He said cumulative cases of violence against children in homes, schools and cases of child marriage were making it difficult for some Ghanaian children to break the poverty cycle. Mr Owulah said this at a three-day training for child protection district committees of Krachi East and West districts at Kete-Krachi.

He said the situation was giving birth to ‘second generation’ street children and called for a national campaign on “treating children well to break poverty.” “We must relook at how we treat children because the way we treat our children shows in public and make them poor in future. This is the secret of developed nations. They treat their children with respect, love and dignity,” Mr Owulah stated.

He said World Vision was deepening its commitment towards protecting vulnerable children through collaboration and advocacy for broader impact and challenged other stakeholders including the Birth and Deaths Registry, security agencies and the media to join the campaign.

Mr Owulah said for instance that in the case of child marriage, its only advantage was that “it is cheap” and called for concerted efforts to address the challenge. Mr Israel Aklorbortu, the Volta Regional Director, Department of Children, said it was unfortunate that traditional child protection systems were broken and urged traditional authorities to help protect children in the communities.

He appealed to local assemblies to prioritise child protection issues and not only infrastructural projects. The Child Protection Committees were taken through “Understanding Child Protection Systems,” “Partnering for Protection of Children against Violence,” and “Child Marriage” among other topics.