Poverty reduction strategies must empower girls – Ofosu-Ampofo

 

Poverty reduction strategies must empower girls –
Ofosu-Ampofo

Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, Eastern Regional Minister, on
Thursday said all strategies involved in poverty reduction must aim at
empowering girls and women for a sustainable livelihood.
   

He said there were many girls and women who had no skills let
alone means of livelihood and all those factors contributed to the high poverty
levels in the country.
   

He therefore called for a concerted effort in addressing that
issue which was paramount if poverty reduction was to be achieved.
   

According to the Regional Minister, the continuous neglect of
girls and women through systematic training programmes posed a big threat to
all strategies adopted for national poverty reduction programmes.
   

Mr Ofosu-Ampofo was speaking at a meeting with the Minister
for Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Joseph Yieleh Chireh, New Juaben
Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Alex Asamoah and executive members of the Social
Investment Fund (SIF), prior to inspection and inauguration of SIF projects in
Koforidua.
   

He therefore urged the SIF urban poverty reduction programme
to channel its resources into the empowerment of disadvantaged girls who for
some reasons could not make it through formal education since focus on formal education
alone could not achieve any significant reduction in poverty.
   

Mr Ofosu-Ampofo urged the SIF to re-direct its attention to
the institutionalization of sponsorship packages to disadvantaged girls through
vocational training since the developmental projects alone without a significant
empowerment of girls would not impact on poverty reduction.
   

Dr Jones Quartey Papafio, Board Chairman of SIF, corroborated
the views of the minister saying that the rate at which many young girls were
selling phone cards on the streets was alarming and raised the point for
support.
   

He said the SIF would therefore put in a comprehensive
programme to ensure that the laudable idea of the minister was adopted so that
women empowerment would be a part of the urban poverty reduction strategy of
the SIF.
   

Mr Justice Akuffo Henaku, Zonal Coordinator for Eastern and
Volta Regions, said apart from the construction of projects selected by the people
themselves, there were micro-finance loans being disbursed to women to enhance
their businesses.
   

He said SIF had realized that accessing of the loans from the
banks were cumbersome to small business enterprises such as food sellers and therefore
looked as if there was no support for them.
   

Mr Henaku indicated that SIF was taking steps to ensure that
all traders no matter how small their businesses had access to the loan facility.

 

Source: GNA

 

Navrongo Traditional Area launches Fao Festival

The chiefs and people of the Navrongo Traditional Area in the
Kassena-Nankana East District have launched their annual Fao Festival aimed at
bringing together the people to initiate development projects and activities
for the ensuing years.
   

Arthur Wekem Balinia Addah, Acting on behalf of the Paramount
Chief of the Navrongo Traditional Area, Pe Dr Augustine Atudiku Asagipaare I,
noted that peace was one of the things that could lead the area to better development.
   

He said if the people saw themselves as one and did away with
negative vices such as selfishness and divisions among themselves, Navrongo would
see more developments either in the human resource base or physical infrastructure
development.
   

Mr Addah said the youth was a good tool that could be used in
achieving this goal and that it would be pragmatic if they could see themselves
as leaders and live exemplary lives.
   

He appealed to parents to avoid excessive alcohol and called
on them to see education as important tool that could bring change and educate
their children especially the girl-child to ensure that the area achieved the needed
development.
   

Mr David Na-Ire, Deputy Coordinating Director, who read a
speech on behalf of the District Chief Executive, noted that the celebration of
the festival was one of the ways to showcase and explore the rich cultural heritage
of the people for the up-coming generation to embrace.
   

Mr Na-Ire called on the people to unite and unearth the
hidden cultural
practices and imbibe them in the lives of the current generation especially the
youth who were losing grip on their culture identity.
   

He reminded the people of government’s interventions and
mentioned the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) the block
farming programme, the plantation programme and youth in agriculture, among
others, meant to improve the three northern regions to close the gap between
the northern Ghana and Southern Ghana.
   

Mr Na-Ire expressed regret about the poor performance of
school children in the area and called on parents, teachers and other
stakeholders to work out modalities to improve on the performance of the
children in school.
   

He called on the people to build a formidable human resource
base for enhanced socio-economic development for a better and brighter future.
   

The Coordinator gave the assurance that government would
expand its intervention programmes such as the school feeding programme, the
capitation grant, the provision of free school uniform, text and exercise books
as well as the construction of classroom blocks to make teaching and learning
more conducive and attractive.

 

Source: GNA

MOE sector volunteers receive training in agro-forestry

   

The Ministry of Education (MOE) sector Peace Corps Volunteers
and a number of teachers have received training in nursery practices, gardening,
tree planting skills and agro-forestry technologies at Kukurantumi in the
Eastern Region.
   

The one week training programme was to sensitize the
volunteers to transfer the technology to the schools to enable them to set up
gardens and plant trees in rural communities in the country.
   

Mr Lovans Owusu Takyi, Coordinator of Trees for the Future,
Ghana, who conducted the training, urged the volunteers to impart the knowledge
they had acquired to the children and their teachers on the importance of tree planting
and school gardening.
   

He said school gardens provided effective practical oriented
skill training for agricultural education and could also contribute to the government’s
school feeding programme and reduce malnutrition in school children.
   

Mr Owusu Takyi also called on the volunteers to set up Tree
Planting Environmental Clubs in first and second cycle schools to enhance their
knowledge in nursery establishment and transplanting skills.
   

He said environmentally friendly school gardening practices
also provided the school children to take action both in schools and their communities
to plant trees to complement the efforts of reducing the impact of climate
change.
   

Mrs Mary Norah, Associate Programme Coordinating Director of
the MOE Peace Corps Volunteers, expressed appreciation to “Trees for the
Future” for the initiative and support.
   

She said she would work together with the education
volunteers to ensure that they organised the students to plant trees in their
schools and communities.
   

Mrs Norah said it was the core responsibility of the
volunteers and their teacher counterparts to ensure that they planted trees to
contribute to climate change mitigation and environmental conservation in the
rural schools in the country.
   

Mr Owusu Takyi later donated nursery tools and seeds
including moringa, leuceana and albizia to the volunteers to set up nurseries
to enhance gardening and tree planting activities.
   

He also presented training manuals for the schools to enable
the volunteers to educate the children on environmental and sustainable agricultural
practices.

 

Source: GNA

National Ageing Policy and Action Plan to be implemented by
Government

   

Cabinet has approved the National Ageing Policy and Action
Plan to be captured in the 2011 fiscal year.
   

Mr Enoch Teye Mensah, Minister of Employment and Social
Welfare made this known on Thursday when he addressed the National Executive
Council Meeting of the National Pensioners Association (SSNIT) in Accra.
   

He said the policy would serve as a co-ordinating machine to
address issues facing the aged, including pensioners.
   

Mr Mensah said the policy would address fundamental issues
such as ageing and development challenges, ageing and fundamental human rights,
ageing and poverty, ageing and the living environment, ageing and gender as well
as old age and health challenges.
   

He said the family, society at large and government owe it an
obligation to deal with the increasing social, economic and health challenges
faced by people entering into the retirement age and after.
   

Mr Mensah noted that it was important for government to try
and smoothen the income of pensioners so as to enable them maintain decent living
standard during the years after retirement.
   

He said the aged were also faced with chronic diseases and
disability, adding that it was important for health providers to receive
training in gerontology and geriatrics to be able to take care or them.
   

He said government was ready to ensure adequate health care
for the elderly.
   

“Government believes that the elderly are capable of
continuous productive life and it is the responsibility of society not to put
to waste the vast pool of resources.”
   

Mr Solomon Tawiah-Yemoson, President of National Pensioners Association,
SSNIT said pensioners represented a large pool of experience, knowledge, and
tested skills and it was important as individuals and the society at large to
harness these potentials.
   

He said most pensioners had suffered deprivation and neglect
and it was important to put in appropriate mechanisms, measures and policies to
address the issues.
   

Mr Tawiah-Yemoson appealed to government to increase
allowances of pensioners in order to enable them meet their pressing needs.

 

Source: GNA

 

Government
to launch second phase of School Feeding Programme

Government
is to launch the second phase of the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) to
provide meals to pupils in more than 2,000 rural basic schools across the
country.
   

The second
phase to be launched early next year is currently being re-designed to ensure
that it does not suffer the problems that bedeviled the first phase of the
programme.
   

There is
also an on-going evaluation of the first phase to allow for additional inputs
to guide the designing of the second phase.
   

Mr Young
Opare, Programme Officer in-charge of Operations at GSFP Secretariat made this
known at Dodowa in the Greater Accra where he explained the scope of the
programme to stakeholders at a sensitization forum at Dodowa in the Dangme West
on Thursday.

 
 

The
Ecumenical Association for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development
(ECASARD) organised the forum with sponsorship from the Netherlands Development
Organisation.
   

It was
aimed at building the capacity of key actors involved in the GSFP, which
include caterers, farmers, processors, financial institutions, agricultural
input dealers to ensure that at least 80 per cent of foodstuffs for the GSFP
were purchased from small scale farmers in the communities where the schools
were located.
   

Mr Opare
said government was currently negotiating with the Government of the
Netherlands, the major sponsor of GSFP, to extend its support for the second
phase of the programme.
   

He said
the Secretariat had tasked some civil society organisations to visit
beneficiary schools to sensitise the actors and stakeholders of the local
implementation committees of the GSFP, which include caterers, farmers,
schools, and communities on their complimentary roles to ensure the success of
the programme.
   

Mr Opare
said the Secretariat would strengthen its supervisory efforts to ensure that
any shortcomings associated with the programme were quickly addressed.
   

He called
on actors and stakeholders to perform their duties in accordance with the rules
of the GSFP to ensure realisation of its targets, which included improving food
security, increase school enrolment, attendance and retention as well as boost
domestic food production and efficiency.
   

Dr
King-David Amoah, National Co-ordinator of ECASARD said the GSFP was a good
policy and called on all to play their parts to ensure its sustenance.
   

Dr Amoah,
whose speech was read on her behalf, observed that the target to promote
small-scale domestic agriculture production to ensure sustenance of the GSFP
was being over-looked and called for measures to reverse the
trend.
   

Meanwhile,
ECASARD has developed a model to link farmer based organisations with
agriculture input dealers, financial institutions and caterers to enable them
benefit from schemes to boost their production as well as have access to ready
markets.

 

Source: GNA