ActionAid Ghana launches project towards poverty eradication

A non-governmental organisation (NGO), Action Aid Ghana, has launched a five-year country strategic project to eradicate poverty and gender inequality.

Scheduled to span 2023 to 2028, the project will be executed through the building of the capacities of the people.

It is in line with its core objectives since its inception 30 years ago, of building and developing both infrastructural and human capacity as part of efforts to eradicate poverty, particularly, among the vulnerable.

The project, dubbed “Active Citizenship for Social Justice,” has been launched at a workshop in Wa.

At the launch, the Country Director of ActionAid, John Nkaw, said the project would be on three prongs, namely promoting a green economy, deepening active citizenship and deepening good governance.

Participants in the workshop included representatives of government agencies, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, the private sector, development partners and activists among others. 

The three prongs

Mr Nkaw said from observation, climate change had caught up with the region, and this, he said, had been witnessed through the drying up of several local rivers and a changing rainfall pattern.

In addition, he said, with global conditions brought about by COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine War, poverty had been estimated to threaten the world by 2025.

Already, the Country Director said, statistics from the World Bank had revealed that in Ghana about 850,000 people had fallen below the poverty line since 2022.

“Additionally, the widening poverty, gender inequality and increasing injustices around the world called for immediate measures and a community-centre approach towards addressing these development challenges,” he said.

Mr Nkaw said all these are very alarming and that was why the three-pronged fight was necessary.

He gave an assurance that AAG would continue to work with the government, district assemblies and the local people in all their efforts to achieve all their developmental goals.

“Under the project, we have outlined our priorities and areas of focus on the overarching goal of defeating poverty and gender inequality as well as promoting our brand to attract income that is aligned with our principles.

“We will be pursuing an aggressive fundraising strategy to raise the projected percentage ratio of partnership income and regular giving by 2028,” he said.
Equitable opportunities

A Chief Investigator at the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Sebastian Ziem, said the initiative aligned with their agenda to introduce innovation in addressing developmental challenges for equitable opportunities for all citizens.

Mr Ziem said the project would set the tone for a safer environment for all to contribute to nation-building and development.