African Health supports flood victims

A team from African Health Now (AHN), a non-profit organization, which promotes sustainable primary health care among women, children and families in Sub-Saharan African, on Saturday, toured some flood affected areas in Accra, in the June 3^rd flooding of some suburbs of Accra, to commiserate and support the victims.

The team lead by Catherine Ekar, Treasurer of the AHN, first stopped at Ayidiki near Alajo, which was totally submerged under the flood water that overflowed the banks of the Alajo main drain. The team distributed over 400 bags of sachet water and toiletries to the victims to help alleviate their plight.  

The over a thousand perplexed victims, who received the support, were still counting their loss after the floods. They also narrated how the flood water, which they least expected visited them on that fateful Wednesday.

Among items destroyed were mostly of their personal effects, educational materials, electrical gadgets and others running into several millions of cedis.

Ms. Ekar, who together with the team interacted and assessed the extent of damage caused by the floods to the households, stated that her organisation will look for more assistance to support them.

Overwhelm by the loss of lives, properties and valuables, Catherine stressed the need for other organization to join the relief efforts, observing that government alone cannot attend to all the needs of the victims.   

With the recession of the flood-water 10-days after the floods, the victims lamented about the extent of destruction it caused their households, businesses and their general welfare. And although some of them are picking up the pieces to rebuild, in anticipation of help from the authorities and other benevolent organization, it is clear that they are in dire need of a lifeline.

For instance, Madam Vida Owusu who escaped from her collapsed building shared her ordeal on having to sleep on the bare-cold floor because she lost her bed and virtually all belongings. 

It was clear from the tour of her room that apart from a table, cabinet, chairs and some few utensils, Madam Owusu’s room was virtually empty.

Another victim, Alice Afari, who lives in the neigbourhood of the Madam Owusu, described how her room was also emptied by the floods.                 

With hundreds of households affected in the area, the thousands of victims, who were directly and indirectly affected, are still counting their lost and noted with concern that they were yet to receive support from the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) and thus thanked AHN for their efforts to even visit them.

The team also made brief stops at Adawna area and commiserated with the victims there to.

Although NADMO is reported doing its bid to attend to the victims, there are indication more efforts are needed to salvage the situation. Already, health experts have warned that there could an imminent outbreak of cholera and other disease in the flood affected areas if nothing was done to help the victims.

   

Caritas Ghana to consolidate successes

                                                     *Participants at the review meeting.

The Department of Human Development at the National Catholic Secretariat (NCS) with the various Catholic Diocesan Development Offices (DDO) throughout Ghana, which forms Caritas Ghana are poised to consolidate the success of the Catholic Church’s mission of charity in the country.  

With support from Misereor and a Change Management Consultant, the capacity development for the DDOs and efforts made thereof to improve the Church’s charity work in the country is steadily improving, as more Diocesan Development offices are streamlining their programmes and systems to infuse progressive changes in their operation.

This came up during the DDO Capacity Development Review Meeting in Accra on recently, which attracted DDOs from all the 20 Arch/Dioceses in the country and other international partners.   

Mr. Samuel Zan Akologo, Executive Secretary, Department for Human Development (DHD) at the National Catholic Secretariat (NCS), said the change process which is to help improve the Church’s development efforts was not just about supporting the DDOs but to also impact on DHD.

He said a lot of work has been done and their advocacy and visibility has improved both at the local and international policy spaces, as well as strengthened their membership in the global Church charity work (Caritas Internationalis), but stressed that effective monitoring and evaluation was helping tract the success of the programme, which was in its first year.

As part of the review, the Dioceses were required to give feedbacks on their achievement and challenges, and to identify the gaps that still exist in their capacities as well as discuss with partners the next follow up steps.

So far, Mr. Akologo stated that the progress of the programme was positive, in view of set targets.

“We have made significant inroads with fifty per cent of the Dioceses taking concrete steps to reform their Diocesan offices among others and more than 15 Dioceses are now doing follow up meetings to improve on their development efforts,” he said.

He noted that the work was revealing new gaps but assured that they would address them.

Most Rev. Gabriel A. Mante, Bishop of Jasikan and Episcopal Chair for Human Development, in an address noted the essence of change, stressing that “change is an inevitable condition and a process necessary for every human being and organization”.

“We Ghanaians want change of structures, change of political leaders and other changes, but we ourselves never change” said the Bishop, who bemoaned our attitude of not willing to change to ensure the holistic development of Ghana.

He said “every successful and positive change begins and ends with individual person, because of the strong influence personal attitudes have on accepting or adjusting to change,” and entreated Ghanaians to reflect on their lives and endeavour to change.

Noting that change requires a catalyst, Bishop Mante said change efforts required accompaniment, adding that leadership or political support was essential for sustaining any change process.

He emphasized that “even though change processes are ongoing, Dioceses can learn from the change process and adapt to plans to initiate development,” adding that it was necessary and important to examine, evaluate and assess the change efforts the DDOs have made over the years.             

In an overview, Mr. Edward Aloysius Prah, the Management Consultant handling the project,   said the objectives of the whole programme was to strengthen the capacities of the DDOs to carry out their function of planning and implementing relevant projects and to do the works they were set up to do, in line with general ongoing changes at the National Catholic Secretariat.

Mr. Prah acknowledged that some progress was made in the project, but said a lot more could have been done, entreating the DDOs to attach more urgency to achieving the objectives of the project.    

He said there was need to appreciate the new trends of the Church’s approach to development and public policy engagement in order to ensure holistic development, and urged the DDOs to deepen their understanding in development. “Understanding ultimately translates in an attitude that improves on overall mission of the Church in development,” he added.            

‘New Consciousness for inclusion’

-vital for achieving Post 2015 Agenda

With the on-going debate on the successor to the Millennium Development Goals, Rev. Fr. Evaristus Bassey, National Director of Caritas Nigeria, says there was the need for a new consciousness for the inclusion of all to ensure the success of the Post 2015 Development Agenda.

For this to happen, he said “Lifestyles have to change. Resources have to be freed for equitable service,” stressing that we cannot go on living the way we have been living. “There has to be a new consciousness for inclusion and for fighting structures of inequality”.

Fr. Bassey was speaking in Accra on The role of the Church in the implementation of the Post 2015 Sustainable Development Agenda, at the Second Country Forum of Catholic Development Organisations in Ghana.

He highlighted the need for effective collaboration between the Church, other civil society organisation and the state at all levels, and urged the Church not to see the government as an enemy, and should be careful not to dirty herself in the muddy waters of corruption when engaging with the state.

“The church should raise funds to support development progrrammes” said Fr. Bassey, who also entreated her to develop a data base to showcase the Church’s contribution to development in the country, adding that there was the need for policy coordination in the Church’s institutions.

The two-day Forum on theme: ‘Responding to challenges and opportunities of the Post 2015 Development Agenda-Role of Catholic Development Organisation,’ was organized by the Department of Human Development (Caritas Ghana) at the National Catholic Secretariat; the Marshallan Relief and Development Service (MAREDES) and the Catholic Relief Service (CRS) in Ghana.

The Executive Secretary for Caritas Ghana, Mr. Samuel Zan Akologo, in a statement said the Forum seeks to increase awareness and participation of Catholic Development Agencies in the on-going processes towards a new global development agenda and also influence the remaining process of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

He said the forum also creates a platform for Government to update its participation in the Post 2015 Development Agenda negotiations and how it will likely influence national development.

       

Most Rev. Gabriel A. Mante,  Bishop of Jasikan and Episcopal Chairman for Caritas Ghana, in a welcome address expressed delight at the effort to institutionalize the annual Forum as a means of sharing knowledge and coordinate efforts in development practice.

He commended the organizers for their foresight and proactive approach to engage in the new global development policy with the universal church, urging the participant to seriously consider issues on peace promotion, environmental protection, promoting food security, protecting the poor and vulnerable in our society, as well as addressing the sanitation menace in our country and finding ways to ensure responsiveness in governance.       

Mrs. Christine Okae Asare, of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) and focal person on the Post 2015 Agenda said the beauty of the SDGs was that it has 17 goals with 169 targets, but noted that the biggest challenge has to do with monitoring the targets.

She said Government will soon roll up a long term development plan for the country from 2016 to 2056 after the Shared Growth and Development Agenda expires in 2017, adding that the long term national plan was in line with the African Union agenda.

She noted that it was very important to involve the citizenry in the development planning, and implementation processes, adding that there was the need to create partnership between to Government and all stakeholders to ensure the success of development programmes.

Mrs. Dadiari Chikwengo, Coordinator of the Post 2015 Working Group of Caritas Internationalis, who chaired the function, underscored the need for effective coordination of efforts to build synergies to enhance the success of the SDGs.

She said the Church should ensure that institutions worked and delivered on their mandate, noting that when we work together, we can achieve more.

It is expected that the forum will also agree on preliminary priority areas of the SDGs and develop strategies to engage in the implementation and monitoring of success in Ghana in a more structured and coordinated manner.     

  

The forum sponsored by Misereor, Germany, MAREDES, CRS in Ghana, the International Centre for Advocacy and Social Research (ICASOR), Caritas Africa and the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference was attended by over 20 Diocesan Development Officers from all Dioceses in Ghana, and Catholic Development Partners from Germany, England and USA.

Others are Caritas Member Organisations from Tanzania, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and representatives of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), Ghana Immigration Service.