Collaborating with Local Authorities to Eliminate the Worst Forms of Child Labour … · 2016-10-07 · Collaborating with Local Authorities to Eliminate the Worst Forms of Child

Collaborating with Local Authorities to Eliminate the Worst Forms of Child Labour in Ghana’s cocoa. The case of Yen Daakye (YDK) Project, Ghana Community driven initiatives for the elimination of the worst forms of child labour and forced adult labour in the cocoa industry through a child-centred development approach. A collaborative effort by the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI), Participatory Development Associates (PDA) Ltd and seven district-based implementing partners. Prepared by: Participatory Development Associates (PDA) February, 2012

2

Please note, the views and opinions expressed herein are those of the consultant and do not necessarily reflect the views of the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) About the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI)

Established in 2002, the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) emerged from the 2001 Harkin/Engel Protocol as a non-profit Foundation that would support the cocoa sector to address the problem of child and forced labour in the cocoa supply-chain. ICI was set up as a multi-stakeholder initiative (MSI), harnessing the energies and expertise of the chocolate and cocoa industry, of civil society, and of governments in cocoa-producing nations, to bring about positive change in agricultural labour practices and in the elimination of child labour. Supported by individual chocolate and cocoa companies, ICI is led by a Board composed equally of industry and civil society (NGO) representatives. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) is an advisor to the Board. ICI’s programme is nationally driven and community centred, ensuring an approach based on actual local conditions and creating a way for each country and community to guide its own future. www.cocoainitiative.org

About Participatory Development Associates (PDA) Ltd PDA aims to support processes of empowerment and self-determination in communities, organisations and individuals through facilitation, training, research and consultancy. It is a private limited liability company (registration no. C-95,118) founded in 2001. PDA is based in Ghana, with its main office in Kumasi and a sub-office in Accra. PDA uses a broad range of methodologies, most of which enable a high degree of participation and interactive, experiential learning. PDA works with government, non-governmental and private organisations, as well as multilateral and bilateral organisations. www.pdaghana.com

Acknowledgements The Yen Daakye (YDK) project is an International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) project implemented by various local NGOs under the coordination of Participatory Development Associate. The ICI/YDK project has been implemented by the following NGOs (implementing partners) Hope for Humanity (HFH), New Edubiase, Support for Community Programmes and Project (SCMPP), Daboase, Community Development Consult (Codesult) Asankragwa. Much appreciation goes to Tony Dogbe and the PDA team for their passion, dedication and insight in designing the process and implementing it successfully. To the ICI/YDK beneficiary districts, communities and

3

individuals who have wholeheartedly participated in tackling child labour in the cocoa sector within Ghana we say thank you for the effort.

Executive Summary ICI/YDK was a pilot project implemented in 2004 in 24 cocoa communities as a community-driven intervention for the elimination of the worst forms of child labour and forced labour in the cocoa sector. It was established in direct response to the international attention on child labour in the West African cocoa sector. It was a collaboration between the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI), PDA as its coordinating agency in Ghana and three district implementing partners, namely Hope for Humanity in New Edubiase, Community Development Consult (Codesult) in Asankragwa, and Support for Community Mobilisation Project/Programme (SCMPP) in Daboase. The project was successfully scaled up in 2007 and implemented in 138 communities in six districts namely, Wassa Amenfi West, Mpohor Wassa East, Sefwi Wiawso, Sefwi Akontombra, and Wassa Amenfi East Districts which are all in the Western Region of Ghana and Adansi South District in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. YDK aimed to bring about a change in the lives of children in the cocoa sector in Ghana. The project did not only eliminate child labour in cocoa but all other forms of child labour through the integrated based approach.

This document explores how the project collaborated with local authorities and reviews its effectiveness in the elimination of worst forms of child labour. It also captures the experiences and lessons learnt during the initial years of ICI work in Ghana.

4

Table of Contents

Acronyms and Abbreviations .............................................................................................................. 5

1.0 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 6

2.0 Rational for collaborating with local authorities ........................................................................ 6

3.0 Local Governance in Ghana ........................................................................................................ 8

3.1 Local Government administration .......................................................................................... 8

3.2 Traditional Authorities alongside Government Authorities ................................................... 9

4.0 Processes of engagement ......................................................................................................... 10

4.1 District and community entry and other introductory meetings ......................................... 10

4.2 Capacity building of local authorities .................................................................................... 12

4.3 Community Action Planning (CAP) process .......................................................................... 13

4.4. Quarterly briefing with District Assemblies .......................................................................... 13

4.5 Engagement with other government bodies, NGOs and Projects ........................................ 14

5.0 Results of the collaboration with local authorities ................................................................... 14

5.1 Active participation and support of community chiefs and elders ....................................... 14

5.2 Support from local government authorities at the district level .......................................... 16

5.3 Collaboration with other NGOs and CSR initiatives in the districts ...................................... 18

6.0 Challenges ................................................................................................................................. 18

6.1 The eroding powers of traditional authorities ......................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

6.2 Constraints faced by local government representatives at the community and area council levels 18

6.3 Constraints faced by government representatives at the district and regional level .... Error! Bookmark not defined.

7.0 Lessons Learnt ........................................................................................................................... 19

5

Acronyms and Abbreviations

BECE Basic Education Certificate Examination CAP Community Action Plan CCPC Community-based Child Protection Committee CDD Community Driven Development CHRAJ Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice COCOBOD Ghana Cocoa Board CODESULT Community Development Consult CRC Convention on the Rights of the Child DCD Department of Community Development DA District Assembly DSW Department of Social Welfare EFA Education For All FAL Forced Adult Labour FFS Farmer Field School GD Group Discussion GES Ghana Education Services GLORI Global Reform Initiative HACOG Help Advance Community Goal HFH Hope for Humanity ICI International Cocoa Initiative ILO International Labour Organization JHS Junior High School KG Kindergarten MESW Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare MOFA Ministry of Food and Agriculture NCCE National Commission on Civic Education NGO Non-Governmental Organisation PDA Participatory Development Associates PLA Participatory Learning Approach PROMAG Projects Planning and Management Network PTA Parent Teacher Association RECA Rural Environmental Care Association SCMPP Support for Community Mobilization Programme/Project SLF Save Life For All Foundation SMC School Management Committee SSI Semi Structured Interviews WFCL Worst Forms of Child Labour YDK Yen Daakye

6

1.0 Introduction

In the year 2000, there was an increased concern at the international level on the involvement of children in labour related activities especially on children’s time and energy, which may be injurious to their health, education and development. The chocolate industry and cocoa sector was one of the focuses of the global attention. In the year 2001, cocoa industry representatives agreed and signed the “Harkin – Engel protocol” to eliminate the worst form of child labour in the growing and process of cocoa beans. As part of that commitment, the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) was established to bring about change in cocoa growing communities. To achieve this objective, ICI developed the Yen Daakye (Our Future) project which was coordinated by Participatory Development Associates (PDA) and implemented by local NGOs’. The Project aimed to facilitate community-driven initiatives to eliminate the Worst Forms of Child Labour (WFCL) in the cocoa sector through a child-centered development approach in 2004.

In Ghana, the project was started in three cocoa growing districts in the Ashanti and the Western Region. Three district implementing partners: Hope for Humanity in New Edubiase, Community Development Consult (Codesult) in Asankragwa, and Support for Community Mobilization Project/Programme (SCMPP) in Daboase worked directly with the communities at the grassroots level.

The strategy was to address WFCL by developing strong partnerships with local orgnisations that have an appreciation of the rural issues and experience in community facilitation. District Implementing Partners (IPs) were selected based on upon existing local knowledge and their capacity to sustain the project after ICI’s exit.

Four key processes were adopted to bring about the change. The processes were distinct but interrelated chronological stages:

1) Dialoguing/awareness creation with communities about Worst Forms of Child Labour (WFCL);

2) Facilitating communities to develop action plans;

3) Supporting communities to mobilize resources to implement their action plans;

4) Facilitating the monitoring and evaluation of the outcomes of community action plans.

7

ICI wants to share its approach to support social change to help others interested in adopting the process and in turn, have a positive impact on children and adults living in cocoa-growing communities. This document looks at the role of local authorities in eliminating Child Labour.

2.0 Rational for collaborating with local authorities Community-driven development (CDD) approach 1 seeks to respond to community development needs by giving communities and their institutions like unit committee, traditional authorities, assembly persons, school management committee (SMC), etc., control over decisions and resources.

In this regard, CDD aims to reverse existing power relations in a manner that creates space and voice for poor communities (and the poor and marginalised in these communities), allowing them to have more control over development assistance. It also increases their power or ability to advocate, advance their interest, and to negotiate with government (starting with local government), the private sector and civil society. PDA, in its project proposal to ICI in November, 2004, made local ownership for the elimination of child labour, as one of its main implementation strategy as follows:

A key element of the programme strategy is to place the responsibility for addressing the issue of WFCL and FL in the cocoa sector in the hands of national and local leaders, and stakeholders at all levels, from national right down to community. For this reason, one of the first activities that would be organised at the start of the programme will be a national stakeholders workshop. This will be followed by sensitisation meetings with regional and district political heads and civil servants. In this regard, PDA district level facilitators will, in collaboration with IPs, coordinate and conduct a process of sensitisation and engagement with relevant district level actors who have responsibility for child development and development planning and resource allocation. This will include but not limited to: District Assembly and executive committee; relevant sector departments, local civil society groups, traditional authorities, enforcement agencies and the cocoa sector buyers, agents etc. At the community level, PDA and the IPs would have similar meetings with a broad spectrum of community leaders including chiefs, clan heads, women leaders, district assembly representatives (the community’s elected representative to the local government), unit committee members, etc.

1 S. Alkire, A. Bebbington, T. Esmail, E. Ostrom, M. Polski, A. Ryan, J. Van Domelen, W. Wakeman, and P. Dongier, Community-Driven Development Chapter of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Plan (PRSP) Sourcebook, World Bank, 2001

8

The expected outcome would be to rally political support and ownership for the elimination of WFCL and FL. This hopefully would, in the short-term translate into resource allocation for the action plans that communities would come up with and, in the long-term, would become part of the planning process and resource allocation of the district assemblies in which the programme would be implemented.

By choosing to use this implementation strategy meant the YDK project had to work hard to build local ownership. It also meant to place the responsibility for addressing the issue of WFCL and FAL in the cocoa sector in the hands of local leadership and stakeholders at all levels.

3.0 Local Governance in Ghana

There are two systems of local governance in Ghana: (i) the formal system of decentralisation, which is part of the government structure, and (ii) the traditional system of chiefs, queen mothers or leaders. These two systems are present at all levels – from national to community. In the communities where the two systems work hand-in-hand there is a good atmosphere for social and economic development. YDK sought to work with both systems, especially at the community level.

3.1 Local Government administration Figure 1 provides a generic breakdown of Local Government administration systems within Ghana starting at the community level. This indicates the breadth of governmental stakeholders involved in decision making and service delivery and also the level of government stakeholders that project ideas needed to be shared with. The engagement process is explored further in later sections.

9

Figure 1: Diagram showing structure of Local Government administration system within Ghana starting from the community level (Source: http://ghanadistricts.com/home/?_=13&sa=3627 Accessed 20/02/12)

3.2 Traditional Authorities alongside Government Authorities YDK took an inclusive approach by engaging both traditional and government representatives at all levels. Figure 2Figure 2 shows how YDK worked with traditional authorities alongside government authorities at the community and district level.

Unit Committees Part of towns, zones or villages 500 - 2,500 population

Town Councils Settlements with more than

5,000 population

Sub-Metropolitan District Councils

Metropolitan

Zonal Councils Part of a town or zone

sbased on National Executive Commitee demarkations

Municipal Population over 95,000

Urban / Town / Area Councils

Urban councils have a population over 15,000 Town Councils have a population over 5,000

Area councils are groups of villages and small

settelements

District Population over 75,000

10

Figure 2 - levels of local authority at the community and district level within project

4.0 Processes of engagement

PDA and the IPs identified Child labour and development actors in the community and district. These included Department of Social Welfare (DSW), Ghana Education Service, Ghana Health Service, Department of Community Development, Police Service, District Planning and Coordinating Unit, and License buying companies. At the community level they included, chiefs and queen mothers and their elders, clan heads, local government representatives, schools authorities, school management committee (SMC) or the parent teacher association (PTA), farmers groups, etc. To ensure synergy it was important to build upon the positive aspects of these existing institutions and further strengthen as well as share responsibility for eliminating the worst forms of child labour and forced adult labour.

At the district level, the selection of the institution to engage was often more clear as their roles and responsibilities are defined. However, the project team worked with the departments mandated to protect children in the district. At the community level worked with the traditional authorities, Unit Committee, SMC/PTA, farmers groups, etc. Below were the activities undertaken for local engagement.

4.1 District and community entry and other introductory meetings

Local Leaders

Traditional Authorities

At the community level - Chiefs and

elders

At the district/ Regional levels -

traditional councils/ House of

chiefs

Government Representatives

Municipal/ District Assemblies and

departmental head

Paliamentatary Representative-

MP

Regional Authorities-

Regional Minister and RCC

Businesses working with cocoa - COCOBOD, LBC,

Private Sector and Cocoa Supply Chain

At the community level- Unit

committe and Area Councils

11

Community-driven development concept acknowledges the need for communities to link up with the district planning process in order to effect change. In view of this, introductory meetings were held with District Assemblies. The meetings were participated by District Chief Executive (DCE) or his/her representative, District Co-ordinating Director (DCD), District Planning/Budget/Finance Officer. A separate meeting was organized for the decentralized departments including Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), District Agriculture Development unit (MOFA), Department of Social Welfare, Department of Community Development (DCD), District Health Directorate, District Police and Immigration Office.

These meetings introduced the YDK project and the IPs officially to the district stakeholders. The stakeholders also had the opportunity to ask questions for clarification draw attention to complementary programmes or activities and most importantly, suggest effective ways of working with the communities. Often, the initial reaction of some of these officials was that there was no child labour in the district and that the current practice was only part of the socialisation process that they had also gone through. Though they did not agree with the child labour concept, they still gave their approval for the project to be implemented in anticipation of some benefits for communities and children in the district. They committed to allow the use of their conference hall in for all project activities in the district for free. They also pledged their support to the IPs to ensure smooth implementation of the ICI/YDK Project in their respective districts.

Community entry is a key stage in setting the foundations for any community engagement. At the community entry phase of the project, chiefs and elders were met and the project objectives explained. A request was specifically made to these leaders to rise to the challenge of taking responsibility for the development of children within their jurisdiction and to support the project. Subsequently, community-wide meetings were then held to once again introduce and explain the YDK project objectives and approach. Ample time was allocated to allow for discussion and questions.

The private sector was also made aware of project activities. Meetings were held with licensed buying companies (LBCs) to introduce the project to them and call for their support for certain community activities. Although LBCs were included in the engagement process they did not actively engage with the project during the trainings because the work was seen to be outside their remit or daily objectives. With the introduction of the certification process, some LBCs have become more aware of child labour issues.

12

Figure 3: A community meeting at Menang in the New Edubiase District, July 2006

4.2 Capacity building of local authorities Different trainings were organised for local authorities to understand, own and lead the process. The trainings were based on both knowledge and skills sharing.

4.2.1 Capacity building workshop on child labour A five-day district training on child labour, WFCL & FAL was organised for District level stakeholders and implementing partners staff. These workshops were aimed at enhancing the knowledge, understanding of participants on Child Labour concepts. Topics discussed at the workshops included facilitation skills, key participatory learning and action (PLA) methodologies, basic concepts of child labour, WFCL and FAL. The final day of training was dedicated to a field practice exercise. At the start of these workshops, there were often participants from the government agencies who were sceptical about the existence of the WFCL. However, by the end, most of them had a change of mind, especially after going for the field practice and hearing from children themselves the work they do when they go to assist their parents or guardians on the farm.

4.2.2 Leadership training

13

Leaders at the community level were also taken through at least three training sessions during the first two years of the project starting in their community. The leadership training is discussed in more detail in the report entitled ‘The role of district and local committees in eliminating Child Labour (Community-based Child Protection Committees, CAP Committees).

The community Leadership which were trained included traditional leaders, the Unit Committee2 members, assembly person, head teachers, school management committee (SMC)/parent-teacher association chairpersons, youth leaders, religious leaders (pastors and imams). The number of participants was between 25 and 35.

Three leadership training sessions were held in line with the key stages in the YDK process – (i) dialogue and sensitisation, (ii) community action plan and implementation, and (iii) Monitoring and review of community action plans.

4.3 Community Action Planning (CAP) process The CAP process is outlined in more detail in the ICI report titled “Eliminating Child Labour in the Cocoa Sector: Community Action Planning (CAP) through a Child-Centred Community Development Approach of Yen Daakye Project”. CAPs development required input from the entire community.

4.4. Quarterly briefing with District Assemblies Quarterly meetings were held with the District stakeholders to update them on the progress of implementation. Initially the plan was for the IPs to meet the district stakeholders individually to relay to them issues, challenges, needs emerging from the communities and to lobby them for support or to link them up to communities, where necessary. However, from the experience of some IPs, it was more beneficial to bring these stakeholders together and to regularly brief them on the YDK project. The regular briefings and meetings with the district stakeholders created a linkage between the community and the district. This linkage increased the district stakeholders awareness of development priorities and project in the communities. However due to inadequate resources Assemblies could not provide support the community action plans adequately.

2 2 The Unit Committee consists of not more than 15 persons made up of 10 elected persons ordinarily resident in the Unit and a maximum of five other persons resident in the unit and nominated by the district chief executive, acting on behalf of the president. Elections to all local government bodies are on a non-partisan basis; the elections are state-sponsored and conducted by the electoral commission.

14

4.5 Engagement with other stakeholders

The project engaged with more stakeholders during the life of the project. Below are other governmental and non-governmental organisations and projects that YDK engaged with in some districts: • Collaboration with other NGOs and programmes: The YDK project collaborated with other child

labour related projects being run by other NGOs like Free the Slaves, or industry projects such as Cadbury (Cadbury Coca Partnership), Mars (iMPACT) or Toms. YDK was also actively engaged with the National Programme for the Elimination of Child Labour. Some district IPs successfully linked and worked with organisations such as World Vision, Winrock International to avoid duplication of efforts.

5.0 Results of the collaboration with local authorities

One of the major successes of the YDK project was its strategy of situating the responsibility for the elimination of the WFCL and FAL with the leadership within communities and districts level. The results of this strategy were most evident at the community level and to a lesser extent at the district. These are explored in more detail below.

5.1 Active participation and support of community chiefs and elders In almost all project communities, there was clear evidence of support from traditional leaders at the community level. Feedback from the community leaders themselves indicated that the leadership meetings had empowered them to take their own initiatives and be committed to the project objectives. This resulted in a heightened sense of self-reliance and proved that community-driven development is feasible but requires a great deal of dialogue, capacity building and support of such efforts by external partners. In a significant change exercise conducted at the end of the pilot, the leaders themselves cited that they had played a role in the following:

• committed their time to be trained by the project implementing partners • mobilised community members for meetings • attended community meetings • developed plans and vision symbols with their community members • visited other neighbouring communities to also educate and sensitize them on the WFCL • used the opportunity to sensitize PTA and other community committee groups on the issues • gave children the chance to participate in some activities • mobilised the communities for fundraising activities • donated funds and land • undertook regular visits to the district authorities/stakeholders to make demands to support

their community action plans e.g. request for teachers, building materials etc. • enactment of community regulations to facilitate the elimination of WFCL

15

The cases below point to the active participation and support of community chiefs and elders. Three Cases:

From leadership meeting to community action – the case of Hwediem3 Hwediem is a farming community in the Adansi South District and it is one of the pilot communities for the YDK project. The community was the first to host the YDK community leadership meetings. The community has a primary school and a JHS. The JHS is a little far from the town because it was built to serve other communities around Hwediem. But because the JHS is far from the town and also from the other communities, enrollment and attendance were poor leading to the closure of the school.

At the leadership meeting about 18 people including 2 women attended as well as 5 observers was held to discuss the reopening of the JHS. Not long after the leadership meeting the leaders of the community, now fully aware of their roles and responsibilities, had a meeting with the District Director of Education on reopening the JHS. A few weeks ago the YDK team paid a visit to the community and has noted that the old JHS building is being pulled down and some of the materials have been used to start the construction of a new JHS block near the primary school.

The essence of this case study is to emphasize the importance of community leadership meeting or trainings in community development processes. This case study has shown us that community leadership meetings/training could increase the capacity of community leaders to generate development ideas, increase their confidence and motivate them to take action and handle their own affairs. The chief noted that the leadership meeting was first of its kind in the community and asked for the experience and lessons from the meeting to be extended to other communities

A community levy to improve education4 Whilst many rural community leaders wait for government, benevolent individuals and organisations to provide the needed facilities for education in their communities, Nana Wereko Ampem, Chief of Amoaman, a farming community near Asankragwa in the Western region, is leading his community members to take action on poor education delivery in his community.

With passion and strong commitment to improving the state of education in the community, Nana Wereko Ampem is mobilising resources from community members to build a bungalow for teachers in his community. “We have asked everybody in the community to pay 5 Ghana Cedis towards teachers’ accommodation because we want the teachers to live here so that teaching and learning become effective”, he said.

3 Taken from: A Synthesis Report on 24 Community Leadership Meetings, March-June 2005, compiled by Bertha Gakor and Tony Dogbe for the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) 4 Yen Daakye (2010) Securing the future of our children: Getting on track with Basics in Education, May

16

Kilo-kilo deduction exercise Acheasewa is a cocoa farming community in the Adansi South district of Ghana. It has a population of 512.

Acheasewa is one of the thirty-one communities in the Adansi South district benefiting from Yen Daakye (YDK) being implemented by Save Life for all Foundation (NGO). To effectively implement some of the developmental projects on the CAPs, the community needs to mobilize funds both internally and externally. Most communities find it difficult to mobilize funds for developmental projects due to lack of leadership drive. At Acheasewa, things are different. Each year, the community leaders levied every cocoa farmer living there to raise funds for development projects. Acheasewa community has successfully raised funds (an average of seven bags a year which equates to one thousand four hundred Ghana Cedis per year) internally through a means referred to as “kilo-kilo deduction” for over ten years now. The approach is simple. Before any cocoa purchasing clerk would qualify to operate in the community, a contractual agreement is reached with the community leaders. The purchasing clerks are enjoined with the task of deducting a kilogram of cocoa from each bag a community member sells to them. Issuance of receipts is strictly done to check against defaulters. These receipts are inspected by the community leaders regularly. By reason of the seriousness and urgency given to the exercise, all community members comply.

According to the School Management Committee (SMC) chairman Mr. Peter Brewu the monies generated from the “kilo-kilo deduction” exercise at Acheasewa was used to sponsor the following projects in the community: payment of community employed teachers, the building of a school library, teachers’ residence and a guest house.

5.2 Support from local government authorities at the district level Collaboration with District Assemblies has also worked well but is more challenging due to changes in personnel and inadequate resources. In spite of this the district assemblies were able to support the following projects: • the occasional use of district assembly vehicle to help to deliver information or materials like the

library books donated by Cadbury to the project communities • assistance to community micro projects by providing building materials like cement and roofing

sheets • linking service providers to community groups for the benefit of the community e.g. discounted

prices of farm inputs like fertiliser from outside agents • Free renew of National Health Insurance cards for the communities to benefit children. • National Youth Employment Programme provided volunteer teachers or in some communities.

17

Community members advocating for their rights Sika Nti is a farming community in the Wasa Amenfi West District in the Western Region. After putting up a primary school from their own resources, the community has advocated for the rehabilitation of a 6km road leading to the community from the district capital, Asankragua. Both parents and children are happy that the days when they were cut off from rest of the district during the rainy season are over.

The Unit Committee Chairman, Enoch Amissah, who narrated the history of the road added that the rehabilitated road has brought a great relief and joy to the community. “We are very proud to have our road repaired. Now, cocoa marketing companies can reach the community to buy our cocoa produce on time. We get money on time to cater for our children. Sick people will not die in the community again because we can easily have access to vehicles to transport sick people to Asankrangwa hospital”, he stressed.

Mr. Amissah, a cocoa farmer, stated that in the past foodstuffs grown by the community members for sale in other communities got rotten due to unavailability of transport, which was a result of the bad nature of the road.

The programme has helped to build the confidence of community leaders to approach duty bearers at all levels to discuss their needs. Through the Yen Daakye Project, community members have prepared and implemented Community Action Plans. Repairing the road from the district capital to Sika Nti is one of the activities that the community had listed as part of the Community Action Plan. The community leaders contacted a timber firm, which sources logs from Sika Nti, and requested the company to support the rehabilitation of the road. The company promised to support the initiative but reneged on its promise. It is in the light of this that Sika Nti community leaders challenged and prevented the company from loading 100 logs out of the community when the company refused to honour its promise to rehabilitate the road leading to Sika Nti. The District Chief Executive was informed about the breach of contract between Sika Nti community and the timber operating firm. “We went on a peaceful demonstration and marched to the District Assembly to demand fulfilment of Social Responsibility Agreement (SRA) with the timber firm”, Mr. Amissah said. “The DCE promised to collaborate with the timber firm to get our road rehabilitated. Within two weeks, machines were put on our road for re-gravelling work to begin. At long last, our road has been rehabilitated.”

He concluded, “We can boast of our own school and a good road as some of the major landmarks made by the programme.’’

Endorsement Mr. Alberto Samuel Tekyi, the former District Chief Executive of the Wassa Amenfi West District, expressed satisfaction over his district’s association with the YDK Project. “It is a positive development to see the people taking collective action towards community development and I’m happy to see such a commendable effort to bring change to our communities”, he said.

The former District Chief Executive also described the programme as “good missionary work”. The programme has gone a step further to enlighten community members by motivating them to rise up

18

and work towards their own progress and development. “I want the collaboration to continue and I will encourage my successor to support the project because they are not only helping us to control child labour but have also brought real development to the communities.”

5.3 Collaboration with other NGOs and CSR initiatives in the districts The YDK project consciously sought partnership with other NGOs and companies undertaking corporate social responsibility initiatives in the districts in which it was operating. Some of these were initiated by ICI and some by the implementing partners. Cadbury, which was a member of the ICI board, was supportive of the YDK project and its approach and supported it directly with library books for the pilot communities. It also supported six of the communities with the construction of community libraries. In addition, it donated nearly a 1,000 bicycles for distribution to school children who had to walk long distances to school.

6.0 Challenges

The project faced some challenges, which are discussed below.

6.1 Constraints faced by local government representatives at the community and area council levels There are a number of structural challenges that do not allow the local government representatives at the community and area council levels perform their roles effectively: • The decentralised departments at district level have inadequate resources to carry out their

roles and responsibilities. • Every four years, elections are held for the district assemblypersons and the members of the

unit committees often resulting in changes. For this reason, there is the constant need to build the capacity of new assemblypersons and unit committee members and for a smooth hand over from the old to the new. As the district assembly often fails to facilitate this process, it often falls on the IPs to do.

• In some communities, there is conflict between the traditional authorities and the district assemblyperson and unit committee members over who has authority to mobilise the community members for development. In such communities, project progress was very slow.

• When there is a need to call Assemblypersons and Area Council members to a meeting to discuss developments in their communities or for training on child labour related concepts they demand for reimbursement which was not budgeted for and is beyond the means of the project.

19

7.0 Lessons Learnt

The project focused on empowering communities and their leadership to take up a child-centred development as the means of eliminating the WFCL. For greater impact, this engagement with traditional authorities should be extended to the paramountcy or traditional council level. There is the need to identify every stakeholder in the district whose function relates to child development to play key role in the project.

Though the project worked effectively with churches to sensitise and help mobilise community members, not much was done with the mosques more needs to be done to engage with their representatives.