Activities of Christian Aid improve lives of thousands

The Christian Aid-Ghana says its programme to help eradicate poverty has helped to improve the lives of thousands in the society.

It said the lives of more than 55,000 people have been directly affected and 750,000 people, of which 60 per cent of are females, have been indirectly affected.

A report to delivered to the Ghana News Agency said the three objectives of the programme was to to strengthen democratic governance, facilitate market access for poor communities and to ensure equal development for all.

It said Christian Aid-Ghana worked with its partners to organise, mobilize and galvanise community groups creating opportunities for direct engagement with local, regional and national authorities on developmental issues.

The report said the programme, which is working with more than ten partner organisations including the private sector and civil society organisations, places priority on the three northern regions to improve market access to small holder producers and processors.

‘’Through our market work, the programme helped producers to become more active in the production of rice, shea butter and maize and to reap greater profits,’’ Ms Abena Afari Governance Programme Officer, said at the annual partnership meeting.

The report said the programme also focused on training and skills development to improve the quality of crops produced and foster partnerships that facilitates better access to farming inputs and services.

It said Christian Aid-Ghana used gender analysis and targeted interventions with its partners to improve women’s participation in decision making and created opportunities for them to improve their lot.

In its annual report for 2015-2016 Christian Aid-Ghana said the programme has helped women to gain access to improved maternal healthcare and encouraged couples to make collective decisions about family size and improved the status of women.

Christian Aid-Ghana also partnered with the Growing Rice Opportunities for Women(GROW) along with GIZ under the competitive African Rice initiative (CARI) project which was implemented with Youth Harvest Foundation Ghana (YHFG) and the Ghana Trades and Livelihood Coalition(GTLC).

In its vision to end poverty, the GROW project has reached over a total of 5,000 people, with 80 per cent of them being women and strengthened a total of 134 farmer-based organizations  and 150 rice processor’s associations.

Christian Aid- Ghana managed the IMPROVE project in partnership with SEND-Ghana with funding from the EU.

It is being implemented across 30 districts in the three northern regions enabling communities to hold government accountable in ensuring an improved maternal health care delivery.