ACCRA – Thursday, 14th September, 2023: The Local Government Service is poised to adopt a policy on sexual harassment at the workplace. The policy is to protect staff of the Service and address issues of sexual harassment at the workplace. This was revealed by Ms Golda Asante, the Director of Administration at the Office of the Head of the Local Government Service (OHLGS), when she opened a Two-Day workshop on behalf of the Head of Service for the southern sector staff in Accra. The workshop was to solicit inputs on the sexual harassment policy. She used the platform to express the commitment of the Head of Service and the management of the OHLGS to see to the adoption of a policy on sexual harassment at the workplace across the Service.
COMPREHENSIVE CONSULTATION
Ms Golda Asante gave the assurance that the Service would undertake a comprehensive consultation to solicit for input into the policy. She announced that inputs are being solicited from key informants as well as external stakeholders to enrich the policy.
Ms Asante further revealed that, the relevant laws such as the Labour Act, Domestic Violence Act, the Local Governance Act and international conventions like the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 190 and other best practices would be referenced to produce the best sexual harassment policy for the Local Government Service.
APPRECIATION
She expressed the appreciation of the Head of Service and management of the OHLGS to Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) for supporting the Service in the production of a sexual harassment policy. She concluded by entreating the participants to lead as ambassadors of sexual harassment at their respective Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies ( MMDAs).
FACILITATION
A Principal Consultant of Board of Scientific Counselors (BSC) Advisory, Lawyer and an expert in gender policy and social inclusion, Ms Bernice Sam, took participants through a very interactive presentation on Discrimination, Violence, Harassment, ILO Convention 190(2019), sexual harassment and other forms of harassment together with a co facilitator, Mr Frank Bodza .
GIZ -LGS RELATIONSHIP
Mr Gary Bonney a representative of GIZ, expressed the commitment of his outfit to see to the adoption of the sexual harassment policy for the Local Government Service. He urged the participants to provide rich inputs for the formulation of the policy. Finally, he revealed that GIZ will continue to support the Service in other projects like the knowledge exchange for Coordinating Directors projects which is currently ongoing in Koforidua.