A conference was held on the theme: “Leveraging Digital Tools for a Balanced and Coordinated Development in Northern Ghana”, to discuss the progress made on the Gulf of Guinea Social Cohesion (SOCO) Project implementation and the impact made on the lives of Ghanaians in the beneficiary communities across the five regions of the north and the Oti region.
The conference was on the backdrop of a World Bank Group mission field visit to the SOCO Project sites, which allowed the Ministry and the Group to learn firsthand the impact of the Project.
The Minister of State at the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, Hon Osei Bonsu Amoah, who opened the conference, described the $150 million credit support by the World Bank for the SOCO Project as a game changer due to its span of intervention.
Referring to the Multidimensional Poverty Report in 2020 by the Ghana Statistical Service, Hon. Amoah said that the northern Regions are lagging in the national average on electricity coverage, Housing, Assets, cooking fuel, Drinking water, Toilet, School attendance, School attainment, and Nutrition.
He noted the wide development gap between the north and south and said it required a coordinated effort to bridge the north-south divide, and this, he said, the Project aimed to achieve in the six SOCO implementing Regions.
Outlining the progress of the Project, Hon. Amoah chronicled that under the first year of implementation, over 556 infrastructure projects were executed. These consist of 74 rural markets, 55 health facilities, 66 classroom blocks and teachers' accommodation, 42 roads, and 228 water facilities, including boreholes with handpump, mechanized boreholes, and small-town water systems.
He
added that the project has also created 3,748 jobs for community members through their participation in the construction of community infrastructure projects, strengthened the capacity of 4,709 local development actors, including staff of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) and community members for local development planning and management, as well as 9,954 farmers and rural enterprises are currently receiving technical and financial support from the project.
The World Bank Country Director for Ghana, Sierra Leone and Liberia, Robert Taliercio O’Brien together with other officials and the SOCO Technical Implementation Mission as part of the SOCO field visit, earlier toured the Sagnarigu Municipality to ascertain the progress of work on some infrastructure projects in the area.
The delegation also interacted with the Shishegu Soap Makers group, which was selected for support from the SOCO initiative after a needs assessment by the Community Project Implementation Committee (CPIC).
The five-year project is being implemented in 48 MMDAs in Ghana. The project seeks to prevent the spillover of conflict and activities of extremist groups from the Sahel, reduce vulnerability to climate change, strengthen local institutions, provide economic opportunities and improve public trust.
Source: Matilda Tettey
(Public Relations Unit, MLGDRD)