News
Center for National Culture holds competition for schools, institutions in Eastern Region
The Centre for National Culture in the Eastern Region in collaboration with ONGA has organised a cooking competition for some selected Senior High Schools in the region.
The schools were paired with some public organisations to display their skills in the preparation of local dishes such as “motuo ne nkatekwan”(rice balls with groundnut soup), waakye with shito, “mpotompoto”, “tatale ne kontomire”, “apapransa ne koto”, “brode3 ampesie ne kontomire”, “tatale ne adua abomu”, “tuo zaafi ne ayoyo nkwan,” among others.
At the end of the competition, Seventh-Day Adventist Senior High School paired with the Department of Agriculture emerged winners. New Juaben SHS and the Information Service Department (ISD) who prepared mpotompoto came second, whereas Bright SHS and the Ghana Immigration Service placed third after preparing “Tatale ne adua abomu”.
The others, Pentecost SHS and the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) were fourth, Ghana SHS and the Ghana National Fire Service placed fifth, Oyoko Methodist SHS and the Ghana Revenue Authority were sixth while Ofori Panyin SHS and the Department of Gender, Children and Social Protection placed seventh in the competition.
The Municipal Chief Executive of New Juaben South Municipality, Mr. Isaac Apaw Gyesi urged the MDA’s to liaise with the Centre for National Culture in their respective districts to initiate programmes and activities to promote the cultural heritage of the country at all times.
He said that local foods and local language as part of Ghanaian culture “defines our identity at all times while it associates with a variety of health benefits, therefore I want to encourage Ghanaians to prioritise our local language and consume our respective local foods and products”.
He added that different varieties of food were associated with the ethnic groups across the regions of Ghana.
For his part, the Director of Policy Planning, Research, Monitoring and Evaluation at the Commission for National Culture, Mr. Phil Richardson Commey underscored the need for Ghanaians to patronise locally manufactured goods and services to minimise the importation of foreign products into the country.
He said research had shown that local foods were much healthier for the human body compared with the imported foods which were the cause of the number of present diseases which were initially not found in the country.
He encouraged Ghanaians to cultivate the habit of backyard farming, a move he believed, would help promote the consumption of local foods in the country.
Mr. Commey urged the Ghana Education Service to revise the education curriculum by prioritising agriculture to promote the interest of local food consumption.
The contestants received certificates of participation and products from ONGA foods.
From: Kodjo David, Koforidua.
The 30th Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Media Awards has celebrated three decades of recognising excellence and contributions to journalism and national development, while highlighting the media’s role in Ghana’s democracy.
Marking the milestone, Philip Osei Bonsu of the Multimedia Group emerged as the GJA/P.A.V. Ansah Journalist of the Year.
The Ghanaian Times’ Benedicta Gyimah Foley won the Best Feature Reporting, Print category, alongside other journalists recognised across various media platforms.
Other winners included Nathaniel Attoh, Best in Sports Reporting; and Godwin Asediba of Media General, Best in TV Documentary; Doreen Ampofo of GBC, Best in Radio Documentary; and freelance journalist Nii Adjei Mensahfio, Best in Online Documentary.
Daniel Kwabena Mantey was adjudged Best in TV Feature, while Clinton Yeboah of Luv FM won Best in Radio Feature, with Gilbert Azeem Tiroog of GNA taking Best in Online Features.
For news reporting, Mohammed Fugu of the Daily Graphic won Best in Print News Reporting, Nabil Ahmed Rufai, a freelance journalist, Best in TV News Reporting; Ridwan Karim Dini-Osman of EIB Network, Best in Radio News Reporting; and Timothy Ngnenbe of the Daily Graphic, Best in Online News.
The ceremony, held in Accra last Saturday on the theme, “Celebrating Excellence, Advancing Media Freedom and Combating Hate Speech in the Digital Age”, was attended by President John Dramani Mahama as the special guest of honour.
Also in attendance were the Ga Mantse, King Tackie Teiko Tsuru II, and the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Christian Tetteh Yohuno, among others.
In his address, President Mahama announced a GH₵10 million allocation in the 2027 national budget as seed capital for the reactivated Media Development Fund to support journalists’ welfare, professional development, investigative reporting and safety training, with additional corporate contributions expected.
Mr Mahama, also urged media practitioners to uphold professionalism and accuracy by avoiding sensationalism, unsubstantiated allegations and the deliberate pursuit of scandals, while promptly correcting inaccurate reports and apologising when necessary to maintain public trust and professional standards.
On journalists’ safety, he assured that the government would continue to act against attacks on them.
By Stephanie Birikorang
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Today, I focus on the theme of Ghanaian/African migrants in Finland and economic empowerment, a move away from the topic of personalities or groups and their accomplishments within the Ghanaian community in Finland that I have been writing on.
In recent times, African migrant associations and Finnish institutions are organising meetings or forums and help people seeking employment to meet employers or build professional networks to achieve economic empowerment.
Such forums are usually open to their members and anyone of African descent.to get into the Finnish job market.
Competences
Researchers and experts say entrepreneurship or self-employment has great potential to offer a route for migrants, including highly-educated ones, to participate in and contribute to the local economy.
Competences, including knowledge and knowhow, opportunities, and social capital such as family support, language, etc., are necessary to boost the entrepreneurship endeavour.
Competence in the official Finnish or Swedish languages is undoubtedly a key quality to improve employment prospects, especially for migrants since the overall unemployment among migrants could be higher than in the mainstream Finnish population.
There could also be particular privileges which may be the provision of the right information for potential entrepreneurs or job seekers.
Barriers and stress factors
Although language has a huge potential to contribute positively to entrepreneurship possibilities, studies have shown that some of the major stress factors are language problems, finances or economic capital among African migrants.
Other barriers or challenges may be how to grow the business venture or its sustainability.
Thus, migrant communities can generally be highly vulnerable to language barrier, lack of information, the nature of the work of migrants in professions where working from home is not possible.
Migrant associations, social networks, and information
By their activities, migrant associations are doing much to educate and create awareness as well as enhance economic empowerment through migrants’ entrepreneurship or self-employment and enhance opportunities.
Such associations and institutions become networks that create an important social capital as well as outlets for sharing and gaining information or knowledge. Also, it will all be for societal good if such activities are able to help reduce stress and anxiety in the migrants’ entrepreneurship endeavours.
As I keep pointing out, Finland is committed to the integration of migrants into the Finnish society. A number of research studies from surveys and other in-depth enquiries have shown a trend of increasing efforts to integrate African and other migrants into the Finnish society.
Public agencies, migrant associations and other non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Finland have been publishing information to help educate people, which is also good for their wellbeing.
Generally, migrant associations formally create awareness among their members and other migrants usually in collaboration with some Finnish institutions, and are thus an important tool for several migrants to be positively active and to get their interests and claims heard.
As I wrote previously, the role of migrant associations acting as bridge-builders for the integration and inclusion of migrants through participation in the decision making process and by acting as a representative voice is highly appreciated in Finland. Thank you!
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