SAG’S THEMATIC AREAS
ADVOCACY/EDUCATION
Liaising with Community Leadership
SAG hopes to liaise with the leadership of various communities such as Chiefs, elders, among others to educate community members on the various forms of abuse during communal meeting. SAG wants to ensure community ownership of the project so as to make it sustainable for the next generation and the others to come.
Partnership with Religious Leaders
Given that Ghanaians have high sense of morality and are highly religious, there is the need for the use of religious campaign and advocacy to fight against the incidence of abuse in the Ghanaian community. This measure may be most effective based on the fact that almost every Ghanaian is affiliated to one religious group or the other. Moreover, members of the religious groups usually have high respect for their religious leaders. In this sense, any advocacy message carried by religious leaders on evils of abuse is likely to yield positive results on their followers.
School Outreach programmes
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Ghana was the first country to ratify the UNCRC which is the first international instrument that gives the highest and the most comprehensive international standards that guarantees the rights of children. The paramount aim of ratifying to this convention is the best interest of, and nondiscrimination against children. The major groups of rights are the survival development, protection and participation. Article 19 of CRC guarantees children rights to protection from abuse and neglect.
Stop Abuse Ghana (SAG) hopes to as part of its advocacy programs; provide
A child-appropriate/child-friendly facility. SAG serves as an advocacy center for people of all ages which includes children. In that regard, it must provide a welcoming environment that is private and physically and psychologically safe. Typically, this is geographically separate from police stations, and courthouses. Facilities are designed to provide a child- and family-friendly environment for interviews and family meetings.
A multidisciplinary investigation team and coordinated forensic interviews. A multidisciplinary team typically consists of law enforcement officers, investigators, prosecutors, and mental health and medical professionals. The team members coordinate their response to increase the investigation’s effectiveness and reduce stress for children. Methods may include interviews in which one trained forensic interviewer collects information from the child while multiple team members watch through a one-way mirror or closed-circuit television. The single interview informs multiple agencies, reducing the need for children to be interviewed more than once.
Case reviews. In the weeks after the initial interview, the team reviews the case to give professionals further opportunities to refine planning, share new information, engage in team problem solving, and refer a child for additional services.
Medical evaluation, therapeutic intervention, and victim advocacy services. SAG have formal links with medical professionals and arrange for medical examinations, as needed. SAG will work with a victim’s family to secure needed services, such as child psychotherapy and victims’ advocacy services.
Victims (current or past) of abuse are at high risk for emotional and behavioral problems. SAG strives to improve victim access to mental health services.
Victims would be given professional Counselling by Clinical Psychologists, Psychiatrists, Counsellors, Trained Religious leaders in order to overcome the psychological impact that the abuse would have on them.
The Psychologists, Counsellors and Psychiatrists would make use of Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) which is an evidence-based treatment approach shown to help children, adolescents, and their caregivers overcome trauma-related difficulties to help victims. It is designed to reduce negative emotional and behavioral responses following child sexual abuse, domestic violence, traumatic loss, and other traumatic events. The treatment-based on learning and cognitive theories-addresses distorted beliefs and attributions related to abuse and provides a supportive environment in which children are encouraged to talk about their traumatic experience.
SAG will assist victims to seek justice as and when appropriate or as preferred. There are so many victims of abuse who do not want their partners to be arrested because they feel it is a minor issue, which when settled amicably, would ensure peace between both parties. SAG would serve as a mediator between families with issues of abuse without criminalities. With issues regarding criminalities, SAG hopes to adopt a professional manner of reporting the issue to seek justice on behalf of the victim.
SAG will also provide legal aid for individuals who cannot afford lawyers to arbitrate for them. SAG has identified that, in as much as some people have genuine cases, they refuse to seek justice because of money and the bureaucratic nature of our law systems in Ghana.