By Vivian Amoah
Speaking on Joy Prime’s Invisible Life documentary, Mavis Agartha Abla Ekpe, National Family Strengthening Advisor and Gender Focal Person at SOS Children’s Villages, has identified poverty and the weakening of Ghana’s extended family system as major factors pushing children and families into street situations.
According to her, many vulnerable families lack the financial resources to provide basic necessities such as food, shelter, clothing, healthcare and education for their children.
She explained that poverty often becomes an intergenerational cycle, as parents who grew up in difficult economic circumstances may not have received the support or economic empowerment needed to provide better opportunities for their own children.
Ms. Ekpe also pointed to the gradual breakdown of the traditional extended family system as another major factor.
Ms. Ekpe stressed that the situation can be addressed through coordinated interventions involving government agencies, communities, non governmental organisations and other stakeholders.
She said SOS Children’s Villages provides vulnerable children with support including food, shelter, healthcare and education, while helping children who have dropped out of school return to the classroom and remain in school.
Referring to a caregiver featured in the Invisible Life documentary, Ms. Ekpe said caregivers need sustainable sources of income to enable them to provide adequately for their children.
According to her, empowering caregivers is crucial because children cannot remain on support programmes indefinitely.
Ms. Ekpe therefore called for long-term solutions that address the root causes of streetism rather than simply removing children from the streets.
She maintained that tackling poverty, strengthening family support systems and economically empowering caregivers would help prevent children from falling into street situations and reduce the likelihood of them returning to the streets.
