DCES ATTEND MID-TERM REVIEW MEETING (PAGE 31)

More than GH¢800,000 has been disbursed as credit funds to enable about 25,000 people who have learnt various trades and skills to expand their businesses under the Rural Enterprises Project (REP)
The beneficiaries of the facility, mostly the youth, who were hitherto unemployed, learnt baking and confectionery, fish processing, beauty care, palm oil processing, food hygiene, cassava processing, as well as traditional skills such as batik and tie-dye, soap making, grasscutter rearing and bee keeping.
Mr Ignatius Baffour-Awuah, the Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, disclosed this in an address read on his behalf at a post Mid-Term Review (MTR) meeting for 66 district chief executives (DCEs) whose areas are benefiting from the REP, which is aimed at assisting the youth, especially those in deprived communities, to improve upon their living standards.
The REP, which is in its second phase, is jointly financed by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the African Development Bank (AfDB). The Government of Ghana and the implementation of the REP II began in the last quarter of 2003 and reached its mid-term in September 2007.
In accordance with Article IV, Section 4.03 of the IFAD Loan Agreement, the government and IFAD are obliged to jointly carry out a mid-term review of the project implementation not later than the 4th Project year, to provide all the stakeholders information for improving project performance.
According to the regional minister, after four years of project implementation, a review of the project was undertaken in November/December 2007 and the main objective was to provide the government, the IFAD and the AfDB and other interested stakeholders with an analysis of the performance and initial impact of the REP that could be used for improving project performance and re-orienting it to better achieve the set development objectives.
He said it was also to contribute to lessons learnt and the best practices for improving Medium and Small-Scale Enterprises (MSE) policies and programmes in the country and beyond.
Accordingly, Mr Baffour-Awuah indicated that the review meeting was expected to consider, among other things, the achievements of the project objectives and the constraints thereon and recommend such adjustments and orientations as might be required to achieve such objectives and remove those constraints.
Thereafter, he pointed out, the government shall ensure implementation of the recommendations of the MTR within a specified time to ensure more effective implementation of the project and the achievement of the set development objectives.
According to Mr Baffour-Awuah, on his visits to some districts in the region, he had personally witnessed the change in the lives of beneficiaries of the REP and “I, therefore, wish to encourage you DCEs to play your required roles to ensure that the project is successfully implemented in your respective areas for the benefit of the poor in society”.
The regional minister noted that by the design of the REP, the level of resource flow into any particular district was a function of the willingness of the district to make the required commitments on a timely basis.
Mr Kwasi Attah-Antwi, the Project Co-ordinator, explained that the purpose of the meeting was for the project management to inform the stakeholders of the final key recommendations of the MTR as the various approaches and strategies for implementation were being put in place.
He said it was critical that the DCEs should endeavour to follow the discussions at the meeting so that they would be in a good position to provide the appropriate leadership and direction for the new project.