By Albert Futukpor
Tamale, Oct 27, GNA – Regional and District Information Officers in the northern part of the country have undergone orientation on the Gulf of Guinea Northern Regions Social Cohesion Project (SOCO) to deepen their understanding of the initiative.
This is to enable them to disseminate information on the project to keep the citizenry aware of the various activities being implemented as part of the project.
The participants were drawn from the Northern, North East, Savannah, Upper East, Upper West, and Oti Regions.
Mr Dan Botwe, Minister for Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, during the orientation in Tamale, urged the participants to play their roles effectively to ensure that the project positively impacted the lives of the people in the communities.
SOCO is a US$ 450 million multi-country project being implemented in Benin, Cote D’ Ivoire, Togo, and Ghana with support from the World Bank, and the Government of Ghana’s allocation US$ 150 million credit facility.
The project aims at providing support to the northern parts of the Gulf of Guinea countries that are hardest hit by fragilities due to food insecurity and climate change, conflict, and violence.
The project is expected to finance investment in sub-projects such as feeder roads, small earth dams, boreholes, and social infrastructure such as markets, schools with complement of furniture, CHPS Compounds, ICT centres and recreational facilities such as astro turfs and parks.
Mr Botwe said the project would bring about significant improvement in the lives of the people in the communities, and called on all stakeholders to work together towards its successful implementation.
Alhaji Shani Alhassan Saibu, Northern Regional Minister, whose speech was read on his behalf, said the orientation showed that the Regional and District Information Officers had been recognised as major stakeholders in the delivery of the project, hence need for them to be proactive in disseminating information on it.
He urged them to work closely with the implementers of the project to be abreast of the implementation stages to help facilitate their work.
GNA