Curious Minds

Two radio programmes per week are broadcast on national radio. One is broadcast in English, the other in the Ga language of the people of Accra. More than 200 children are now part of the group. Some programmes have resource persons; some involve only the children framing the discussions from their perspective.

More specifically, the programme is divided into segments. A "letter to the one who cares" is the focus of the programme. This letter touches on a pressing issue related to children; children who are part of CYIB/CSD share their opinions as to what should be done to honour the best interest of the child in each case. The "facts corner" explores issues in a specific subject area chosen for the week. The partnership segment touches on what various sections of the society can do to address this issue. The majority of the 55-minute-per-week schedule is reserved for a discussion of the issue raised by these documents and contributions. A similar programme is run on a local language network, with a few adjustments to suit the needs and aspirations of the local audience.

In early 2004, through further collaboration and support from Save the Children Fund, Curious Minds extended its activities to cover all regions of Ghana. The Ashanti Regional branch was launched in 2003, followed by the branch in the Upper East Regional capital called Bolgatanga. School-based clubs are also in operation toexpand the base of the children who directly benefit from the programme. In January 2004, another branch in the Central Regional capital Cape Coast was inaugurated. This group used the celebration of the 2003 International Children's Day of Broadcasting to raise more awarenessabout the need to grant children greater access to the media. The celebration was jointly held with the mother organisation of the club, Women-in-Broadcasting.

In collaboration with Plan Ghana, Curious Minds launched a pilot programme - "Yen Adwen" ("Our Opinion") on another station in Akan in December 2003. The aim was to enable children to use radio to advance their rights. The programme will soon be expanded to cover other communities, which in the initial stages will involve listening clubs providing feedback on the programmes.

Children, Rights.

CYIB/CSD is a media-based organisation that has recently taken steps to get involved in community-based programmes, as described here. The main working document of the group is the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and Ghana's version of the document (Children's Act 560 of 1998).

The group is presently collaborating with UNICEF on a number of activities and was recently actively involved in organising the launch of the State of the World's Children Report 2003 in Ghana in the spirit of participation. It is currently planning to initiate a regular television programme.