Nadowli, (UWR)-Ghana Dec. 02, GNA – The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is providing a US$9-million grant to the government of Ghana to facilitate the implementation of the Second Phase of the Resilience in Northern Ghana (RING ll) Project in four regions in the northern part of the country.
The five-year project seeks to sustain delivery of services that would lead to improve nutrition, food security, climate mitigation interventions and the wellbeing of targeted communities.
It would also improve quality service provision in the areas of health, water, sanitation and hygiene, nutrition, education and agriculture in the beneficiary Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs).
The project would benefit five District assemblies in the Upper West Region, four in the Upper East Region, two in the North East Region and Six in the Northern Region.
In the case of Upper West Region, the Daffiama-Bussie-Issah, Nadowli-Kaleo, Wa East, Wa –West Districts and the Sissala East Municipality are the beneficiaries of the project.
Mr Collins Augustine Ntim, a Deputy Minister of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, made these known when he launched the project in Nadowli in the Nadowli-Kaleo District of the Upper West Region on Wednesday.
He announced that the government had so far received an amount of three million, three hundred and fifty-one thousand, eight hundred and twenty Ghana cedis (GH¢3,351,820) from USAID for the implementation of September, October and November RING ll activities for this year.
Mr Ntim urged the beneficiary MMDAs to consider the implementation of the project, a topmost priority and ensure the effective and efficient use of resources, especially funds allocated to impact positively on the incomes, and the socio-economic livelihoods of the vulnerable and poor households.
He said the government was committed to the successful implementation of the project and expressed gratitude to the government and people of the USA for the continual support for social protection interventions in delivering services that would benefit the people of the country.
“Your interventions to the vulnerable and the poor in our rural communities are making significant impacts in their lives,” he said.
The Daffiama Naa, Naa Donmonplae, the President of the Upper West Region House of Chiefs, who chaired the occasion, expressed gratitude to the government and people of the USA for the project, noting “malnutrition has been a burden on our people, and therefore, any intervention to help ameliorate the challenge is gladdening our hearts.”
He noted that malnutrition among children had a cultural connotations and dimensions, as well as poor agricultural practices leading to poor crop yields and food insecurity.
“Our challenge now is about the provision of early-maturing and high yielding variety of seeds at the appropriate times to farmers, and the change of attitude and behaviour to accepting the adoptation of modern agricultural practices to boost food security”.
Naa Donmonplae challenged the implementers of the project to address all practices and issues, which were impacting negatively on the overall wellbeing and development of the people, especially women and children in the hinterlands to enhance their livelihoods.
