NGO sensitises school children on good sanitation through game

The Safe Child Ghana, A Non-Governmental organisation (NGO), has developed an innovative board game on Behavioural Change Communication (BCC) approach to inculcate good sanitation practices among children in schools.

It was developed to enable the children to have deep experience and commitment to creating safer environment through the game to raise awareness for behavioural change.

Mr Michael Baabu, Chief Executive Officer who launched the game at Demasters Academy in Ashiaman, told the Ghana News Agency, that the board game was developed to sensitise schools benefiting from the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area-Water and Sanitation Project (GAMA-SWP) support in the provision of toilet facilities and water supply to reduce unhygienic conditions.

He said the well-researched board game which would cover about 53 schools in the GAMA-SWP area in the Greater Accra Region, had five thematic areas to educate school children on the promotion of hand washing behaviour as well as water, food safety, environmental sanitation and hygiene.

He explained that, “If a throw of the dice brings a player to a Blue square with an image with a positive or good behaviour, he or she is rewarded by moving forward. While a throw that brings a player to the RED square with an image with a negative or bad behaviour, requires to move backwards as punishment’’.

‘’ By the time the child finishes playing the game, he or she will have learnt good sanitation and hygiene behaviour and maintenance of GAMA-SWP toilets’’. He said.

The children expressed happiness after a successful two demonstration games and identified bad sanitation behaviour in their communities after playing that would enable them to take good decisions by themselves on the environment.

Mr Baabu gave each child of the school free copy of the game to be played at their various homes to keep them abreast with sanitation and hygiene behaviour in their schools.