Empowering a Brighter Future: Street Children Empowerment Foundation Hosts National Stakeholders Symposium

The Street Children Empowerment Foundation (SCEF) a grassroots organization driven by a mission; to rescue, rehabilitate, and reintegrate street-connected children in Ghana has organized a symposium themed” Accelerating the Implementation of Ghana’s 5 Year Strategic Plan for Street-Connected Children”.
Most street children in Ghana are found in the major cities like, Kumasi, Accra, and Tamale with only Accra housing more than 50,000 street children. These are partly because of rural urban migration. Many children move from rural areas and neighborhood countries including Niger to the major cities in search of greener pastures.
Dr. Rejoice Foli Board member of SCEF during her speech explained that fifty years ago, SCEF was born out of a dream to see every child on the street of Ghana given the opportunity to live with dignity, their full potential.
Our recently completed 15 year evaluation report has given us the opportunity to look back with humility and pride at the lives we have touched she noted:
•Over 1.7 million individual impacted
•More than 4.6 million reached through media advocacy
•And 93 strong partnerships forged locally and globally.
She narrated that beyond the numbers are the children boys and girls once lost in the margins, now finding their place in the classroom, in skills training, and in society.
Nana Adjoa Asante of SCEF in her intervention, stated that as we mark SCEF’s 15th anniversary, today’s dialogue has been both a reflection of how far we have come and a clarion call to how much further we must go.
The 5-Year national Strategic Plan for Street-Connected Children, launched last year, gives us a roadmap. But as we have heard today, it’s only through collective will, shared resources policy action, and grassroots commitment that the plan will move from paper into practice she emphasized.
As we prepare to mark International Day for Street Children tomorrow, may this symposium be the momentum we all need to renew our commitment to action she concluded.