Delivering the keynote address at the third congregation of the School of Graduate Studies and Research (SoGSaR) of the GIJ, on Friday, on the theme: “Communication as a Catalyst for National Development”, Dr. Aryee said, in order to be great catalysts for development, it was important for communications professionals to be unifiers and not dissent causers.

“…To be great catalysts, you graduating students ought to remember that you are supposed to be unifiers; you’re to be unifiers rather than people who cause dissent and chaos,” she said.

She stressed the need for communicators to strive to understand people in order to help in development, adding that, communication for development from sociological point of view, involved understanding people, their beliefs and values as well as their social and cultural norms.

She said, it was only in knowing better, who people were, what they stood for, that they could create the harmony that will lead to a society strengthened by its difference and not destroyed by them.

“My opinion is that communication processes can be used to enhance people’s capacities for understanding, negotiating and making appropriate decisions and also capable of empowering individuals and communities to take actions to improve their lives,” she said.

She said GIJ had made Ghana proud by producing a considerable number of communication experts, who have put their expertise at the service of the nation to aid the country’s development.

‘The effort being made by GIJ in this regard re-echoes Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s strong and fervent beliefs in the power of communication to bring about development’, Dr. Aryee noted, adding that, the nation’s efforts towards development through communication were tied to investments in human capital through education and training of individuals.

She emphasized that, in order for Ghana to achieve further development through communication, there was the need for quality communication experts, who could properly communicate policies, decisions and plans that were consistent with international communication trends.

‘We need to sharpen our knowledge and skills on regular basis to ensure that our country does not lack the needed manpower to enhance communication meant for our development’, she said.

Professor Kwesi Anso Kyereme, the Chairman of GIJ’s Governing Council, in his opening remarks, encouraged the graduates to let their professional communication skills be their guide.

He said, success in development was contingent on how intended beneficiaries perceived themselves, adding that, if there was no communication there was not going to be any development.

‘I will encourage you to choose the self-employment option, use your own imagination, cultivated from your critical examination of ideas and sense of communication that you have studied here; that catalyses national development’ ’, he said.

Professor Kyereme urged the graduating students to sharpen their skills on regular basis by reading extensively.

The graduation ceremony conferred Masters of Arts degrees on 178 students, who were taken through 15 months postgraduate education in four communication specialties.

Sixteen students graduated in Journalism, 70 in Public Relations, 66 in Development -Communication and 26 in Media Management.

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Source: GNA

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According to her, citizens have a responsibility to avoid littering and dumping refuse in open spaces to ensure a clean city.

[contextly_sidebar id=”bmQfc4GDjMShdy1fBBbKODwtwpvPKhv9″]Joyce Aryee in a video for “The Right Way Campaign”, a spin-off from the OneGhana citizen responsibility objective, said the work of garbage-collecting agencies will be easier and effective if citizens make conscious efforts to make the city clean.

“If Accra is going to be the cleanest city [in Africa], it will start with us, the individual citizens, it is us because it is not the garbage collecting agencies that keep the city clean. It is us refusing to litter, it is us deciding to separate our garbage and put them in the right way. It is us deciding to do things the right way. That will be the major boost… then it will make the work of the garbage collectors easier,” she said.

President Akufo-Addo in April 2017 promised to make Accra the cleanest city in Africa by the end of his first term in 2020.

The ambitious plan comes in the face of worsening sanitation crisis in the nation’s capital, Accra, with city authorities struggling to deal with the situation.

Sections of major roads in the capital have been taken over by filth, usually dumped there by residents in nearby areas. The problem reveals an apparent inability of the relevant state agencies to effectively manage waste generated in the capital, especially those generated domestically.

But according to Dr. Joyce Aryee, addressing the sanitation challenge in the country will require concerted efforts of the citizenry, waste collecting agencies and state authorities.

“These are the steps I think [we should follow], First, the citizens, second, those who are charged with collecting and disposing of garbage, and third, those who are charged with monitoring and supervising those who do it,” she said.

About the Right Way campaign

The Right Way Campaign is a spin off from the OneGhana citizen responsibility objective.

It is a socio-cultural and behavioral change initiative aimed at impacting and adjusting the attitudes of citizens to seek to do things right and in the interest of Ghana.

It whips the conscience of citizens to do things right by making the idea of doing things right over various themes (e.g. sanitation, meritocracy etc.) top of mind and more socially desirable.

The high awareness and conscientiousness to do things right is expected to yield sub-conscious rewards from revived societal expectations and approval.

The RightWay Campaign will be apolitical in its approach, and will seek to engage with political figures from both sides of the divide, to foster national consensus on the right national values, which will help change the attitudes of the citizenry towards building a better nation.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The annual exercise, would involve 8,200 public and private schools across the country, where children from Kindergarten to Junior High School Form 3, would be treated for soil-transmitted worm infestation, which caused a host of serious health problems, including lack of concentration in class, as well as various illnesses leading to regular absenteeism and eventually drop-outs.

Dr. Joyce Aryee, the Founder of the Salt and Light Ministries, and presently the National Ambassador for the Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) programme, said the country was on the threshold of its development and needed a well-developed and educated human capital to achieve the expected growth.

Dr. Aryee, who chaired a media Seminar in Accra, to explain the status of NTDs in Ghana, noted that protecting the health of children and communities endemic with NTDs including as Onchocerciasis, Bilharzia, Elephantiasis, Trachoma, and intestinal worms, should not be compromised, but to be treated with utmost importance on the part of government as well as stakeholders.

She called on the media to participate in the coming event by intensifying public awareness and education on NTDs, to attract community support.

Dr. Angela Tena Mensah, the Acting Director for Secondary Education, Ghana Education Service, said although reports from previous exercises, had shown great improvement in the reduction of these NTD across the various endemic communities, the persistent poor sanitation challenges continued to hinder total eradication.

She, however, called on all public and private schools, as well as parents, to avail their children during the exercise to be dewormed by head teachers and school health teachers who had been trained to administer the deworming medicine Albendazole or Mebendazole (500 mg), and teach their students about the dangers of worms.

Dr. Benjamin Kofi Marfo, the Deputy Programme Manager for the NTDs programme, (GHS) said Ghana had 12 out of these 17 infectious diseases, leading to serious socio-economic and health under-development in endemic communities across the country.

It is expected that NTDs would be reduced to the barest minimum levels by the year 2020.

Dr Marfo said it was important that the public is educated about NTDs so they could appreciate the seriousness and dangers associated with these diseases and support in their treatment and eradication.

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Source: GNA

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According to her, it is important for women to stand in the gap and intercede on behalf of the dear nation. The seasoned woman of God said this when members of Women in Worship paid a courtesy call on her on Tuesday, to officially invite her to the event.

She expressed hope and encouraged all women of faith in Ghana to join in the worthy course.

“I am really delighted to be part of this initiative because I see this as an important step with regards to women leading the worship front. I can imagine all women coming before the throne room of worship and its benefit to the body of Christ.”

On her part, the leader of the team and the C.E.O of Genet Service (organizers of the event), thanked Rev. Aryee for her endorsement, saying, “ we are grateful to you for giving the approval and blessing for this maiden edition and we look forward to you being part of subsequent editions.

All routes will be leading to the Perez Dome come Sunday, September 24th, when Ghana will witness the first-ever Women in worship.

Headlined to perform at the event will be the ‘Jehovah is your name’ singer Ntokozo Mbambo from South Africa with support from Ministers from across Ghana, namely Ohemaa Mercy, Diana Hamilton, Tagoe sisters, Rev. Mouha Amoako, Naa Mercy, Cynthia Maccauley and Becky Bonney.

The women in worship initiative is also in partnership with the Cervical Cancer Center at Bator for a nationwide screening exercise and sensitization drive to educate women on the dangers of cervical cancer.

The worship experience comes off at the Perez Dome on Sunday, September 24th at 4:00pm.

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The keynote address at the launch will be delivered by Rev. Dr. Joyce Aryee, a former C.E.O of the Ghana Chamber of Mines.  The launch is expected to be aired live on radio from 4:00 to 5:20 pm.

The organisation’s first project will be the “J4J3-Campaign”, which is geared towards driving citizen responsibility and policy accountability through the pursuit of justice for victims of the 2015 June 3 flood and fire disaster.

The disaster saw the death of over 150 persons after an explosion at a Goil fuel station at Kwame Nkrumah Circle area.

The campaign will include legal aid for victims and public advocacy on corporate and regulatory accountability.

The OneGhana movement has been described as a thought leadership and social action Not-for-Profit organisation that seeks to promote citizen responsibility, promote the prioritisation of the national interest over partisan politics and promote public policy accountability.

“We believe that a strong and active civil society is essential to address the root causes of today’s most pressing societal, economic, and political challenges. We believe that an informed and responsible citizenry is key to exacting governance accountability and progressive policy making which are critical for the socio-economic development of Ghana,” a statement from the movement noted.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The 2016 ADFNS celebration is on the theme: ‘Investing in Food Systems for Improving Child Nutrition: Key to Africa’s Renaissance’.

The Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition was established in August 2013 as an independent group of senior experts.

Its main aim is to provide guidance to decision-makers, particularly governments, and to inform and promote agricultural and food policies as well as investment for improved nutrition in low and middle-income countries.

The Global Panel is jointly funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the UK Department for International Development.

Former Director of the Ghana Health Service and Chair for the Launch, Professor Agyeman Badu Akosa, kick-started the event by welcoming all present with a presentation on Scaling up Nutrition in Ghana.

Former Minister of Information, Education and Democracy, Rev. Dr Joyce Aryee came next with the opening address. The Director of the Global Panel, Professor Sandy Thomas, followed with a presentation on key findings gathered from the Foresight Report.

The Foresight Report outlines the toll that malnutrition takes on today’s individuals, nations and economies; and forecasts the expanding costs and consequences bound to be faced should these trends continue.

It also contains guidelines to aid governments and decision-makers in creating food systems that will promote health and deliver quality diets.

The Report further states the increase of malnutrition across Africa, predominantly in sub-Saharan Africa with a prediction of 216 million undernourished people in sub-Saharan Africa by the year 2030, if the current trends are not reformed.

It also states that the number of stunted children under the age of five is rising by 500,000 every year; and names chronic malnutrition as one of the causes of nearly half of the child deaths occurring within sub-Saharan Africa in 2015.

According to the Report, investing in nutrition; especially for mothers, infants and children; will lead to enlarged gains since good nutrition in infants and children supports cognitive development and will equip them to grab economic opportunities in the labour market in the future.

The next segment was a Discussion and Q & A session facilitated by a four-member panel made up of Professor Thomas; Professor Akosa; the Assistant Director-General and Representative for Africa for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Bukar Tijani; and an Associate Professor with the University of Ghana’s Department of Nutrition and Food Science, Professor Matilda Steiner-Asiedu.

After an hour-long Discussion and Q & A session, the African Launch of the Global Panel’s Foresight Report was climaxed by the formal launching of the report, which was done by Rev. Dr Aryee. The former minister charged the press present and the African Union (AU) to massively share the knowledge revealed in the report in order to make it available to those who need it.

“The knowledge in this document must be implemented. It is not just one person’s role, but each individual’s responsibility to make sure that this knowledge is disseminated and used at all levels because we can no longer live with a crisis that can be resolved. We don’t have to have a nutritional crisis. What we need is a nutritional agenda that gives our people nourishing food.” she also said.

Find the full Foresight Report here

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By: Akosua Ofewaa Opoku/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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