The Anglican Diocesan Development and Relief Organization (ADDRO) in the Upper East Region has trained 39 caregivers from two communities in the Builsa North Municipality of the Region on parental care practices.
The 24-month training equipped the caregivers, most of whom were nursing mothers, with good parental skills for the proper care of their children.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) after the graduation ceremony at Akuter-yeri, Mr Sylvester Ayelgum, the Project Officer of ADDRO, said the training programme started in November 2018 and ended in December 2020.
He said apart from the parental care, the programme was intended to create an enabling environment for the children in the two communities to grow properly and reach their full potentials.
Mr Ayelgum said the training involved home visits to the caregivers by the Early Childhood Development (ECD) promoters of the programme who used picture cards to sensitize the caregivers on parental practices to nurture their children and to help them develop holistically.
“Beyond that, the caregivers also come together in each community to form caregiver support and learning groups to share caregiving experiences and learn from each other,” he said.
The Project Officer said Nutritionists from the Ghana Health Service (GHS) who were collaborators in the programme took participants through cooking demonstrations.
“It was usually a practical session, they learnt how to make local ‘Tom brown,’ soya milk, and soya ‘khebab’.
He said Agricultural Extension Officers were also engaged to train the caregivers on the establishment of kitchen gardens. “They are trained on how to cultivate local vegetables and other exotic vegetables including carrots, cabbage and, cucumber.”
Mr Ayelgum said there was a health component of the training where officials of the GHS engaged and sensitized participants on critical health issues.
According to him, the success or otherwise of the programme depended on the communities as both ECD Promoters and community leadership were key players to the success of the programme, adding that the training would be extended to other parts of the Builsa North Municipality.
Mr Prince Imoro Awimba, the Health Coordinator of ADDRO, said the programme was sponsored by the Episcopal Relief and Development in the United States of America.
He urged participants to attend Antenatal Clinics for proper health care services when they were pregnant, and further admonished husbands to support their wives in the care of their children.
“There is no medicine on how to handle children. You need to play your role as caregivers to help them achieve their potentials, so husbands and wives must play complementary roles in the care of children and also take serious interest in their education,” Mr Awimba said.
The Chief of Adabinsa, Nab Kojo Apatugi expressed gratitude to ADDRO for the initiative, and advised participants to collaborate, learn from each other and share the knowledge gained with their colleague women who were not privileged to be part of the training.
Madam Janet Akamangu, a beneficiary of the training, thanked ADDRO for the initiative.
He said apart from the knowledge gained on how to properly care for her children, the skills she acquired on preparation of local ‘Tom brown,’ soya milk and khebab, would enable her prepare nutritious meals for the children and economically empower her to cater for the family.
