Tamale-Ghana, July 21, GNA – Children Believe, an international non-governmental organisation, has held its annual forum to evaluate its activities and interventions on beneficiary districts and communities under the 2022/2023 fiscal year.
The forum, dubbed: “Children Believe’s Best Practices Sharing and FY24 Kick-off Forum with Stakeholders and Partners”, was also to strategise and solicit stakeholders’ inputs into its intended plans and activities for the 2023/2024 fiscal year.
It brought together various stakeholders and other local partners including AG CARE, Norsaac, Baptist Relief Development Agency, Markaz Al-Bishara, Ghana Education Service, Ghana Health Service, and traditional authorities in the Northern, North East, Savannah and the Upper East Regions.
Mrs Esenam Kavi De Souza, Country Director of Children Believe, speaking at the forum in Tamale on Thursday, said it was to engage with stakeholders and partners within their operational areas to share key results of their interventions over the previous year as well as plans for the new year.
Mrs De Souza said, “Our gathering is an affirmation of Children Believe and partners’ commitment to the holistic growth and development of the Ghanaian child.”
She reiterated Children Believe’s commitment towards improving Early Childhood Development (ECD) including promoting good health and nutrition, especially in the first 1,000 days of a child, positive and responsible care giving, security and safety for all children, among others.
Mr Samuel Oppong Kwabiah, Country Programme Manager of Children Believe, said the year under review saw Children Believe and partners providing 1,555 dual desks, 514 chairs and 89 round tables for kindergarten pupils, while 19 chairs and 12 desks for teachers were also provided to schools in their operational areas.
He added that about 6,408 teaching and learning materials including school bags, exercise books, pencils, mathematical sets, crayons, and rules were supplied to beneficiary schools.
He said, “We constructed six classroom blocks, seven toilet facilities and seven urinal facilities for basic schools.”
He added that “Children Believe has helped build the capacities of about 263 teachers, comprising 135 males and 128 females to enable them deliver child centered lessons in the standard-based curriculum.”
Mr Kwabiah noted that the organisation also commissioned research with the Faculty of Education, University for Development Studies (UDS), Tamale dubbed: “The Meaning of Childhood Play at the Conceptual Level”, to better understand the gaps and challenges of diverse teachers and parents at their operational level and identify gaps between desired and actual outcomes and misassumptions and assumptions in children.
Mr Paschal Gyireh, Monitoring and Evaluation Officer at Children Believe, who presented the organisation’s plans and activities for the 2023/2024 fiscal year, said the organisation targets to provide some 10,920 teaching and learning materials to beneficiary schools, 688 furniture and round tables, 246 dual desks, 940 infrastructure materials and 122 physical education materials.
He said Children Believe would also build two computer laboratories for Gbungbalaga Primary and Junior High School and Adibo cluster of public schools, both in the Yendi Municipality of the Northern Region.
He said, “Each of the laboratories will be equipped with 12 desktop computers, LED projector and one internet router, while two teachers from each school will be trained to manage the facilities.”
Professor Ibrahim Mohammed Gunu, Dean, Faculty of Education, UDS, Tamale commended Children Believe and partners for the various interventions towards enhancing education, especially among children and other vulnerable groups in the country.
He called on stakeholders to ensure effective coordination of projects at the district level to avoid project duplications.
