The Presbyterian University College, Ghana (PUCG) will set up a Child Protection Agency in the year 2023 to promote intervention research in Child Protection issues in the country.
The project forms part of research collaboration between PUCG and University of Bielefeld in Germany. The three-year collaboration between the two Universities which spans from 2021 to 2024 is also a multinational longitudinal study which includes Uganda and Tanzania.
The President of PUCG, Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Adow Obeng disclosed the setting up of the Agency when he addressed the Research Assistants who are going through a one week training at the Okwahu Campus of the PUCG.
Seated (left – Rev. Prof. E. Adow Obeng, middle – Prof. Tobias Hecker, right – Prof. Frank Arku) in
a group photograph with the research assistants
Rev. Prof. Adow Obeng charged the participants (Research Assistants) at the training workshop to take the project seriously and give off their best to ensure the success of the collaboration between the two institutions.
The Research Assistants were recruited across the country to help collect baseline data on child protection from sampled schools in the following three regions in the country: Central, North East and Bono.
Expressing his gratitude to the Presbyterian University College, Ghana for the collaboration the lead researcher, Professor Tobias Hecker of University of Bielefeld said the setting up of the Child Protection Agency by the PUCG was timely for the project which has international connection.
Prof. Tobias Hecker making a point during a presentation
According to him, the work of the Agency will promote intervention research in Child Protection issues to guide policy formulation and social cohesion regarding academia and socioeconomic development. “I look forward to a fruitful collaboration,” he said.
The Presbyterian University College, Ghana’s team for the project is led by the Vice President of PUCG, Prof. Frank S. Arku and assisted by Rev. Amoah Kwaku Karikari.
The longitudinal study which ends in 2024 in all the three countries – Ghana, Uganda and Tanzania – sets out to ascertain the relationship between child abuse and maltreatment of children and pupils performance. The study will provide a comprehensive baseline data for child maltreatment for planning and policy development for Ghana.