Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerable and excluded in the Municipality include the unemployed, the aged, children, women and the physically challenged. The Municipality Assembly has set up a Community Based Rehabilitation pilot project in six (6) selected communities in collaboration with the department of Social Welfare and Community Development to assist in the training and empowering of the vulnerable/excluded. The project has been expanded to all the communities in the municipality where two hundred and fifty-six (256) physically challenged persons were identified and registered. Table 1.16 presents the status of those disabled people being assisted by the Assembly.

 Child Rights and Protection cases

The social welfare department in the municipality also handles child rights and protection issues, child maintenance and child custody cases to ensure that issues relating to child care are addressed amicably.

  FAMILY WELFARE/MARRIAGE RECONCILIATION AND CHILD WELFARE

Seventy five (75) family and child welfare cases were handled and treated. Sixty nine (69) were handled and treated successfully. Fifty (50) marriages are reconciled and couples are happily married now, nine of them had their share of family properties and nine students and pupils were also seen to put back to school and various trades on irresponsible parents.

CHILD CUSTODY

Thirty nine (39) custody cases handled and treated. Twenty seven (27) were easily handled and treated successfully with the children involved had their interest protected. The rest of the twelve both parties the complainant and the respondents were visited and social investigation conducted to ascertain which place of the respective parents was conducive to protect the child’s interest. At the end of the day, ten (10) of them were also successful making a total number of thirty seven (37) cases very successful and the pending.

PATERNITY DISPUTE/PREGNANCY RESPONSIBILITY

Pregnancy Responsibilities or Paternity Dispute cases were thirty two (32). Ownership of pregnancies that were being disputed, the Agency had visited both family members and upon interrogation and social education potential fullness had accepted responsibilities of those pregnancies. Those that maintenance was not flowing were also resolved to ensure the following maintenance. Hence, all thirty two were successfully handled and treated.

 CHILD LABOUR PROJECT

The Municipality was running child labour project in fifteen (15) identified child labour communities. The project is being supported by the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare, Accra (NPECLC) and the Asante Akim North Municipal Assembly.

The fifteen communities has been scale down to five pilot communities for the implementation of the Ghana Child Labour Monitoring System (GCLMS) in order to eliminate the work forms of child labour in the country.

The local persons, data collectors and data entry clerks’ have undergone workshop training after which the data collection commenced. The pilot communities namely; Odumasi, Patriensa, Adumkrom and Anuruso. Data on tool one which is the community Register has been completed. The community Register containing names of individual house hold members including children. This has successfully been completed and data entered. After entry it was came out with tool two which contains children that one of risk. Therefore also been collected on tool two and data entry is still ongoing

 ASSISTANCE TO DISABILITY PERSONS

A total number of four hundred and sixteen (416) persons living with disabilities are supported financially through the allocated 2% of the Assembly common fund to persons living with disabilities. The support was in various kinds which include paying of school fees, purchasing of tools and appliances, medical bills and individual income generating activities. This has gone a long way to settling the living conditions of persons living with disabilities and they are most grateful to the government and the Assembly and for that matter the Department for the support.

SUPPORT TO HIV/ AIDS PATIENTS

The social welfare department has also been providing counselling and financial assistance to HIV/AIDS patients living within the municipality. With assistance from NGOs and other benevolent organisations, the agency provides medical and financial aids for HIV/AIDS patients and their immediate families.

LIVELIHOOD EMPOWERMENT AGAINST POVERTY (LEAP)

The Municipal Assembly is operating Leap programme in forty- three (43) communities to reduce poverty.

Seven hundred and fifty seven (757) leap beneficiaries are currently receiving the leap Social grant to improve their living conditions. The payment ranges between twenty four (24) and forty five (45) Ghana Cedis per beneficiary. Lives of the people have improved as widows are also through the grants and beneficiaries are appreciate the offer and are most grateful to the government.