ActionAid Ghana, a non-governmental organization operating in the country has initiated a new paradigm shift in raising funds to continueto provide the needed assistance to the poor and the vulnerable in society.
The NGO, as a result of dwindling international donor support, has developed a new methodology of raising funds locally from benevolent individuals and corporate organizations to support its programmes.
Madam Adwoa Kwateng-Kluvitse, Country Director of ActionAid Ghana disclosed this to the GNA in Tamale on the sidelines of a regional tour by its Board of Directors and General Assembly to interact with the beneficiary communities of its programmes in the Northern Region.
The tour took some of the Board members to the witches’ camps and other places of interest where issues of the discomfort of the alleged witches, inadequate potable water, inadequate classrooms and other social problems dominated the discussions in most of the communities visited.
Madam Kluvitse said her outfit had already developed a modality to raise local funds to launch a project before the end of the year dubbed ‘Community Sponsorship Schemes’ where communities were expected to identify their own problems and address their needswith local funds raised to support those programmes.
She encouraged many Ghanaians to develop the spirit of community sensitiveness and sponsor i ActionAid's activities when the initiative starts operating, stressing that due to the credit crunch across the globe many international donors were shying away from committing their funds to NGO activities.
She observed that many Ghanaians and corporate institutions were capable of supporting in that direction, adding that 'our activities over the years have opened up many deprived communities to development which we are proud of'.
When the NGO got to the Kpeni Community in the Sagnarigu District, the community complained of inadequate water supply, fewer classrooms with student over-population and poor road networks and appealed for assistance from the government and development partners.
Similarly, at Sognaayili the people demanded from the nation's leadership equal share of the national cake to ensure the development of their communities.
A resident of that community observed interestingly that even though the village was only a few kilometers away from Tamale, the Regional capital, yet life there was characterised by deprivation and general neglect.