The Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and other key stakeholders, has launched a joint initiative to strengthen efforts against child labour in Ghana’s artisanal and small-scale mining sector.

The partnership aims to equip GoldBod’s Corporate Social Responsibility and Community   Relations team with the knowledge, tools, and practical frameworks to address child labour, uphold child rights, and embed responsible business conduct across its operations.

The two-day workshop held in Aburi in the Eastern region strengthened participants understanding of child rights, child labour, and responsible business obligations in the Ghanaian mining sector, supports GoldBod as a rights-respecting and responsible public sector actor in Ghana’s gold value chain, develop concrete action points for improved child labour and child right interventions across GoldBod’s operational areas among others.

In her opening remarks, a principal officer with the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) unit of the Ghana Gold Board, Ruth Holdbrook-Smith noted that the collaboration will help participants receive practical knowledge of child labour and the approaches in raising awareness.

She was optimistic that the knowledge gained from the training will help participants identify child labour issues in the field and know how to tackle them.

The Director of Human Resource, Ghana Gold Board, Douglas Acquah-Hagan thanked UNICEF and its partners for the training and encouraged participants to take home lessons from the training, test them out and implement them to help tackle issues of child labour in the mining sector in Ghana.

There were series of interactive sessions on issues of GoldBod’s efforts to promote child rights across operations, child rights and child protection in Ghana and why it matters, understanding child labour, child rights due diligence and UNICEF Ghana’s efforts to address child labour and other topics.

A child protection specialist with UNICEF, Young Joo Lee took participants through emerging global regulatory trends, introduction to child labour public-private partnership in Ghana and update on the new study on the impact of illegal mining on children’s well-being.

On his part, the head of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) of the Ghana Gold Board, Dr. Thomas Agyei said the board requires licensed buyers and service providers to meet strict Environmental, Social and Governance standards.

According to him, GoldBod’s ESG rules protect workers and the environment through traceability, human rights and anti-corruption.