Ghana

The Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) has blamed poor education for hindering Ghana’s development.

Education programme officer of the Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO), Ubald Sabogu, argues that the country could have attained the Millennium Development Goals of 2015 if development in three regions had kept pace with the rest of the country.

Sabogu has described the educational constraints in the Northern, Upper East and the West region as a “major problem hindering the development of the area.”

Ghana’s deputy for northern regional minister, Moses Bukari Magbenba, has called for a legislation and regulatory body to monitor the activities both local and foreign NGOs in the country. Magbenba argues that some of these organisations are not operating in the interest of their proposed beneficiaries.

Magbenba says he observed that the legislative power is needed because some NGOs have lost their focus of being non-profit entities and are making huge profits at the expense of poor communities.

The Ghanaian deputy upper regional minister, Lucy Awuni, has underscored the need for NGOs working in the areas of HIV/AIDS to focus more on behavioural change for society to treat people living with HIV/AIDS with compassion and respect.

Speaking during the Ghana AIDS Commission Small Grants Disbursement to Local Partner NGOs in that country, Awuni noted that many people fail to report to health facilities because of the stigma attached to HIV positive people.

Thirty-nine trafficked children have been rescued in communities along the Volta Lake in Ghana. The children were rescued by the Partners in Community Development Programme (PACODEP).

The children, aged between six and 13 years who were rescued within three months, are part of a programme sponsored by Geneva Global, an international organisation which fights against all forms of human rights abuses, working in collaboration with PACODEP in Ghana.

The Distance Education and Teacher Education in Africa (DETA) is hosting the DETA Conference 2009 from 3-6 August 2009 in Ghana.

Expanding education and improving its quality is central to the development of Africa. If we want to realise the goal of quality education for all, faculties of education in Africa need to actively take the lead.

Press Release

23 January 2009

African Monitor congratulates President John Atta Mills on his January 3 win in the Ghanaian presidential race. Ghana being the pioneer of Africa’s independence but having gone through a difficult period of change of government through undemocratic means, we are proud that the way the election has been conducted contributes significantly to the process of consolidating democratic governance not only in Ghana but in the rest of the continent.