SIX DISTRICTS IN UPPER EAST TO BENEFIT FROM JAPANESE GRANT

PRESS RELEASE SIX DISTRICTS IN UPPER EAST TO BENEFIT FROM JAPANESE GRANT Six of the nine districts in the Upper East Region will from September this year start benefiting from a three million US dollars grant from the Japanese Social Development Fund (JSDF). The grant which will be piloted over a three year period as an income generation intervention will complement the World Bank’s funded Ghana Social Opportunities Project (GSOP). The Bongo District, Talensi-Nabdam, Builsa, Bawku West, Kassena-Nankana West and Garu-Tempane districts have been selected to benefit from the JSDF whose funds will go directly to support the poorest of the poor in the respective districts. The Deputy Upper East Regional Minister, Mrs. Lucy Awuni who chaired a meeting attended by the project consultants from the World Bank, the National Board for Small Scale Industries [NBSSI], the District Chief Executives [DCEs] from beneficiary districts and other stakeholders, tasked the DCEs to put in place desk officers at their various assemblies to manage the intervention effectively while proper awareness creation about the ideals of the Japanese intervention should be done in order for people to appreciate and accept the project. She entreated the DCEs to hold stakeholders meetings in readiness for the project which should lead to proper beneficiary identification. She said only viable groups should be taken on board the intervention while care should be taken to avoid duplication where individuals and groups will scheme to benefit from more than one of similar interventions operating in the districts. She appealed to the financiers to extend the project to cover all districts in the region. In a presentation by Dr. Naotaka Sawada, a Senior Rural Private Sector Development Specialist at the World Bank, the Japanese government will be funding the project through the World Bank with the NBSSI as a major local partner. He said the district assemblies are expected to add a revolving fund of 20 per cent to the Japanese Social Development Fund component which makes up the remaining 80 per cent. Dr. Sawada mentioned basket weavers, Shea butter producers and other local associations as well as very poor individuals as the targets of the project. According to him, a minimum of 3,500 beneficiaries and 90 associations are estimated to benefit from the JSDF over the year pilot period. He disclosed that the operational manual for the project will be derived from stakeholder meetings such as the Bolgatanga one and called for closer collaboration between the Regional Co-ordinating Council and the District Assemblies. A Rural Development Specialist also at the World Bank, Mr. Samuel Forson said having finalised discussions, an MoU will be signed with the beneficiary districts on behalf of the Local Government Ministry and the project management to serve as a binding document. Mr. Forson hinted that in the course of implementing the intervention, relevant consultants, the NBSSI and the Department of Cooperatives will offer technical assistance and training. District Chief Executive for the Builsa District, Mr. Nobert Awulley welcomed the JSDF intervention saying the District Assemblies exist primarily to better the lives of people in their areas of jurisdiction and pledged that he and his colleagues will fall on contingency allocation in their budgets to support the project. PETER ATOGEWE WEDAM [AG. PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER] Upper East Regional Coordinating Council