IMPLEMENTING PARTNERS OF UNPF ATTEND MEETING (D/G Wednesday July 23, 2008 PAGE 20)

THE Upper East Regional Secretariat of the National Population Council has organised a day's co-ordination meeting for implementing partners of United Nations Population Fund-sponsored programmes in the region. The objectives of the meeting were to facilitate the co-ordination of activities of the implementing partners and receive reports from them on the status of their programmes. The participants at the meeting included representatives from the Ghana Statistical Service, National Youth Council, the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), the Ghana Health Service and the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit of the Ghana Police Service. In an address, the Upper East Regional Population Officer, Mr Alosiba Azam, said the National Population Council (NPC) was established by Act 485, 1994 to advise the government on all population matters. According to him, the NPC therefore had the responsibility for co-ordinating all population programmes to ensure synergy. In his report, the Upper East Regional Officer of the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DVVSU), Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Jerome Kanyog, said the regional offices of the unit were in distress, stressing that anytime it rained personnel of the unit were forced to suspend work. According to him, the concrete roofs of the unit's office located within the premises of the Regional Police Command leaked anytime it rained and that demanded major renovation. He added that the situation had been brought to the attention of the Regional Police Command for redress. DSP Kanyog said the DVVSU had investigated several cases, prosecuted offenders and also collaborated with other public institutions and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to conduct outreach programmes. For his part, Mr Thomas Azure of the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) said even though the UNFPA did not deal directly with the regional offices in the region, it worked closely with the GSS at the head office level in the implementation of some of its activities. Mr Azure cited, for instance, technical assistance the UNFPA had provided the GSS in the preparation of the 2010 population and housing census project document and pilot census mapping undertaken in 2007. Mr G. Bozia of the Ghana Health Service said with support from UNFPA there had been a series of training programmes for midwifes on safe motherhood skills while the same organisation had assisted in health education across the region. Mr David Atinga of FIDA stated that in collaboration with the UNFPA, his organisation had trained a number of para-legals who had been equipped with the understanding of basic laws on the rights of citizens. Mr Duad Abang-Gos of the National Youth Council (NYC) said the NYC, with support from the UNFPA, was co-ordinating to implement an adolescent reproductive health programme for young persons, especially those out of school. At the end of the interactions, the stakeholders pledged to work together to achieve the set targets