Following a series of activities across Guyana in observance of Child Protection Week, the Child Care & Protection Agency (CC&PA) plans to ramp up its education efforts in rural areas.
According to Stacy Fraser, Deputy Director of Operations at CC&PA, the realisation that more efforts are needed in “country” areas came after much enthusiasm was displayed by persons of these communities for planned Child Protection Week activities.
“What we realised this year is that in rural areas or what we call ‘country’, persons are really starved for information,” Fraser explained.
She said it was not the first time the CC&PA had conducted activities in outlying areas; however, she said, the level of enthusiasm shown this year has cause the organisation to take note of just how eager persons are to get more information on child protection.
Child Protection Week was commemorated from September 21 to September 27 under the theme ‘Partnership with Communities to Prevent Child Abuse’.
Fraser explained that this year’s observance by Guyana saw collaboration between CC&PA and Ministry of Labour, Human Services, and Social Security, an important step in combatting child abuse.
“This partnership is important and it’s something we’ve been pushing for a while now because child protection is not a one-agency thing or a one-woman show. We absolutely cannot protect all the children in this country by ourselves so we really and truly need to partner with communities; we need assistance and community help to get this job done,” Fraser said.
The week saw a number of activities including a quiz competition aimed at secondary school students. This year’s activities have been successful, Fraser said.
“The activities have been really good; I’m a bit surprised by some of them to be honest. The officers did a lot of planning and stuff and some of them really surprised me by how well they came off,” she said before adding, “The quiz show really came off well and I was happy to see how enthusiastic the children were for the child protection quiz. Activities in Region 2 were well attended along with the film show that was held. The children especially were hungry for information and were glad to be there.”
The week’s activities wrapped up on Saturday with a Fun Day at the Botanical Gardens. Scores of persons, most of them children, turned out and made full use of the games and entertainment available. Patrons were treated to performances ranging from dances to dramatic pieces and songs.
Child Protection Week is observed in 120 countries; this year’s observance was Guyana’s fifth participation.
