Hunger Project delegation confers with Veep

General News of Wednesday, 4 March 2015

Source: Graphic Online

Amissah Arthur Vice Stern

Vice-President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur has called for the re-targeting of the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) for rural development rather than the current situation where the application of the fund is broad-based.

In the Vice-President’s view, the use of the fund was so varied that it was not really benefiting the people it was intended for.

Mr Amissah-Arthur made the call when he received a delegation from The Hunger Project (THP), a global non-governmental organisation operating in 22 countries, at the Flagstaff House yesterday.

The visit was used by the delegation to brief the Vice-President on the activities of the project in the country, including the social intervention programmes it had instituted in its operating communities, to alleviate the plight of the people.

Mr Amissah-Arthur stated that the retargeting of the DACF would go a long way to break the dependency syndrome of deprived communities heavily depending on the government for development.

He lauded the THP for helping to drive the economic empowerment of people living in deprived communities, especially in Ghana, as it responded to the needs of the people.

Sanitation

On sanitation, Mr Amissah-Arthur said the country had made progress on the attainment of the various Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) except the seventh goal, which had to do with ensuring environmental cleanliness and sustainability.

He said it was for that reason that the government had declared the first Saturday of every month a national sanitation day when the citizenry were enjoined to undertake clean-up exercises in their communities.

He expressed the government’s resolve to support and partner with the THP to make life better for the people. THP Head

The Chief Executive Officer and Global President of THP, Mrs Asa Skogstrom Feldt, who led the delegation, said the project established its presence in Ghana in 1996, working in rural communities with the purpose of providing economic relief to the people.

She expressed the project’s readiness to partner and share its working experience in the country with the aim of changing the mind-set of the people through self-reliance to attain sustainable development.

The Ghana Country Director of The Hunger Project, Mr Samuel Afranie, said the project was currently working in 32 districts in five regions — Eastern, Central, Greater Accra, Volta and the Ashanti.

He also said the project had contributed to the construction of many Community Based Health Planning and Services CHPS compounds in the Eastern Region.