NGO urges government to ensure effective collaboration with development partners

Mr Raphael Godlove Ahenu, Chief Executive Officer of Global Media Foundation (GLOMEF), a Non-Governmental Organsiation (NGO), at the weekend called on the government to promote effective collaboration with development partners for poverty reduction.

In a New Year message, copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Sunyani, Mr Ahenu, a human rights and anti-corruption crusader, said the government and its partners ought to  give priority in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs Four and Five)  which aim at reducing maternal and child mortality in the country.

He noted that the high rate of poverty, especially among rural women, could be attributed to some international policies attached which conditions being implemented in rural communities in the country.

Such of these conditions, Mr Ahenu noted, emanated from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), saying the government ought to go into and pursue policies that seek the supreme interest of citizens in the short term.

According to the Chief Executive Officer, the contributions of women in rural areas had not been recognized and appreciated and that was why the NGO which works to promote the welfare of women, intends to implement the “the rural women anti-poverty project” this year.

The project which would be implemented in East Gonja in the Northern Region,  and Offinso North in the Ashanti Region, as well as parts of Volta and Western Regions, aims at empowering rural women economically.

Mr Ahenu explained that the project has a component of training about 1,000 women in each of the implementing regions in employable skills, such as soap making and local pomade and pomade production, bead making, batik, tie and dye and business management.

He said 2014 had opportunities for all Ghanaians, and asked the unemployed youth to go into skill training.

Source: GNA