By Daniel Agbesi Latsu
Dodo-Pepesu (O/R), July 24, GNA – Eight communities in the Kadjebi District are benefitting from the Productive Inclusion (PI) Project or Safety Net Two Project.
They include; Dodo-Pepesu, Menuso, Okanta, Ketepii, Ahamansu, Titiaka, Pose-Cement and Dodi-Mempeasem.
PI is a pro-poor social intervention funded by the World Bank and jointly implemented by the Ministry of Local Government Decentralisation and Rural Development (MLGDRD) and the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MGCSP).
It is a component of Ghana Productive Safety Net Project Two (GPSNP 2) which seeks to expand and enhance social safety nets that improves the incomes and productivity of the poor in the country.
Mr. Isaac Robson Klu, the Kadjebi District Director of the Department of Social Welfare and Community Development, disclosed these at community sensitisation programme on PI at Dodo-Pepesu, a farming community in the Kadjebi District of the Oti Region.
He said other safety net systems which includes; LEAP Cash grants, Labour Intensive Public Works (LIPW) were meant to safeguard against hardship or adversity.
Mr. Klu said LEAP and LIWP are inadequate to enable households to engage in sustainable investment, hence PI to help engage in sustainable investment and this was to teach a man how to fish and eat for a lifetime, rather than giving him fish daily which is unsustainable.
The District Director said the grant provided under the complementary income generation through Productive Inclusion (PI) activities are therefore, considered essential to pave way for such households to increase their income in a sustainable manner, and thereby overcome poverty on a permanent basis.
He said a grant ceiling of $250 would be disbursed in two tranches electronically to beneficiaries and that the funds are to be strictly applied to acquire basic inputs during mini market.
Mr. Klu said the beneficiaries who are to be selected from the existing LEAP and LIWP households would be trained in Income Generating Activities before the grants are given and that a person should be between ages 18-60 to qualify.
He said the selected modules for beneficiaries in the Kadjebi District included; Snail rearing, Soap and Pomade making, Mushroom making, Bee Keeping, Vegetable processing and cassava processing and that the beneficiary must have a Ghana Card, e-zwich Card and a Bank Account or belong to a Village Saving and Loans Association before he or she could access grant.
Mr. Wilson Kwami Agbanyo, Kadjebi District Chief Executive, who was present, said PI for Kadjebi District was a blessing and therefore, asked beneficiaries to embrace it and appreciate the New Patriotic Party government for the project.
He said out of the nine Districts in the Oti Region, it was Kadjebi, Nkwanta North, Krachi East and Krachi Nchumuru Districts that are implementing the PI Project, so the beneficiaries should count themselves blessed.
Nana Saafo Attara II, Chief of Dodo-Pepesu, commended the government for the project and pledged his support for its successful implementation
Residents of Ketepii, Titiaka, Poase-Cement, Dodi-Mempeasem, Ahamansu, Menuso and Okanta received the same education on the PI project.
GNA