Ghana gets GH¢200m DFID grant
The UK Department for International Development (DFID), has provided a 200 million Ghana cedis grant to the Government of Ghana, to support health and education projects, financial management and public sector reforms.
The DFID has also provided 2.5 million Ghana cedis for the implementation of the Livelihood Empowerment Action Programme (LEAP) in the Northern Region.
Mr. Mark Lowcock, Director-General, Country Programmes of the DFID, said these when he led a delegation of the organisation to pay a courtesy call on Mr. Moses Bukari Mabengba, Deputy Northern Regional Minister, in Tamale on Wednesday.
Other memebers of the delegation included, Mr. Graham Gas, Social Development Adviser, Human Development and Accountability Team, and Eric Hawthorn, Country Director of DFID.
The delegation is on a two-day visit to the Northern Region to inspect its funded projects and also interact with beneficiaries of the interventions to find out the impact the projects have had on their lives.
Mr. Lowcock said the DFID was additionally providing 2.5 million Ghana cedis annually over a period of three years to the School for Life, a non-governmental organisation dedicated to supporting the children in the rural areas who had missed out of formal education.
Mr. Lowcock, Director-General of DFID, commended government for initiating programmes to reduce maternal mortality and improve education, including the distribution of free school uniforms to school children.
He also praised Ghanaians for consolidating democracy, saying the peaceful nature of 2008 Election had strengthened the process, which was a show case for African countries.
Mr. Eric Hawthorn, Country Director of DFID, said the organisation was prepared to support the Savanna Accelerated Development Authourity (SADA).
He suggested that SADA should serve as a coordinating agency and collaborate with district assemblies and other development bodies to execute projects instead of (SADA) acting as an implementing agency.
Mr. Graham Gas, Social Development Adviser of DFID, said the organisation would engage in the construction of roads and small-scale irrigation dams to create jobs for the youth in the Northern Region.
Mr. Mabengba thanked DFID for its support for the government of Ghana social intervention programmes that had helped to reduce poverty in the three Northern regions.
He however appealed to DFID to increase the amount it disbursed to people under LEAP programme to enable the beneficiaries to invest in more useful ventures.
Source: GNA