A public health and environmental initiative, Meatless Monday (MM) Ghana, has organised an advocacy and review workshop to guide its programmes for the next three years.
The MM project aims to encourage individuals to skip meat one day a week to fight Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) and reduce environmental impact.
The workshop brought together about 50 stakeholders from the Ghana Health Services, other state agencies, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), student leaders, the media, among others, to review the MM advocacy and communication strategy 2023 to 2025 to reflect the consolidation, integration and sustainability of the project’s objectives.
The Executive Director of Communications Initiative for Change (CiC), Ghana, implementors of MMGhana, Emmanuel Fiagbey, in a presentation said MM was a global movement that enabled people to make positive changes in their diet and their lives by simply choosing not to eat meat one day in a week.
He said the initiative was a public health advocacy effort to reduce the incidence of certain preventable diseases by dedicating every Monday to healthy eating.
He said the project had secured additional funding for the next three years and therefore needed to meet with stakeholders to determine the best way to proceed for the 2026 to 2028 phase.
Mr Fiagbey said from 2021 to 2023, the project, in partnership with the Johns Hopkins Centre for a Livable Future (CLF), was piloted in Accra and was expanded in 2023 to 2025 to cover Kumasi and Takoradi.
He said both phases were guided by an advocacy and communication strategy developed with partners and stakeholders in 2021 and revised in 2023.
The goal of the project, he said, was to expand and deepen the Meatless Monday brand so it becomes a familiar, practical and trusted part of everyday life.
Overview
A Senior Programme Officer, CiC, Saul Williams, in a presentation on the project overview, said it had so far reached the public and private sectors, as well as faith-based and community organisations.
The project, he said, had also reached professional associations such as chefs, hoteliers, dieticians, nutritionists and health reporters in media houses.
A Programme Officer, CiC, Andy Okpattah, on the projects’ coverage in the three universities so far involved, said it had engaged the dean and directors of student affairs, student leadership in all three universities, launched MM on the campuses, integrated MM into student leadership seminars, held radio talk shows on healthy eating on university FM stations and distributed social and behaviour change communication materials and reminder cards among students.
The project, he said, has also held a plant-based food fair at the TTU.
On its social media campaigns, he said the project has reached 1,661,864 people made up of approximately 1,329,491 young people aged 18 to 35 made up of 900,428 males and 433,897 females.
During a youth day programme on healthy eating, organised on Facebook, TikTok and Instagram, the project reported 19,983 views on Facebook, 6,017 on TikTok and 8,708 on Instagram.
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