Project supports country’s poorest to embark on income-generating activities
Four thousand one hundred and ninety-four poorest people, including 3,361 women, in eight districts of the Upper East Region, have been provided with grants totalling ¢3,984,300.
Advertisement
They are to use the grants to either start new ventures or expand their businesses.
The grant was provided under a three-year pilot project dubbed "the Ghana Support Rural Income Generation of the Poorest". The project started in August 2014 and expected to end in August 2017.
It is being rolled out by the Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF) to support the beneficiaries, particularly women, to embark on income-generating activities to address their poverty issues and feed their families.
The beneficiaries, including 833 males, are in 61 communities in the eight districts.
The districts are Bawku West, Talensi, Kassena-Nankana West, Garu –Tempane, Bongo, Nabdam, the Builsa North and Builsa South.
Apart from providing the beneficiaries with start-up capital to establish or expand their businesses, the grant also included a capacity-building component under which the beneficiaries were trained to acquire business management, technical and vocational skills.
The JSDF was established by the government of Japan and the World Bank as a mechanism for providing direct assistance to the poorest and most vulnerable groups in World Bank member countries.
Disbursement of funds
At separate functions to disburse the funds to the beneficiaries through the E-zwich payment system, the Upper East Regional Coordinator of the Ghana Social Opportunities Project (GSOP), Mrs Adwoa Asotia-Boakye, explained that the project was a complementary income-generation scheme to beneficiary communities of the Labour Intensive Public Works (LIPW) and the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty Programme(LEAP).
Mrs Asotia-Boakye said the JSDF pilot project was targeted at the extremely poor people with the aim of improving their incomes through the provision of skill development, extension and micro-finance support to empower them to manage their small farm and non-farm activities more productively and sustainably.
She observed that a high success rate of the project would result in the possibility of scaling up the project, and, therefore, appealed to the beneficiaries to put the grants to good use.
Effective monitoring
The consultant from the World Bank on the JSDF Project, Dr Willy Kagurura,impressed upon beneficiary district assemblies to undertake effective monitoring and supervision to ensure that the project achieved its goals.
The National Capacity Building Specialist of GSOP, Mr Desmond Duametu, told the beneficiaries that they would have the opportunity to access the second tranche of the facility, if they used the funds for the intended purposes and achieved the desired results.
The district chief executives of Bongo, Garu-Tempane and Nabdam, Mr Alexis Ayamdor, Mr Albert Alalzuga Akoka and Mrs Vivian Anafo, respectively, challenged the beneficiaries to make an impact to help reduce poverty in the districts and also for other communities to benefit from the facility.
The JSDF Project Rural Enterprise Officer, Ms Viola Naawiete Dasoberi, indicated that the objectives of the JSDF Pilot project was to assist targeted poor persons, who were beneficiaries of LEAP and LIPW.
Ms Dasoberi said JSDF would conduct constant monitoring to ensure that beneficiaries used the grant judiciously to help alleviate poverty in the region.
Beneficiaries
Some of the beneficiaries expressed gratitude to the implementers of the project and indicated that they would engage in sustainable businesses such as guinea fowl rearing, small ruminant rearing, pito malt processing and brewing, soap making, shea butter processing, rope weaving, dawadawa and rice processing, among other activities.