CANADIAN FUND TO ASSIST TAMALE (PAGE 22, JAN 4)

THE Christian Children’s Fund of Canada (CCFC), an international non-governmental organisation, is currently holding discussions with the Canadian government and United Nations bodies to source for funding to execute more projects in the Tamale metropolis.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the CCFC, Mr Mark Lukowski, who made this known during an interaction with media practitioners in Tamale, stated that Canada had been funding programmes in Tamale for the past 13 years, with more than 8,000 children having been supported under various interventions by the organisation in the metropolis.
He intimated that the discussions were at their preliminary stages and expressed the hope that the CCFC would build on its achievements in the Northern Region.
“As the new CEO of the CCFC, I am also here to announce our ongoing commitment to stay in Ghana and continue our support in this region. We are committed to the long-term relationships in Ghana,” Mr Lukowski pointed out.
The CEO commended the CCFC, local NGOs and the media for their support and commitment to the implementation of CCFC’s programmes.
The Communications Director of the CCFC, Mr Philip Maher, observed that its mission was to support children to enable them to realise their full potential.
He pledged the commitment of his outfit to ensure that children in Ghana, particularly those in the north, were well catered for.
He, therefore, entreated the media to highlight more issues affecting children to attract the attention of charity organisations.
The Country Director of the CCFC, Mrs Sanatu Nantogma, observed that her outfit had made significant strides in the socio-economic lives of children in its nine operational districts of the region.
She mentioned water and sanitation, education, health and micro credit enterprises as areas of intervention for its beneficiaries.
Mrs Nantogma explained that before the arrival of the CCFC in its operational districts, there was poor school enrolment, but the situation had improved remarkably, as a more than 200 per cent increase in enrolment figures had been recorded in the areas.
She stated, for instance, that girl-child education had shot up from 10 per cent to 50 per cent, while, in the area of water and sanitation, over 65 communities had been supported with hand dug wells, 64 harvesting tanks and more than 2000 soak-aways.
Mrs Nantogma further noted that the CCFC had constructed a number of classroom blocks and built early childhood centres.
In the area of micro enterprise development, she said 3,000 people, 60 per cent of whom were women, had been supported to improve upon their respective businesses.
She expressed gratitude to the district assemblies and development partners for supporting the efforts of the CCFC to bring relief to children in the north.
Touching on challenges in the educational sector, Mrs Nantogma said the retention of teachers in the area was one of the major problems facing many communities in the operational areas of the CCFC.