Accra: The Ghana Scout Association (GSA) is expanding its child safeguarding initiatives beyond the confines of the Scout environment, utilizing community service as a platform to demonstrate how young individuals can contribute to creating safer and healthier living spaces. The Association recently organized a beach clean-up in Accra, marking the culmination of its Safe from Harm Capacity Enhancement Training. This event brought together Scout leaders and young participants to apply the lessons learned from the training in a practical setting.
According to Ghana Web, the collaborative exercise was carried out with the assistance of W?n be? Ga and focused on teaching participants how to prevent harm to children and young people, identify potential risks, report concerns, and respond appropriately to incidents. The GSA emphasizes that safeguarding should extend beyond Scout meetings, as the environments where children live, learn, and play significantly impact their health and wellbeing.
The beach clean-up was designed to provide participants with an opportunity to apply leadership, teamwork, responsibility, and community service skills. Chief Commissioner of the Ghana Scout Association, Hilary Y. Awusie, led the initiative, joined by Youth Program Commissioner Shaibu Fenteduah Fuseni, National Safe from Harm Coordinator Prince Akese, National Training Commissioner Holly Boadi, and World Organization of the Scout Movement consultant Eric Mwanda Gitonga.
For the GSA, involving young people in community work is integral to teaching them to take responsibility for the challenges they encounter. Plastic waste and pollution are ongoing issues for many coastal communities in Ghana, affecting public health, marine life, and the livelihoods of those dependent on the coast. By participating in the clean-up, Scouts have a direct role in addressing these environmental challenges, reinforcing Scouting principles of learning through practical involvement.
The initiative aligns child safeguarding with the broader conditions impacting young people's lives. The GSA aims to protect children from abuse and harm while ensuring that their environments are clean, safe, and healthy. This approach encourages the involvement of young people and adult volunteers in sanitation, environmental protection, health, climate action, and community service activities.
The beach clean-up, though modest in scale, allowed the Scouts to embody a core Scouting value: service to others. The GSA's broader objective is to nurture young individuals who can identify community issues, collaborate with others to address them, and take ownership of their living environments.