Saboba (N/R), Sept 04, GNA – Some beneficiaries of the Livelihood Empowerment and Savings for Transformation project have commended World Vision Ghana for implementing the project, which they say has equipped them with skills to engage in income generating activities.
They indicated that the project had changed their living conditions and restored dignity to their lives.
They stated these when officials of World Vision Ghana, Ghana Enterprises Agency, and the Department of Agriculture visited them at Saboba to assess the impact of the Livelihood Empowerment and Savings for Transformation project on their lives.
World Vision Ghana implemented the project at Saboba District and Gushegu Municipality from 2018, where it trained beneficiaries in beads making, soap production, sandals making amongst other entrepreneurial and financial management skills as alternative source of income.
World Vision Ghana further engaged the beneficiaries in agricultural interventions such as irrigation farming at Nalogni, and detergents production at Kpegu in the Saboba District.
The move was to empower beneficiaries to lead independent and sustainable lives as well as help alleviate poverty and promote social inclusion.
Among the beneficiaries were members of the Association of Women with Disabilities in the Saboba District where the project was to help minimise stigmatisation against them.
Madam Hellen Dondoh, Vice President of the Association of Women with Disabilities in the Saboba District, who spoke about the impact of the project on their lives during the visit by officials of World Vision Ghana to Saboba, said the project had brought hope and served as alternative source of livelihood to them.
Madam Dondoh said it had taken women with disability from the streets to a place of empowerment for sustainable growth and development.
She said hitherto, women with disability in the district were deprived of various opportunities and indicated it was because they lacked certain skills and competence to take advantage of emerging opportunities. “The World Vision partnership project has empowered us with skills that have enabled us to go into businesses that benefit our families and the community.” She added
She further revealed that the project had helped in changing people’s perceptions about women with disability in the area and said they were now seen as agents of development and social change because of the businesses they rendered to the community members.
Mr Maxwell Amedi, Food Security and Resilience Technical Programme Manager, World Vision Ghana, said the project was to help alleviate poverty, deprivation and enhance social inclusion to serve as the bedrock for development in the country.
Mr Amedi said it was further to help reduce incidences of starvation and discrimination whilst providing equal opportunity for them to participate in decision-making and to lead independent and sustainable lives.
Mr Kofi Sefah, Project Officer, Food Security, World Vision, Saboba Area Programme said the visit was to engage the beneficiaries on the impact of the project in their quest to minimise poverty, hunger, and discrimination in the district.
Meanwhile, about 60 communities are currently benefiting from World Vision Ghana’s interventions in the Saboba District and the Gushegu Municipality.
GNA