2018/2019 Stay Clean Awards and 5th Anniversary of SHAPE Attitude Ghana
SHAPE Attitude Ghana celebrated its 5th Anniversary on 14th June 2019. The event was marked by a durbar and presentation of 2018/2019 Stay Clean Awards to schools in Winneba.
More than eight hundred pupils, teachers and dignitaries including the Chief of Effutu, the Executive Chairman of A&C Development Co. Ltd., the President of the Ghana Association of Former International Civil Servants (GAFICS) and their members, Directors of Education from Winneba and Apam and Head of SACOST-UEW assembled at the Josuph Anamuah-Mensah Conference Hall, University of Education, Winneba, for the ceremony .
The Chief of Winneba, Neenyi Ghartey VII, who was the Chairman of the occasion, in his opening address spoke about the importance of having young people with a positive mindset which will make them exhibit positive attitudes and practices in life. He made specific reference to the indiscriminate littering and applauded the steps SHAPE Attitude Ghana has taken by embarking on sensitisation campaign in schools.
The Director of SHAPE Attitude Ghana, made reference to achievements of the Organisation in the past five years. He said the organisation has reached out to more than fifty percent of the basic school population in Winneba and Apam with sensitisation and awareness campaigns. School compounds have become cleaner and some of them have adopted innovative ideas to keep their compounds clean. In order to maximise and build on benefits of the sensitisation campaign, it required some measures to be taken by the Municipal Assembly. The measures include enforcement of laws on sanitation which is being advocated for by the communities. Community policing and sanctions should be encouraged and there should be no interference by politicians and opinion leaders when the law is taking its course. The Director noted that lack of will power and coordinated effort by individuals, communities and institutions to confront the challenges on poor sanitary conditions have been a hindrance in achieving the expected objectives.
Lack of adequate resources has also been a challenge facing the Organisation. It has relied mainly on the good will of friends, former colleagues or workmates, family members and personal resources. The Director acknowledged the financial support from Mr Andrew K Asamoah Snr, Ms Angela Karmand, Ms Ann Buckley, Mr Emmanuel Woode and Kofi Baisie Ghartey, who have been main contributors. He also acknowledged individuals who have opted to remain anonymous for their true sense of voluntarism and spared their time to support the Organisation in diverse ways.
The Centre for School and Community Science and Technology of the University of Education, Winneba (SACOST - UEW) has collaborated with the Organisation to celebrate the World Environment Day for the past five years. The Regional Office of the National Service Scheme has also been working with SHAPE Attitude Ghana on their orientation programme for Service Personnel in the tertiary institutions. The Scheme also provide personnel to work with the Organisation. The support of Ghana Association of Former International Civil Servants (GAFICS) cannot go unmentioned.
Moving forward, SHAPE Attitude Ghana will continue with the educational campaign through sensitisation and awareness with children as the primary target group.
Collective responsibility at all levels, individual, community and institutions including religious bodies is key to furthering the course of environmental cleanliness. For this, SHAPE Attitude Ghana will engage the various stakeholders in achieving the desired results.
The Assembly is urged to declare litter free zones and enforce them. At the policy level, banning of plastics is one of the answers to plastic pollution in the country. In the short term, one time use of plastics should be discouraged.
Waste Management Companies that are engaged in the physical management of waste should be encouraged to adopt more aggressive means to deal with refuse collection and disposal. Alternatives that are more sustainable and environment friendly than landfills and dumping sites should be found.
It is our hope that come 2020, there would be litter free zones in Winneba and Apam.
Other speakers at the durbar were Mr Andrew K. Asamoah of A&C Development Co., Mr Moses Okai, a representative of the Director of Education, Winneba and Prof. Raheem Kolawole of SCAOST-UEW. They added their voice to the call of building positive mindset as a step to addressing the negative attitude towards environmental cleanliness.
Items that were given out as prizes were plaques, certificates, exercise books and trash bins.
The 2019/2020 Stay Clean Competition in schools was launched by Prof Kolawole Raheem of SACOST-UEW.
