U N I T E D N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN)

GHANA: WFP launches US $15.3-million development programme

ABIDJAN, 14 November (IRIN) - The World Food Programme (WFP) is to provide
482,000 Ghanaians with food aid through 2005 to support efforts to reduce
poverty in Ghana, the UN agency announced on Wednesday. WFP's Ghana
Country Programme, designed in close collaboration with the Ghanaian
government, will supply beneficiaries with 35,000 mt of food over the next
four years. Linked to projects run by other UN agencies and NGOs, it
covers community health and nutrition education, girls' education and
savannah resource management and is budgeted at US $15.3 million. Another
US $4.7 million will be requested for HIV/AIDS programmes, WFP said.

Under one of the programme's three projects, food will be provided for
malnourished pre-school children attending community health and nutrition
centres. Food will also be given to expectant and nursing mothers to
encourage them to attend health and nutrition classes.

A second project will offer some 29,600 girls a monthly take-home ration
of cereals and oil in return for attending school. This project will be
carried out in rural areas in Ghana's northern savannahs, where, WFP said,
only 62 percent of girls and 67 percent of boys are enrolled in primary
schools, which is much lower than the national average. "Take-home rations
have proved an extremely effective way of ensuring attendance, and
therefore improving performance," WFP Ghana Country Director Eva Hodell
said.

WFP said the third initiative would focus on farmers, 58 percent of whom
do not have enough food to feed their families because of recurrent
drought, reduced soil fertility and high population growth, according to
recent studies. These families, who are mainly in the north, endure the
worst food shortages between March and August each year. Under the
project, farmers will receive food as an incentive to invest their time
and resources in adopting new forestry management practices such as
developing tree and plant nurseries, agro-forestry plantations and soil
and water structures, WFP said.

[ENDS]

IRIN-WA
Tel: +225 22-40-4440
Fax: +225 22-41-9339
Email: [email protected]
[This Item is Delivered to the "Africa-English" Service of the UN's IRIN
humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views
of the United Nations. For further information, free subscriptions, or
to change your keywords, contact e-mail: [email protected] or Web:
http://www.irinnews.org . If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post
this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Reposting by
commercial
sites requires written IRIN permission.]

Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2001

------------------
IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO SUBSCRIBERS

IRIN has introduced a brand new e-mail service allowing you to be more
selective in the information you receive. With the current system being
phased-out, please go to the IRIN web site at
http://www.irinnews.org/subscriptions/default.asp to resubscribe yourself
and take full advantage of the new options that are available. This will
automatically remove you from the old distribution list. If you do not
have access to the web or experience any problems please contact
[email protected] and we will assist you to resubscribe.

Joanne Clarke
IRIN Customer Services

Tel +41 22 321 8425, Geneva, CH
mobile +41 078 631 9996
[email protected]

-------------------

[This item is delivered in the "africa-english" service of the UN's IRIN
humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views
of the United Nations. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post
this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Reposting by commercial
sites requires written IRIN permission.]

Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2001