Rural groups raise funds to support themselves

About 230 groups, including women in agriculture and rural entrepreneurs, have mobilized over GH¢450,000 under the Bank for the Poor (B4P) Project to support themselves financially.

The groups are in Kwahu Afram Plains North and Kwahu Afram Plains South districts in the Eastern Region, Karachi East District in the Volta Region and five other districts in the Brong- Ahafo and Ashanti regions.

This came out at the first annual review workshop of the B4P Project in Koforidua which was attended by 16 national coordinators.

Ms Juliette Lampoh, Country Director of Concern Universal (CU)-Ghana, a non-governmental organization (NGO), said the project aimed at facilitating increased access to appropriate financial services by women in smallholder food crop farming and rural micro entrepreneurial activities.

She explained that the project did not provide funding or took away any funds from the groups under the project, “it rather provides the needed motivation for mobilizing resources which are kept in the community and given back to members of the groups as loans.”

Ms Lampoh said the project was based on the Village Savings and Loans model (VSL) which uses the group guarantee system to protect their loans.

The Programme Manager of CU-Ghana, Mr Confidence Abotsi, said the project aimed at changing the mindset of the people in the rural communities to realize that they could mobilize local resources in their communities to change their status and standard of living.

The project is funded by the European Union and it is being implemented by CU-Ghana which is affiliated to CU-United Kingdom.