Ghana's school feeding programme commended

Gbumgbum (NR), Dec. 04, Mr. James T. Morris, Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP) on Monday commended Ghana for its successful implementation of the school-feeding programme. He, however, suggested that there should be an effective and continuous monitoring up to the tertiary level, of children under the programme to know its desired impact.

"I must commend you on the feeding programme but effective monitoring would help us at the world level to know the desired impact of the programme on the children so that the initiative could be sustained", he emphasised.

Mr. Morris gave the commendation when he led a joint visit of the heads of the World Food Programme, the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to assisted project sites in the Savelugu/Nanton District of the Northern Region.

The visit of the heads of the three Rome-based UN Agencies was to promote the fight against hunger and world poverty in rural communities, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.

The officials also visited WFP project areas at Gbumgbum Nutrition Centre and Primary School, Libga Irrigation Project and Kanshegu Animal Project all in the Savelugu/Nanton District.

The one-day visit was also to enable officials of the WFP to monitor their assisted programmes on the ground and to see how they were impacting on the lives of the people and what additional assistance could be offered.

The dignitaries were accompanied by the World Bank Country Director, Mr. Mats Karlsson, Mr. Mustapha Darboe, WFP Regional Director for West Africa, Madame Trudy Bower-Pirinis, WFP representative in Ghana, Mr. Jacques Diouf, Director-General of FAO, Mr. Lennart Bage, President of IFAD and Prof. Agyeman Badu Akosa, Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS).

Mr. Morris called for pragmatic measures to take good care of teachers whom he said were key in every nation's development to ensure that the school-feeding programme succeeded. Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris, Northern Regional Minister, called on the country's development partners to re-programme and package their activities and assistance to attract the youth into farming to help stem the rural-urban migration for non-existent jobs.

He said poverty was still a serious problem confronting the three Northern Regions adding that it was only when well-defined programmes were initiated to benefit the youth that the problem could be addressed. He commended the intervention of the WFP and the other development partners for their immense contribution to fight hunger and poverty in the three Northern Regions and asked them not to relent in their efforts to end hunger in these regions.