Across Ghana and many other contexts, child protection remains a shared responsibility that extends beyond legal frameworks and institutional mandates. It is deeply influenced by cultural values, community practices, family dynamics and socio-economic realities that shape how children are cared for and protected. This webinar brings together practitioners and stakeholders to examine the intersection between culture and child protection, exploring how effective systems can safeguard children’s rights while remaining responsive to the communities they serve.
Proposed Speakers:
Main Speaker
Proposed Date: Thursday, 16 July 2026
Background and Rationale
Child protection in Ghana rarely fits into a simple legal framework. While national laws and policies clearly outline children’s rights and protection standards, the realities within many communities are equally (if not more) shaped by culture, economic pressures, and social expectations. Practices such as informal fostering/child domestic work, children helping with family work, or early marriages are often seen within communities as normal parts of upbringing, responsibility, and survival. In some cases, these practices can provide care, support, and social protection for children. Yet at other times, the same practices can expose children to exploitation, neglect, or abuse. This creates difficult questions around where culture protects children, where harm begins, and who decides.
For child protection actors across the divide (whether government agencies, NGOs, or community leaders), these realities require more than simply applying the law. Effective child protection work often involves navigating relationships, local beliefs, and long-standing community norms with care and sensitivity. The Department of Social Welfare (DSW), in particular, operates at the center of this complexity. While mandated to respond to abuse and enforce child protection laws, DSW officers must also work within communities where trust, dialogue, and cooperation are essential. In practice, this means child protection is often negotiated through engagement, mediation, and gradual behaviour change rather than enforcement alone.
For organizations like PDA Africa, which work closely with communities through participatory approaches, this raises an important challenge: how can child protection systems uphold children’s rights while still understanding the cultural realities that shape family and community life? This webinar seeks to create space for honest and practical conversations around that question. Drawing on field experiences and practitioner perspectives, the session will explore how cultural norms influence child protection outcomes, and how actors such as the Department of Social Welfare and PDA Africa navigate these complexities in their day-to-day work.
Objectives
The webinar will:
Proposed Discussion Areas
Notable discussion topics will include:
