The organisations are the Voice of People Disability Ghana (VOICE Ghana), the Akrofuom District Assembly, the Amansie West District Assembly and the Suaman District Assembly.

The projects involve the construction of a counselling hub for persons living with disability in the Ho Municipality of the Volta Region; the construction of community-based health planning and services (CHPS) compound at Yaadome in the Akrofuom District, and a classroom block for the Pakyi Banko Basic School in the Amansie West District, both in the Ashanti Region, as well as the construction of a CHPS compound at Adiepena in the Suaman District of the Western North Region. 

The counselling hub at Ho is worth $83,662, while the CHPS compound at Yaadome will cost $92,590, with the school project costing $86,524 and the CHPS compound at Adiepena valued at $86,457. 

Impact

At the ceremony, the Japanese Ambassador to Ghana, Hisanobu Mochizuki, said the projects were expected to impact the livlihoods of the respective project areas and their surrounding communities.

More than 18,000 people are expected to benefit from the four projects.

Mr Mochizuki congratulated the four organisations for going through the competitive selection process.

“I highly appreciate the efforts of these organisations for identifying the needs of persons with disabilities, people in the community, school children and their parents. I hope that all these needs will be met and the living conditions of the beneficiaries improved after the successful completion of the projects,” he said.

He said Japan had been promoting the concept of human security to build a world where everyone could live in dignity, free from fear and want, through the protection and empowerment of individuals, adding that “since its introduction, human security has been the guiding principle of Japan’s development cooperation initiatives”.

Mr Mochizuki said as part of Japan’s efforts to ensure that individuals lived in dignity, the GGHSP was introduced to respond directly to requests from communities and people on human security-related projects.

“Japan has provided support for important grassroots projects — including education, health, water and sanitation, agro-business and social welfare — in Ghana for many years, through the GGHSP scheme. Japan is determined to stay engaged with key stakeholders in these sectors to continue providing such support to the people of Ghana,” he stressed.

Implementation

Mr Mochizuki encouraged the stakeholders to work together towards the successful implementation of the project to serve their respective purposes, stressing that project sustainability was important to the Japanese Government.

The four organisations commended the Japan Embassy for the support to improve the livlihoods of people in their communities. 

The Executive Director of Voice Ghana, Francis Asong, said it had been the vision of the organisation to construct an assessment and counselling centre to offer services to persons with disabilities.  

The Chief Executive of the Akrofuom District Assembly, Dr Maurice Jonas Woode, said the assembly placed high priority on the basic elements that sustained human dignity in the district. 

The Amansie West District Coordinating Director, Timothy Fordjour Kanyebui, said the development assistance from the Japanese Government would help to address the infrastructure deficit in the district.