Kofi Kommando & The Squad is made up of five “ordinary” kids, Kofi, Adzo, Issah, Naa and Keku who in their own unique and creative ways, do extraordinary things for the education and advancement of kids’, their health and social well-being. As their names imply, the 5 characters cut across major ethnic groups in the country. This is a concept for children and created with children.

Kofi is the leader of the Squad. He is full of energy and ideas which he shares with his squad, family, friends, and pretty much everyone he meets. His constant state of excitement makes him a fireball, but trust Kofi to always be available when called upon.

Adzo is a smart girl, very geeky and hands-on. She loves computers and understands sign language; a skill that comes in handy anytime the Squad encounters people with hearing or speech impairment. As smart as she is, Adzo always welcomes ideas from her friends on ways to solve issues.

Naa is swift and always ready with a joke. She is deeply engrossed in the community and this makes her the go-to-person for any news about the community. She knows where to get stuff and the right person to talk to for help. Naa always has snacks on hand for everyone, although mostly for herself. She is sometimes late for missions and meetings but manages to come up with great suggestions. Naa loves writing and wants to be a great cook in future.

Issah is the one with the big heart. He has a big smile and is very, very, fast. His warm nature ensures that everyone listens when he says why it’s important to do or not to do things on any challenge. Issah also believes in keeping the environment clean and is always on the lookout for new opportunities.

Keku is the “cool guy” of the group. His haircut is always on point. He’s always ready to pose for the camera in his high-tech wheelchair, customized by Adzo. It’s fitted with gadgets that help the Squad on their missions.

In these series, the imaginative power of animation is used in combination with the realities of everyday scenarios to educate, entertain and engage audiences (primarily children) with the expected outcome of positively influencing and subsequently changing health, civic, cultural, lifestyles, social practices and behaviours for the better.

Kofi Kommando and the Squad has been developed as a multi-facetted Squad of agents who talk about and explore various issues while being true to their nature. The Squad play, learn, and apply their learnings. The topics in the series, focus on ideas highlighted by children in various communities that Lintas interacted with while developing the concept.

Mrs Norkor Duah, the Managing Director of Mullen Lowe, Accra, who gave an overview of the project, said that the series would begin with the Covid-19 pandemic as most children did not have a clear idea on what this virus was in addition to what other viruses meant to us. She said that once that topic had been tackled, other topics such as Good Nutrition, Personal hygiene, Handwashing, etc. as well as other fun topics on lifestyle, the environment, culture and more, would be dealt with to ensure that children are always happy to watch Kofi Kommando & The Squad.

Mrs Duah said that the depth of topics were so vast and varying, She hinted that the series would have the local language flavour and nuances that would appeal to every child irrespective of where he or she was.

She called on parents and teachers to help get the most participation from their children. She asked that groups & clubs be formed for children around Kofi Kommando & The Squad, where they could learn from each other, and together live a better life.

The Director General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, observed that communicating with children to obtain desired behaviour, required special attention. He said that the information was relayed to them at a level they could understand and utilize.

He said that to complement existing health promotion and risk communication efforts, the Ghana Health Service welcomed and collaborated with Mullen Lowe on their novel initiative to critically target and educate children on COVID-19 safety protocols, especially on the new ways of interacting with their peers when school resumed. He noted that the concept evolved over the past two years with a broader goal of empowering children to become agents of change tackling various health, educational, cultural, environmental, social, and developmental issues.

He said that the launch activity was part of a bigger plan to employ innovative and interactive approaches to empower all children living in Ghana based on their cognitive abilities using the digital technological front.

The Minister of Information, Mr Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah, stated that in light of globalization, there had been an influx of sophisticated and expensively produced catchy cartoons from international firms making our local animation products unpopular. He said that he was personally thrilled about the development of the novel indigenous children adventure animation series dubbed Kofi Komando and Squad and commended the joint efforts of the Ghana Health Service, Ghana Education Service, Mullen Lowe Ghana, UNICEF and other partners for the project.

There were remarks from the Ghana Education Service, the Canadian Embassy, UNICEF and USAID.