Ghana has begun rolling out a new digital monitoring system aimed at improving the identification, documentation, referral and follow-up of child labour cases across the country.
The Ghana Child Labour Monitoring System (GCLMS) is designed to help government officials and other stakeholders better track children exposed to hazardous or exploitative work and ensure that appropriate support reaches affected children and their families.
The system is particularly relevant to sectors including agriculture, artisanal and small-scale mining, domestic work and other areas of the informal economy where children may be exposed to hazardous working conditions.
According to the information provided, the new GCLMS has been made interoperable with other child protection systems in Ghana, allowing for improved case referrals, follow-up and coordination among agencies involved in child protection.
The rollout follows a four-day training programme held from September 15 to 18, 2026, in Bibiani, where selected regional and district stakeholders from ACCEL Africa project areas were trained on how to use the system.
The training was organised by the International Labour Organization (ILO) through its ACCEL Africa Project, in partnership with the Child Labour Unit of the Ministry of Labour, Jobs and Employment.
Participants were trained to register and document cases, update case information, manage data, generate reports and monitor follow-up actions.
Speaking during the training, Bismark Quartey, National Project Coordinator of the ILO’s ACCEL Africa Project in Ghana, stressed the importance of reliable data in addressing Child Labour.
He said the system would provide stakeholders with a common mechanism to document cases, understand their characteristics and underlying causes, initiate appropriate interventions and follow up on children and families receiving support.
The GCLMS was developed with funding from the ILO through the ACCEL Africa Project and other development partners, in collaboration with the Government of Ghana through the Ministry of Labour, Jobs and Employment.
The system is expected to help district and regional officers maintain accurate case records and ensure that information follows each case from identification through referral and follow-up.
Frederick Osei Agyemang, a participant from the Social Welfare Department in Bibiani, said the training had strengthened his understanding of how to use the system to document child labour cases.
He noted that the system would help improve the quality of information collected at the district level and ensure that identified cases receive appropriate support.
The new monitoring system is also expected to improve information sharing among agencies through its interoperability with other child labour monitoring systems.
Stakeholders believe that strengthening data collection and coordination at the decentralised level will support more timely and evidence-based decisions and help track whether interventions are reaching children and families who need them.
The rollout forms part of broader efforts to strengthen Ghana’s national systems for the prevention and elimination of child labour and to protect children from work that threatens their safety, development and future.
By Emmanuel Sowah
