The Resilience in Northern Ghana RING project, which run for five year, has come to a closure with a final learning and dissemination event in Tamale.
RING funded by the US government under its ‘feed the future initiative,’ was implemented in 17 MMDAs in the Northern Region including Tamale, Sanarigu, Nanumba North and South.
The event brought together representatives from the USAid Ghana country office Global Communities, top government functionaries as well as key personnel from all the 17 implementing MMDAs, traditional rulers and CSOs partners.
Speaking at the final learning and dissemination event, the Chief Director at the Northern Regional Coordinating Council, Alhaji Al-hassan Issahaku who was full of praise for the RING project particularly the enormous transformation it has brought to the communities in the 17 MMDAs had this to say.
The Minister of local government and Rural Development, Hajia Alima Mahama in a speech read on her behalf by the Head of the Local Government Service, Dr. Nana Ato Arthur stressed on the importance of sustainability component of the project.
The minister thereby urged particularly the MMDA leadership to implement the suitability plans developed and incorporated into their Medium Term Development plans to ensure that they were budgeted for.
Under the RING project which spanned 2014 to 2019, USD 60 million, was sunk into health, education, nutrition and economic activities in the various localities. Notably are RING’s supports toward improving capacities at the grassroots and also at the assembly levels for improved governance. RING also promoted production and consumption of orange fleshed potatoes, rich in vitamin A, households ownership of latrines to end open defecation in the region, and formation of Village Saving and Loans Association 9VSLAs that caught on well among rural women who have become economically independent and industrious.
In his remark, USAID-Ghana’s Acting Mission Director; Stephen Hendrix highlighted the importance of multi-sectoral, decentralized, behavior-driven development saying; “empowering citizen must be at the core of any nation’s development.”
On the sidelines, the 17 MMDAs that implemented the RING project shared their successes, challenges and made recommendations for future initiatives.
Source:Diamondfmonline.com/Nelson
