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By Albert Futukpor<\/p>\n
Tamale, Nov 8, GNA \u2013 Some families in the Tamale Metropolis have lauded the ANZANSI Study project for helping them to develop a savings culture to raise the needed resources for the sustenance of their families.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 They also expressed joy that the project had helped them to improve their relationships with their children as they regularly shared their concerns with them to find reasonable solutions together.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 They shared their experiences at a stakeholders\u2019 meeting on the ANZANSI Study project in Tamale to discuss the contributions of the project to supporting girl-child education.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The meeting was attended by families that participated in the study, school teachers, facilitators of the study, representatives of the Ghana Education Service, Ghana Health Service, Ministry of Gender, Officers from Agricultural Development Bank, media practitioners, Northern Regional Queen Mothers Association President (Yelzoli Gaa Naa), the in-Country Multiple Principal Investigator of the study, staff of BasicNeeds-Ghana and BIBIR Ghana amongst others.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Dr Alice Boateng from the Department of Social Work, University of Ghana, who is also the in-Country Multiple Principal Investigator of the ANZANSI Study project, made a presentation on families\u2019 experiences with the ANZANSI Study and shared the findings of the study with participants.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 She indicated that results showed that both caregivers and adolescent girls found that the intervention filled a significant gap for families and said it was, particularly promising as a preventive effort to curtail adolescent girls\u2019 unaccompanied migration for child labour.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Madam Medere Abukari, a mother of five children from Wurishe, a suburb of Tamale, said, \u201cAs a family, we were not saving anything from our trading activities, and it was affecting us. At times, we were not able to meet our basic expenses.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 She added \u201cHowever, as a result of the ANZANSI Study project, we now make savings from our meagre incomes. This is helping us to pay our children\u2019s school fees on time and meet other household expenses.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Madam Fati Issifu, a mother of two children, who resides at Changli, a suburb of Tamale, said, \u201cI thought saving money at the bank was the preserve of big business people. However, the ANZANSI Study project taught me that was not the case. Now, every month, I save a small amount of money from selling groundnuts. This is helping me a lot.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The ANZANSI Study project was a two-year initiative, which sought to examine whether an innovative combination intervention could curtail the unaccompanied rural-to-urban migratory patterns and involvement in child labour among poverty-impacted Ghanaian female youth in the Northern Region.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0 A key component of the project was family-level economic empowerment intervention aimed at creating and strengthening financial stability using matched children\u2019s savings accounts and microfinance in poor households.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Another component was multiple family group intervention focused on addressing family functioning and parental beliefs around girls\u2019 education, gender norms, and child labour.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Through the project, which was implemented in the Tamale Metropolis and Sagnarigu Municipality, some families were supported to open savings accounts where they regularly saved funds to support their girls to go to school.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The project was implemented by BasicNeeds-Ghana in collaboration with Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA, School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Department of Social Work, University of Ghana, and BIBIR-Ghana, with funding from the National Institutes of Health of the United States of America.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Madam Niamatu Iddrisu, Girls Child Education Coordinator at the Tamale Metropolis, expressed gratitude to partners for implementing the project, which would ensure sustainable improvement in the livelihoods of the beneficiaries.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 She urged the beneficiaries to sustain the savings culture to continue to support their children and families.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mr Kingsley Kumbelim, a Project Officer at BasicNeeds-Ghana, and Ghana Coordinator of the ANZANSI Study project, said the project had addressed the issue of migration particularly amongst the females from the north to the south in search of greener pastures.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He said the project had also contributed to improvements in girl-child education and strengthening of families\u2019 relationships, adding \u201cGirls now are focused on their education. The families are also supporting the girls compared to previous times.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mr Joseph Charles Osei, Director of BIBIR Ghana advised the beneficiaries to continue to implement and sustain the lessons learnt during the project for their benefit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
GNA\u00a0<\/p>\n