Tamale, June 5, GNA – ActionAid Ghana (AAG), a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), has presented food and other relief items to poor and needy households to augment government’s efforts at lessening the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 crisis.
The items, valued at about GHS 2,190,000, have so far been distributed to some vulnerable groups within the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly and would also be distributed to groups in other eleven Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the Northern, Savannah and North East Regions.
The distribution was the phase two of the AAG’s three-phased COVID-19 Response Project aimed at contributing towards the government’s steps in containing the pandemic and also reduce its economic effects in the country.
It is being implemented within 31 districts in eleven regions of the country in association with the AAG’s frontline development partners, with funding support from the European Union (EU).
It is under the Northern Ghana Integrated Development Project and the Players of the People’s Postcode Lottery in the United Kingdom (UK), under the Building the Agency of Adolescent Young Girl’s for Inclusive Leadership Project, amongst other donors.
The items included; bags of rice, boxes of oil, bags of cocoa powder and sugar, reusable nose masks, Veronica Buckets, gallons of liquid soap, alcohol-based hand sanitizers and other sanitary items.
Mr John Nkaw, Head of Programmes, Campaigns and Innovation at the AAG, said in dealing with the COVID-19 and its associate devastating crisis, it was prudent that organisations developed structures to respond in diverse ways, hence the gesture.
He said it was vital to empower vulnerable groups by facilitating their holistic development with the provision of adequate basic needs to enable them stand the shocks that characterised the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The distribution is in line with our plans to demonstrate the adaptability, flexibility and agility of our organization to build upon the resilience of communities, vulnerable groups, youth and children that we work with in Ghana”, he added.
Mr Nkaw called on government to strengthen the capacities of the country’s security agencies to strictly enforce the COVID-19 protocols, adding it would help to stop the spread of the virus.
“Government should prioritize its resources in a way that it can help retool the health and educational facilities to ensure these sectors are expanded to avoid incidence of infection in our schools”, he noted.
He appealed to international financial institutions to give financial space to debt-ridden countries to help them mobilize enough resources to mitigate the socio-economic impacts on their people.
Mr Musah Iddrisu, the Tamale Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE), who was present at the event, commended AAG for the intervention, and said the items would improve on the living standards of the beneficiaries.
He implored other organisations to help compliment government’s efforts in containing the virus, whilst helping to alleviate its accompanying economic and social hardships among the people.
Some beneficiaries who spoke to the Ghana News Agency, expressed gratitude to the organization for the kind support, saying “we are grateful to them for the timely intervention. We are indeed in a more difficult times so these items came at a time when we needed them most and will go a long way to help us”.
ActionAid Ghana is an affiliate of ActionAid, a global movement of people working together to further human rights for everyone and eradicate poverty.
GNA