About 5000 students in the Northern Region have been sensitized on the operations of the United Nations (UN) and its interventions including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and how they could contribute to achieving them.
The students were drawn from 10 senior high schools (SHSs) including Tamale SHS, Ghana SHS, Tamale Islamic SHS, Business SHS, Kalpohin SHS and Vitting SHS, and three tertiary institutions including Tamale Technical University, Tamale College of Education and Bagabaga College of Education.
United Nations in Ghana, led by its Communications Group, sensitized the students in Tamale as part of its 'UN4U', which is one of the UN's public outreach initiatives aimed at raising awareness of the organization's history and activities worldwide.
The UN Agencies represented at the event included UN Information Centre, World Food Programme (WFP), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and UNAIDS.
Madam Cynthia Prah, National Communication Officer at the UN Information Centre, Accra, spoke about what UN and the government were doing to achieve the SDGs, urging students to play active roles in the implementation of the SDGs.
Madam Prah reminded the students of the need to apprise themselves of the SDGs and preach about them to others to champion their implementation to ensure that no country was left behind as far as development was concerned.
Ms Praise Nutakor, Communications Analyst at UNDP, advised the students to be good role models on the environment and help promote good environmental practices whiles holding duty bearers accountable to promote sustainable development.
Ms Patience Folley, Public Information Officer at UNHCR spoke about care, support and protection for refugees to ensure that no one was left behind.
Mrs Angela Trenton-Mbonde, UNAIDS Country Director, spoke about HIV and AIDS and its transmission, urging students to help stop the transmission of the disease, as well as the stigmatization of persons living with the disease.
The students displayed great knowledge of the UN system and its operations and were given brochures and paraphernalia to enable them to learn more about the organization.