Women in northern Ghana save over GH¢42.6m
In the last five years more than 96,000 women in northern Ghana have made savings of $7.8 million, about GH¢42,659,747 and invested the funds to improve health, education, nutrition and economic opportunities of their families, according to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), a US government agency that works in developing countries.
In a press release copied to ghanabusinessnews.com, the USAID said last year, Nanumba North district received GH¢1.2 million ($220,000) to implement district priorities, when it received 98 per cent in the District Performance Assessment conducted by the Ministry of Local Government, the second highest score nationally.
It indicates that the accomplishments by the district are a result of the hard work of the District Assemblies and community members, with support from the USAID/ Resiliency in Northern Ghana (RING) project.
“On August 29, 2019, the Northern Regional Coordinating Council and 17 northern Ghana District Assemblies came together to celebrate their achievements. They undertook a bold endeavor to dramatically improve the lives of thousands of families through job creation and improved nutrition,” the release said.
It added that the United States government, through the USAID/RING project, partnered with District Assemblies to implement nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene, agriculture and job creation activities.
“Since the start of the USAID/RING project, communities have experienced a 60 per cent reduction in open defecation. District Nutrition Officers reported that the percentage of children underweight decreased from 13 per cent in 2015 to 4 per cent in 2017 in USAID/ RING-supported districts,” it added.
It notes further that aligned with Ghana’s 2016 Local Governance Act, USAID supported districts to produce annual plans and budgets and build public financial management and monitoring and evaluation systems.
The Northern Regional Coordinating Council, it said, set up a system to collect and visualize data across sectors. As the districts populate this database, information will be available at the fingertips of policymakers, program managers and district planning officers to drive decisions, it stated.
“We strive to empower citizens as transformed actors who are the cornerstone of the development of this nation. Our support is an example of successful direct engagement with local government. We walked side by side with districts as their staff took full ownership and we commend the districts for their leadership,” Steven E. Hendrix, USAID/Ghana’s Acting Mission Director was cited as saying.
By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi