Western Region of Ghana
- Brigite Ameleke-Project Coordinator of Save life for all Foundation in New Edubiase in the Ashanti Region of Ghana.
- Joshua Roland Baidoo - Program Manager of Participatory Development Associate in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region of Ghana.
- Emefa Avle-Gavor- Program Coordinator in Accra Office of Participatory Development Associate .
- Patience Dapaah -National Coordinator of the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) in Ghana
