Vice President Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang has commended the government’s ongoing efforts to implement strategic child-centred reforms, urging all stakeholders to prioritise the welfare of children in national planning and service delivery.
Speaking at the closing ceremony of the Government’s Strategic Planning Retreat, organised by the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) at Royal Senchi, Akosombo, the Vice President highlighted key initiatives aimed at protecting vulnerable children and ensuring they have access to essential services.
“Government has taken steps to implement strategic child-centred reforms, including the care reform roadmap, and shifting from institutional care to family-based alternatives,” she said.
Professor Opoku-Agyemang noted that these reforms reflect a deliberate effort to move away from institutionalised child care and towards solutions that strengthen family support, foster care, and community-based protection.
She further applauded the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection for leveraging technology to improve service delivery. “The Ministry is digitizing child protection case management, improving registration and accountability for vulnerable children nationwide,” the Vice President said.
According to the Vice President, children must not be treated as the responsibility of a single ministry or agency. Instead, she urged all government institutions, development partners, and civil society actors to work together to protect children, coordinate interventions, and ensure every policy delivers tangible impact.
“Children are not the responsibility of one ministry. They are the responsibility of all of us,” she said, stressing that fragmented efforts and duplication of programmes weaken the effectiveness of national planning.
She also highlighted pressing issues affecting children, including street children, lack of birth registration, and limited access to education and health services, saying these challenges require urgent attention.
The NDPC, which hosted the retreat, reiterated its commitment to supporting government agencies in policy alignment, data-driven planning, and monitoring of national development priorities. The retreat provided a platform for government institutions and development partners to review sector plans, synchronize priorities, and strengthen implementation strategies.
Quoting former South African President Nelson Mandela, the Vice President reminded participants that the character of a nation is reflected in how it treats its children. “The future of Ghana depends on what we do for our children today,” she said.
The retreat brought together senior government officials, heads of ministries and agencies, and development partners, all tasked with ensuring that national strategies are coordinated, evidence-based, and child-focused