Colonel Cyril Necku, (rtd), Deputy Volta Regional Minister has advised child rights workers to impress on the privileged in society to shed-off their unused clothing to the poor.
He observed that while there were many children without adequate clothing, people kept usable clothes in heaps in their houses.
Col Necku made the observation in Ho on Thursday while inaugurating the Volta Regional Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) Coordinating Committee.
He called for constant cooperation and close collaboration between state and non-governmental institutions for the total mobilization of resources to holistically address issues concerning OVCs in the Region.
Mr Kwamena Mafi-Akwa, Coordinating Director, Volta Region Coordinating Council (VRCC), is chairman of the Committee which has 10 others representing child rights governmental departments, non-governmental organizations, the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVSU).
Col Necku said the VRCC and the district assemblies would provide the needed support for the Committee to pursue its mandate.
Mr Barnabas Adjin, Volta Regional Director, Department of Social Welfare, described an orphan as a child who had lost either one or both parents.
He said there were others who also suffer want and deprivation as a result of peculiar circumstances such as poverty, divorce, separation, broken home and disability.
Mr Adjin regretted that the slow breakdown of the Ghanaian extended family system, which in the past offered haven for these children, had rendered their situation more precarious.
He said government had therefore, under the National Social Protection Strategy (NSPS), put in various programmes to address the needs of the extremely poor including women and children.
The programmes include the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP), support scheme under which stipends are given to children of the poor.
Mr Adjin said nine districts in the Volta Region, were benefiting from LEAP with another to be added soon.
He commended child -friendly NGOs for complementing government efforts in the management of child vulnerability issues.
Mr Adjin said there were 19 residential children�s homes in the Region, managed by NGOs, with 706 children.
He however regretted the bad conditions in some of the homes which could be closed down.
Mr Adjin commended the homes which were undertaking �Home-Based Care Services� saying, such initiatives were welcome since research had proven that it is more effective than the Institutional care module.
Mrs Joycelyn Akofa Ochlich-Dotse, Executive Director, Community Development Concern, an anti child trafficking group, said 103 children had been rescued and put in school across the Region.
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