UEW-FSSE Holds 6th Biennial Social Science Conference
The Faculty of Social Science Education (FSSE), University of Education, Winneba (UEW) has held its 6th Biennial Social Science Conference under the theme, “Bringing the Gown to Town: Reflections on Africa’s Development in the Face of Pandemics”.
The two-day event took place at the Jophus Anamuah-Mensah Conference Centre, North Campus, Winneba on Wednesday, 20th and Thursday, 21st July, 2022.
The Pro-Vice-Chancellor of UEW, Prof. Andy Ofori-Birikorang, on behalf of the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Mawutor Avoke, applauded the faculty for being it steadfastness and consistency in the organisation of the conference despite the numerous effects of COVID-19.
He entreated faculty to devise strategies to make such conferences mandatory for all graduate students in the faculty. "So let's develop a means to especially invite and compel our graduate students to attend such programmes, colleagues. They are, in fact, the reason the programmes are organised. We need to make sure that graduate students attend because the majority of us are well established in our fields of research and are here to train them."
The Dean of FSSE, Prof. Lucy Effeh Attom, in her welcome address, stated that the continent still faces challenges ranging from socio-economic, health, politics, environment, and food insecurity regardless of Africa’s rapid growth and development. In the face of all these impediments, comes an unexpected phenomenon, the COVID-19 pandemic, which affected every facet of the continent’s developmental agenda.
She indicated that the theme summed up the contributions of African scholars towards societies in proposing coping strategies amidst the outbreak of the pandemic and post-pandemic.
The keynote speaker and Director of Research, Statistics and Information Management, Ministry of Health (MOH), Ghana, Dr. Wisdom K. Atiwoto, mentioned that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the world continues to face unprecedented challenges, hence the need for pragmatic and innovative approaches to help contain the spread of the virus. Public health surveillance needs to be strengthened through research, capacity building, and action.
He continued that an integrated model for sustainable development, the delivery of training courses, social research, and strengthening institutional mechanisms would be essential for sustainable recovery and restoration of normalcy in people’s lives, as well as formulating innovative strategies and protocols to respond to similar outbreaks in the future.
Speaking on behalf of the Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), guest speaker for the event, the Deputy Commission Secretary (NCCE), Mrs. Lucille Hewlett Annan, commended the University for maintaining a strong relationship with her outfit on the common goal of instilling democratic principles in citizens and promoting the good name of Ghana.
She also praised the university for educating students and the entire university community during and after the pandemic to help reduce the fast-spreading misinformation on social media.
The conference also saw 12 presentations by scholars from UEW and other universities on topics relating to environmental change and sustainable development, education, social policy and human security, gender, sex, family life and reproductive health, social policy, labour and employment, environment and resource development, history and politics, and multidisciplinary issues.
