Canadian Christian Children’s Fund spends over CAD15.5m to transform lives in Northern Ghana

The Christian Children’s Fund of Canada (CCFC) from 2003 to 2011 spent over 15.5 million Canadian dollars to transform the lives of several thousands of people and children in 13 districts and communities in the Northern region.

CCFC has done this through its interventions in the areas of education, health and nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene, micro-enterprise development and institutional capacity building.

Madam Sanatu Nantogma, Country Director of the CCFC disclosed this at a meeting with the press in Tamale on Wednesday to highlight some of the achievements of the organization and to solicit the advice and assistance of the media on how best to carry out their future programmes effectively.

She said since its inception in the country, CCFC had been operating in 13 districts in the Northern Region, namely; theTamale Metropolis, Savelugu/Nanton, Tolon/Kumbungu, Gushiegu, Yendi, Nanumba North and South, Saboba and East Gonja districts, while some activities had also taken place in the Karaga, Eat and West Mamprusi and Bunkprugu-Yunyoo districts.

She said in the area of education the CCFC had constructed more than 35 classroom blocks with offices and stores and also provided 35 schools with dual desks and organized literacy classes in 65 communities.

Over 7,879 children had also been sponsored by the organization for their education at various levels.

The organization, she said ,had also constructed 10 Early Childhood Development Centers (ECDC) to support nursery education adding that over 20,000 children had benefitted from its educational support.

Madam Nantogma said in the areas of health and nutrition the CCFC had distributed drugs through the Ghana Health service for malaria and worms to school children every year for some five years now, adding that in the exercise over 200,000 children had been dewormed.

CCFC had also supported in the construction of clinics for communities who had to walk long distances to health centers and this had greatly helped to reduce infant mortality rates in the rural areas.

The organization had also constructed two CHIPS centers in Zogu and Kasuliyili and encouraged school attendance in its operational areas through the provision of a meal a day for over 1420 children.

In the area of water, sanitation and hygiene, CCFC provided over 30 hand-dug wells and more than 100 rain harvesting tanks for schools and provided 1850 homes with pipe borne water.

Madam Nantogma said in the area of micro-enterprise development, CCFC provided credit and small business management skills to about 3000 beneficiaries, 80 per cent of whom were women to enable them to work and earn some income to support their families.

Mr William Anim-Dankwa, Communications Director of CCFC said the organization worked through its partners such as Markaz Al-Bishara, Tuma Kavi Development Association, Presbyterian Farmers Training, Baptist Childhood Development Program and assemblies of God Relief and Development Services to achieve its objectives.

He said the CCFC under its malaria control programme provided Insecticide Treated Mosquito Nets (ITNs) for pregnant and nursing mothers and also carried out community spraying to control the breeding of mosquitoes and the construction of soak aways.

Source: GNA