ILO Inaugurates Advisory Board for ACCEL Africa and GALAB Projects in Ghana

The ILO, in partnership with the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, successfully held a meeting to inaugurate the Advisory Board for the Accelerating Action for the Elimination of Child Labour in Supply Chains in Africa (ACCEL Africa) and the Global Accelerator Lab (GALAB) projects in Ghana. The projects have the goal of accelerating the elimination of child labour in cocoa, gold mining and fishing supply chains. The meeting was organized with the financial support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and the United States Department of Labour.

The Advisory Board comprises all members of the Policy-Planning, Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation (PPIME) sub-committee of the National Steering Committee on Child Labour. The PPIME sub-committee is made up of representatives from the government and social partners such as the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, Child Labour Unit, National Development Planning Commission, Ministry of Education, Employers, Workers, Attorney General’s Department, Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection among others.

The Board will act as a platform in Ghana to bring together social partners and key stakeholders to collaborate and coordinate efforts on the ACCEL Africa and GALAB project activities, towards achieving the goal of accelerating the elimination of child labour in the targeted areas of intervention. It will also provide a platform for knowledge sharing, discussion and agreement on priority areas for action, emerging challenges and mitigation measures. Also, the Board will be essential in offering technical expertise, country-specific feedback, and knowledge on child and forced labour interventions and policies among others.

Bismark Quartey, the National Project Coordinator for ACCEL Africa-Ghana who also represented ILO Country Office Director for Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Liaison Office for ECOWAS, expressed appreciation to the Ministry for putting in place a National Plan of Action to end child labour and for allowing the ILO to use the PPIME sub-committee as the Advisory Board for ACCEL Africa and GALAB projects in Ghana.

The ILO sees child labour as a labour issue and there is the need to collaborate with different stakeholders at global, regional, national and sub-national level to accelerate efforts to end it.

Bismark Quartey, National Project Coordinator for ACCEL Africa-Ghana

Following presentation on the two projects, the Terms of Reference (TOR) of the Board was reviewed and accepted by members. As part of the TOR, the Board will serve for the during of the projects and is to among others Ensure alignment of expected project outputs with national priorities, Support project implementation through provision of input, feedback, advice, and technical guidance, Facilitate effective coordination among social partners and other stakeholders towards the achievement of program outcomes, Facilitate cooperation between project partners and other relevant stakeholders and Proffer recommendations for enhancing engagement around child labour and forced labour mitigation.

The Chief Director of the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, Kizito Ballans successfully inaugurated the Board to begin its work. He commended members of the Board for accepting the responsibility and assured the ILO of Government’s commitment to collaborate with stakeholders to fight child labour. He urged all members of the Board to approach the tasks given them with dedication and teamwork. Chairman of the Board, Mr. Mawuli Avutor in his closing remarks commended the ILO for aligning the two projects with the Government Plan of Action on child labour and for working with existing government structures and using integrated approaches. He urged all the Board members to approach their advisory role with commitment and dedication so as to help accelerate effort to eliminate child labour.

The board will meet every six (6) months, with the possibility of emergency meeting when the need arises.