David A. Weiss, President and CEO of Global Communities
The President and CEO of Global Communities, David A. Weiss, visited the USAID Resiliency in Northern Ghana (RING) Project as part of his official visit to Ghana to interact with management and staff of the organization.
The President and CEO was accompanied by his Vice President Communications and Public Affairs, David Humphries, the Country Director of Global Communities in Ghana, Alberto Wilde, the RING Chief of Party, Philippe LeMay and his Deputy Chief of Party, Yunus Abdulai, as well as a team of Technical Staff of Nutrition and Livelihoods.
The field visit gave Mr. Weiss and Mr. Humphries the opportunity to have firsthand information of the RING Project’s field operations and some of the key interventions the project is providing to vulnerable households with women of reproductive age and children under five years in 17 districts of the Northern region.
Mr. Weiss and his team visited three RING beneficiary communities – Yapei-Yipala, Bilsikura and Kabilpe—in Central Gonja District to acquaint themselves with the progress of work of the RING project.
At Yapei-Yipala community, he had good interactions with soybeans beneficiaries who had been supported by RING Project with inputs such as seeds and ploughing services, to produce high quality soybeans for household consumption and marketing (for income to support other household needs).
In collaboration with agriculture staff, the nutrition team trained the beneficiaries on proper utilization of the soybeans at the household level, particularly how to fortify complementary foods for children 6 – 23 months.
One key message the group of soybeans beneficiaries told the President and his team was “now our babies are less prone to sicknesses as a result of incorporating the soybeans into their diets” says the group leader Madam Azara.
The benefits of cultivating soybeans are being hailed beyond the beneficiaries themselves. At Yapei-Yipala Health Center, the In-Charge, Mr. John Lalibe, cited data since March 2015 that showed a decrease in the prevalence of severe acute malnutrition cases in the soybean community.
Mr. Lalibe also provided an overview of the services delivered at the facility, and how RING support has strengthened the quality and frequency of community outreach visits and nutrition counseling.
The delegation met with RING small ruminant beneficiaries in Bilsikura in the Central Gonja District, where 50 women from 50 vulnerable households received 150 ewes (i.e. 3 ewes per woman/household) from RING as starter stock in October 2014.
Although some households mentioned they lost one or two ewes due to small ruminants’ illnesses, each of the households now have an average of 5 ewes with the total number of more than 400 Ewes now in the community.
Last, but not least, the President and his team also visited the community of Kabilpe where RING supported women with an irrigation Pump dubbed “MoneyMaker Pump” to facilitate cultivation of nutrient-rich leafy green vegetables (LGVs) in the lean season using small scale drip irrigation technology.
The visit to the LGV women group site was to see at first-hand how the women are making use of the drip irrigation kits provided by RING.
The LGVs at the site were at the germination stage. The beneficiaries had cultivated okra, cowpea (for its leaves), and other locally available vegetables (‘bra and ayoyo’). At the LGV site in Kabilpe, the President and CEO tried his feet on the MoneyMaker Pump used by the women.
RING is a five-year project designed to contribute to the Government of Ghana's efforts to sustainably reduce poverty and improve the livelihoods and nutritional status of vulnerable households in 17 districts of the Northern Region.
RING focuses on the poorest households that have women of reproductive age and children under five. RING is designed to contribute to the following USAID/Ghana Feed the Future (FtF) goals:
• 20% decrease in prevalence of stunting among children under five;
• 20% decrease in prevalence of anemia among children under five;
• 20% decrease in prevalence of underweight among children under five;
• 20% decrease in prevalence of wasting among children under five.
