The 2017 edition of the University Staff Games has kicked off with teams from various sectors of the University participating in the competition. The month-long competition, which began on Tuesday, June 6 at the Old Site field, is aimed at keeping staff members of the University fit. The various teams will participate in soccer and table tennis competitions during this year’s staff games. In a statement, the Head of the Sports Section, Dr. Daniel Apaak, said, “We believe that this competition will provide our staff with the opportunity to exercise, distress and socialize after the day’s hard work before reaching home.” The statement appealed to the various offices, colleges, directorates, halls of residence, sections and units to motivate their staff through incentives to enable them to fully participate in the competition, which will end on Thursday, July 6, 2017. It reminded participants to adhere to the rules and regulations governing the tournament. It also added that quarter finals of the competition will take place on June 29, whilst semifinals, third place and the finals will come off on July 4, 5, and 6, respectively. The Section, according to the statement, wished all participating teams the best of luck in the competition. Below are the fixtures for the 2017 Staff Soccer Competition JUNE 6 SUPERANNUATION/ MEDICAL HOSTELS VS COLLEGE OF EDUCATION STUDIES DIRECTORATE OF DEVELOPMENT VS BASIC SCHOOLS JUNE 7 OGUAA/ CASFORD VS COLLEGE AGRIC AND NATURAL SCIENCES SECURITY VS FINANCE/ AUDIT JUNE 8 UNIVERSITY HEALTH SERVICES VS REGISTRAR’S OFFICE KNH/VALCO VS COLLEGE OF DISTACE EDUCATION JUNE 9 ADEHYE/ ATL/ VS COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES AND LEGAL SYUDIES LIBRARY VS SRC/SRC HOTELS JUNE 13 BASIC SCHOOLS VS COLLEGE OF EDUCATION STUDIES SUPERNUATION/ MEDICAL HOSTEL VS COLLEGE OF HEALTH AND ALLIED SCIENCE JUNE 14 OGUAA/ CASFORD VS FINANCE/ AUDIT COLLEGE AGRIC AND NATURAL SCIENCES VS SECURITY JUNE 15 COLLEGE OF DISTANCE EDUCATION VS LIBRARY ADEHYE/ ATL VS REGISTRAR’S OFFICE JUNE 16 SRC/ PSI HOSTELS VS KNH/ VALCO COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES AND LEGAL STUDIES VS UNIVERSITY HEALTH SERVICES JUNE 20 COLLEGE OF HEALTH AND ALLIED SCIENCES VS BASIC SCHOOL COLLEGE OF EDUCATION STUDIES VS DIRECTORATE OF DEVELOPMENT JUNE 21 SECURITY VS OGUAA/ CASFORD FINANCE/ AUDIT VS COLLEGE AGRIC AND NATURAL SCIENCES JUNE 22 COLLEGE OF DISTACE EDUCATION VS SRC/ PSI HOSTELS UNIVERSITY HEALTH SERVICES VS ADEHYE/ ATL JUNE 23 DIRECTORATE OF DEVELOPMENT VS COLLEGE OF HEALTH AND ALLIED SCIENCES BASIC SCHOOLS VS SUPERANNUATION JUNE 27 LIBRARY VS KNH/ VALCO REGISTRAR’S OFFICE VS COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES AND LEGAL STUDIES JUNE 28 SUPERANNUATION/MEDICAL HOSTELS VS DIRECTORATE OF DEVELOPMENT COLLEGE OF EDUCATION STUDIES VS COLLEGE OF HEALTH AND ALLIED SCIENCES

The Centre for Gender Research, Advocacy and Documentation (CEGRAD) has organised a day’s training workshop on Gender and Health for some healthcare providers in Ghana. It was aimed at sensitising and building the capacity of healthcare professionals to identify and address gender issues arising in their practice and service delivery. The workshop, held in collaboration with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the School of Medical Sciences, University of Cape Coast, brought together medical officers, nurses, physicians assistants, midwives and other healthcare providers. "Gender Sensititive Ethical Practice in Health care Delivery" was the theme for the workshop. Speaking on the topic “Introduction to basic concepts in Gender, Sexuality and Reproductive Rights,” the Research Coordinator at CEGRAD, Dr. Angela Akorsu, noted that gendering involved inculcating gender ideologies and role expectations into individuals. According to her, gendering also implied the acquisition of a social and sexual identity and the learning of appropriate sets of behaviours and capacities associated with one’s sex. In almost all cultures, she noted that, females were exposed to patriarchy- a system of power relations in which women are subordinated to men. Dr. Akorsu explained that patriarchy thrived on seven pillars of social institutions that reinforce women’s subordination, namely: family, media, health, religion, political, educational and economic. She, however, noted that patriarchal control also involved socially powerful women wielding male power for the benefit of men. She said, for example, it was older women with power who indulged in the activities of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), widowhood rites, among other harmful cultural practices. The Research Coordinator admitted that “gender is a social creation” but expressed concern that it was constructed in a way that limits women’s life chances, creating needs and vulnerabilities in women with implications for education, health care, income and political participation. “It is not the fact that it is socially created that boarders us, but the way it is structured; the way it limits women’s life chances, that is what we are concerned about,” Dr. Akorsu added. Touching on Sexuality and Reproductive Health, the Director of CEGRAD, Prof. Akua Britwum, noted that sexuality and reproductive health was one of the most contested areas in health care delivery with deep implications for ethical practices. She explained that healthcare professionals faced ethical challenges when their patients, with sexual partner preferences such as homosexuals, bisexuals and heterosexuals, seek for medical treatment. Prof Britwum said two primary objectives relevant to sexual health were quality of sexual relations and individual access to reproductive rights and responsibilities. She noted that some health policies and health care practices had significant impact on sexuality and, therefore, advised healthcare practitioners not to remain quiet on issues of sexuality because “it is central to reproductive and sexual health”. For his part, the Head of Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Dr. Joseph Adu, who took participants through Gender issues in Ministry of Health Gender Policy, said the main objectives of the Gender Policy were to promote professional ethics and human rights amongst health workers in the delivery of health care and also to address gender gaps in health care delivery at the household level. To achieve the goals and objectives of the policy, Dr. Adu observed that the Ministry should design gender sensitive policies and programmes that would ensure equal opportunities, create an enabling work environment for both women and men, build the capacity of staff of the Ministry to ensure gender responsive budgeting. He said some of the challenges facing the policy document included resource mobilization and allocation, research, gender responsive budgeting and, monitoring and evaluation. A senior lecturer at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Dr. Evans Agbeno led participants during an interactive sessions on Gender and Healthcare Delivery, whilst Dr. Genevieve Adukpo and Ms. Amanda Odoi also handled Strategies for Gender Sensitive Programme Reform and Ethical Practices.

The Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Prof. George K.T. Oduro, has advised student leaders to refrain from taking to social media to vilify the University without any recourse to authorities. Prof. Oduro noted that the essence of social media was to ensure information sharing to enhance social relationships and not for purposes of vilifying and abusing individuals, groups or the University. Rather, Prof. Oduro called on students to safeguard the image of the University in all their endeavours, adding that " you can never write your CV without reference to University of Cape Coast". The Pro-Vice-Chancellor made these observations during Management and Student Leadership Retreat at Takoradi to take stock of past activities and map out strategies and take decisions to project the image of the University on a higher pedestal. Present at the retreat were some Provosts of the five Colleges, Director of Finance, representative of the Director of Internal Audit, Director of Academic Affairs, Director of Legal Consular and General Services and Hall Masters/Warden, Dean and Vice Dean of Student Affairs. The student leadership comprised the current and former Presidents of SRC, GRASAG and the various Junior Common Room. Prof. Oduro advised the students against the misuse of communication and its tools but rather admonished them to focus on these tools to properly to facilitate social development and also deepen the enviable image of the university worldwide. He also urged students to seek clarifications and make their concerns known to the appropriate quarters, stressing that it was only when management and governing council were not reacting to their concerns that they(students) could seek external support. The Pro-Vice-Chancellor also paid glowing tribute to the immediate past Vice-Chancellor, Prof. D. D. Kuupole, for instituting the annual retreat to help stakeholders of the University to brainstorm on important issues to advance the cause of the University. At end of the two-day retreat, management and student leaders came out with some resolutions for implementation in the next academic year. The Vice Dean of Students Affairs, Dr. Eugene Darteh, chairman of the Monitoring and Evaluation Committee and his team would follow up on the implementation of the resolutions at the retreat. In this regard, Provosts, Deans,Directors and Heads of the various offices in the University have been urged to cooperate with the committee during the exercise. Some of the issues discussed at the three-day retreat were sanitation, registration of students, ICT infrastructure, security, academic work,students welfare among others. The SRC President, Mr. Henry Tony Arthur on behalf of the student leadership thanked management for the opportunity to interact with them concerning the welfare of students. He appealed to management to implement the resolutions of the retreat so that students would continue to pursue their academic work in a more conducive environment.

An orientation programme has been held for three students from the Institute for Educational Planning and Administration (IEPA) who are visiting Auburn University, USA, on an exchange programme. The team is made up of Mrs. Efua Eleanor Onyame, Rev. Sr. Clarence Uzogara and Rev Emmanuel Adjetey Okorley, all first year MPhil students of IEPA. Opening the programme, the Director of IEPA, Dr. Mrs. Rosemary Bosu, stated that the objective of the trip was for the team to see how youth programme conferences for high school students are organized so that they can also replicate it in the Senior High Schools in Ghana when they return. They will be part of a service learning of the poor black communities and also interact with students of Auburn University. On behalf of management, the Pro- Vice Chancellor, Prof. George K. T. Oduro, congratulated the team and advised them to be good ambassadors of IEPA and the University of Cape Coast. He emphasized that the programme being the first of its kind, the future depended on the team for sustainability. He further noted that currently, no support exist for students on such exchange programmes and hinted that efforts are being made so that students can also get some kind of supports for such programmes. He ended by expressing his appreciation to the director of IEPA and Dr. Boakye-Yiadom for facilitating the programme and wished the students a fruitful trip. The team led by Dr. Boakye-Yiadom leaves for the US on 10th June, 2017 and returns on 20th June, 2017.