Day: April 29, 2023

Mr Matthias Aneinini, the Grants Advisor, Ghana Somubi Dwumadie, has urged non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to strengthen their collaborations with institutions to ensure continued support and sustainability of projects for greater benefit to society. 'This is important because people's positions change over time, but institutions last longer and for that matter, building the right relationship with institutions would ensure that projects are sustained, irrespective of those in authority,' he said. The UK Aid funded Ghana Somubi Dwumadie, a four-year disability programme with a specific focus on mental health, seeks to support efforts to remove barriers that prevented people with disabilities, including mental health conditions, from reaching their full potential. Mr Aneinini gave the advice at a close-out meeting, organised by Hope For Future Generations (HFFG), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), to mark the end of the Social Behaviour Change and Stigma Reduction for Mental Health and Disability Inclusion Project. The project provided psychological support to health workers and PWDs to enhance the relationship between the two for better health outcomes and help reduce stigmatisation against the target group. Mr Aneinini expressed appreciation to the project champions for their support and efforts towards a successful meeting and commended the leadership of HFFG and Pskyforum, an NGO, for taking up the mantle and executing the grant deliverables with integrity. He urged them to sustain the gains made by always treating disability and gender issues as cross-cutting to make the needed impact. Mrs Cecilia Senoo, the Executive Director of HFFG, said the programme was run by an Options led consortium, which also consisted of Basic Need-Ghana, Kings College London, Sight Savers International, and Tropical Health. However, HFFG and PsykForum as a consortium, were awarded the grant from Ghana Somubi Dwumadie to promote mental and disability inclusion in Ghana, she stated. The grant, which commenced on April 26, 2021, ended on April 28, 2023. It was to reduce negative and discriminatory attitudes, behaviours, and norms faced by people with disability in Ghana, including people with mental health conditions. The project was implemented in 18 districts of four regions: Greater Accra, Central, North East, and Savannah. Mrs Nancy Ansah Cobbah, the Director of Programmes, HFFG, said the project had helped improve behavioural change toward persons with disability. National data on achievements indicates that a total of 18,336 people, both male and female, have been counselled, engaged through outreach, educated on legal literacy, and inclusion champions sensitised on the subject matter. Mrs Cobbah called on stakeholders at the national, regional, district, and community levels to take action to reduce stigma and discrimination against PWDs and mental health. Mr Roger Amandi, an Investigator with the Commission of Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), stated that the disability issue entailed rights and urged HFFG to defend the rights of PWDs. 'The Commission is taking the project to a whole different level even though it has ended by seeking employment opportunities to put smiles on the face of PWDs.' Mr Ibrahim Anyass Alhassan, the Youth and Gender Advocate Officer, Office of National Chief Imam, expressed the continuous support from the Chief Imam's Office to the project and appealed to the public not to discriminate against PWDs.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Women for Africa Foundation, a Spanish non-profit entity, in collaboration with the Spanish Midwifery Council of Nurses, has ended a seven-month ultrasound training project for nurses and midwives in Ghana to improve efficiency in the country's healthcare delivery system. The project, dubbed: 'Training in Obstetric Ultrasound for Nurses and Midwives in the Ghanaian Public Health System,' was funded by the Government of Canary Island and in partnership with Ruth Adzo Asamoa Memorial Foundation (RAAM Foundation). Ultrasound is a noninvasive imaging test that shows structures inside the human body using high-intensity sound waves. Healthcare providers use ultrasound exams for purposes such as determination of pregnancy, diagnostics, and for image guidance during certain procedures. More than 60 midwives and nurses in underserved rural hospitals in the Volta and Northern regions were trained in obstetric ultrasound, which also saw the distribution of 20 mobile obstetric ultrasound units to those hospitals. Mr Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, the Minister of Health, in a speech read on his behalf, said over the past years, institutional maternal mortality had been fluctuating, a phenomenon that may be attributable to delays in the referral process, and detection of complications at the lower levels, especially the health centres. There were inadequate laboratory services and scanning facilities limiting access by community members, particularly pregnant women to relevant services when needed, he said. 'Unfortunately, the well-equipped health facilities are far away from most of the communities. This, coupled with bad road network in certain parts of the country, make it difficult for community members, particularly pregnant women, to access these facilities,' the Health Minister said. 'In response to the difficulties, the community members resort to traditional medicine, which in most cases leads to complications in pregnancy, which when untreated, could result in mortality.' 'It is, therefore, relieving to hear that these services are being brought to the doorsteps of the community members, especially women.' He, thus, acknowledged the support from the foundations and their respective donors to healthcare delivery in Ghana and commended them for their continuous contributions to the sector. He encouraged the beneficiaries to make good use of the knowledge gained and ensure effective maintenance of the equipment received to enhance healthcare delivery, especially as the country strive to achieve Universal Health Coverage by 2030. Mr Javier Gutierrez, the Ambassador of Spain to Ghana, acknowledged the generous contribution from the Spanish institutions and the Government of the Canary Islands, and the RAMM Foundation for their contributions to improve health systems in Ghana. 'The reference project is a good example of the whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach and the benefits indicates that more could be achieved through private-public partnerships,' he said. Dra Teresa Langle de Paz, the Director General, Women in Africa Foundation, commended beneficiaries of the project for making the training a success and urged them to share the knowledge acquired to improve maternal health in their respective regions and districts.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Dr Kwabena Duffuor, a presidential aspirant of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has promised to push an agenda of building a strong business-centred party if elected as the flagbearer and subsequently winning the 2024 elections. He advised that the party re-directed its focus on businesses and investment by exploring opportunities in the mining, banking, insurance and oil sectors. Dr Duffuor was speaking with NDC delegates in the Dormaa Central Constituency at Dormaa-Ahenkro in the Bono Region as part of his campaign tour to the region. He urged the party to buy shares in companies to support its structures, activities, and members, particularly those at the grassroots. He urged the constituency executives to allocate 60 per cent of funds from the Ahotor Project to women in the party for capacity building, entrepreneurial training and skills development, saying making capital accessible to them enhance their economic empowerment. 'If we won power, we would scale up activities of the Women and Children's Ministry by resourcing it, build the ministry to empower women, particularly those in dire need of socio-economic support,' Dr Duffuor stated. Some delegates would be appointed in every constituency to act as presidential staffers who would be closer to government to make meaningful impact of governance on the populace. 'The person will be responsible for submitting records and reports from the constituency to the Presidency because a country can't be developed without being informed about what's going on in the localities.' He, therefore, implored delegates to vote massively for him to become the flagbearer in the May 13 primaries to help in wresting power from the New Patriotic Party.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) has entreated the Government to speed up the sustainable development of petroleum resources to reverse the decline in the production of petroleum products. Mr Nasir Alpha Mohammed, the Vice Chairman of PIAC, said the Government should put in place the necessary measures to attract new investors into the sector and ensure the early completion of ongoing projects. Petroleum production in Ghana had been on the decline over the past few years, he said, hence the need for massive investment to discover additional oilfields. Mr Mohammed said this at a forum organised by PIAC in Wa for stakeholders in the Upper West Region to make inputs into the management and utilisation of petroleum revenues in the country. Heads of department and agencies, the security services, representatives of political parties, district chief executives, civil society organisations, traditional leaders, among others, participated. In a presentation on the petroleum revenue management and utilisation for 2022, Mr Mohammed said out of a total of $1,428,760,076.93 revenues realised in 2022, GH?33,750,184.39 went to the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation. GH?526,308,309.00 went into the Annual Budget Funding Amount to support government's projects in the communities. An excess of GH?407 million also went to the Ghana Stablisation Fund as a reserve for the Government to support the economy in times of unanticipated petroleum revenue shortfalls and fiscal imbalances. 'Successive governments have dipped their hands into this fund (Ghana Stablisation Fund) such that when COVID-19 hit us, we were running outside looking for money when we could have relied on this particular fund,' he said.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr John Allotey, Chief Executive Officer, Forestry Commission, has inaugurated a nine-member Forest Plantation Technical Steering Committee to review Ghana's Plantation Strategy to help increase Ghana's green cover. He said the Committee, among other things, would focus on research to improve on seedlings and practices, marketing of plantation timber with value addition and measures to retool the timber processing firms so they could serve the needs of the local market. 'If we want to develop this plantation then we need to march equipment expertise, market with the raw material we are churning out,' Mr Allotey said. Speaking at the inaugural ceremony held at the Headquarters of the Forestry Commission, he urged the Committee to make available their recommendations in three months. Members of the Steering Committee are Prof. Joseph Cobbinah, Former Director, Forestry Research Institute of Ghana, Mr Joseph Osiakwan, Technical Director, Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and Mr Hugh Brown, Executive Director, Forest Services Division, Forestry Commission. Others are Prof Dan Ofori, Chairman, Forest Plantation Investor Forum and Faculty Member, University of Ghana Business School, Prof Daniel Aninagyei Ofori, Director, Forestry Research Institute of Ghana, and Dr Michael Ansong, Faculty Member, Department of Silviculture and Forest Management. The rest are Mr Isaac Adonteng, Ghana Institute of Foresters, Mr Addo Kuffuor, Forest Plantation Timber Exporters and Loggers Association (FOPTELA) and a-yet-to-be-named person for the position of Director of Operations, Plantations, Forest Services Division, Forestry Commission. The Ghana Plantation Strategy which was to be reviewed was launched in 2016 and had its implementation in 2017. It focused on providing timber materials and investments for the timber industry while creating opportunities for sustainable livelihoods. The document required that the Forestry Commission should increase the plantation cover by about 4.4 million hectares, however, a total of 690, 000 hectares had been achieved. Addressing the Committee, Mr Allotey said the deficit had been due to challenges, including inadequate funding, though the Commission had been getting some funds from the government. He urged the Committee to consider funds from climate sources where Ghana could sell carbon to raise revenue. 'Fortunately, we have a seven-million-dollar funding to go into this area. We are in a good place to start the processes for the disbursement of the money to the private sector. The Committee should look at this,' he said. Prof. Joseph Cobbinah, Chair of the Committee, said: 'There has been a massive assault on the forest where it had been reported that we have lost about 20 per cent of our forest cover in the last 20 years.' He said the Plantation Strategy had a target of planting 625, 000 hectares of plantation, an enrichment planting of 100, 000 hectares, maintenance of already existing 235, 000 hectares and incorporating trees into the agricultural landscape. 'What we are going to do is what we call situation analysis. We need to determine what is happening right now and what needs to be done,' the Chairman said.

Source: Ghana News Agency