The Anglican Diocesan Development and Relief Organization (ADDRO), the development wing of the Tamale Anglican Diocese, has built the capacities of Christian and Muslim religious leaders on mechanisms through which they could serve as advocates for the safety and development of children in the Northern Region.
The three-day training workshop was to deepen participants’ understanding of what the Bible or Quran says about child rights, child upbringing, and corporal punishment.
It was further meant to enlighten the participants on the positive aspects of child discipline as against punishment and abuse geared towards the promotion of safe families and communities.
The workshop, held in Tamale, brought together participants drawn from the Karaga District of the Northern Region, as part of ADDRO’s Integrated Early Childhood Development (IECD) Programme.
The IECD Programme being implemented in eight communities in the Karaga District is aimed at building the capacities of caregivers, including, male caregivers on various parenting skills and development around cognitive, socio-emotional, communication and other aspects of child development, especially children from zero to three years through home visits and monthly caregiver group support and learning meetings.
Mr Emmanuel Tia Nabila, Executive Director of ADDRO, addressing participants said they needed to encourage male caregivers to support their female counterparts in the upbringing of their children to help guarantee their growth and development.
He said religious leaders were highly respected persons in their communities and stressed the need for them to put in place efficient measures to ensure parents took proper care of their children in their areas.
Mr John Patrick Atampugre, Northern Regional Coordinator of ADDRO, said the IECD Programme comprised Early Childhood Development (ECD) and Savings With Education (SWE) modules.
He noted that the ECD Programme created a supportive pre-school environment for nurturing healthy growth and development of children through early development.
He stated that so far 120 ECD promoters had received training since 2019 and were currently sensitizing caregivers on the ECD programme.
“The SWE intervention is a model where women are supported through training on how to save and also borrow from their savings with low-interest rates determined by the caregiver group themselves to either start their own business or meet emergency needs of their children and family as a whole,” Mr Atampugre noted.
He indicated that the SWE also has an education component where caregivers benefit from health-related talks from officials of the Karaga District Health Directorate.
Mr Atampugre said his outfit would collaborate with other stakeholders to ensure the success of the IECD programme.
