Poverty reduction in CR..ILO TO THE RESCUE (PAGE 20)

THE International Labour Organisation (ILO), in partnership with the government and other social partners, has initiated a programme aimed at reducing poverty in the country.
The programme, dubbed: “ILO’s Decent Work Country Programme (DWCP),” aims at removing social, legal, economic and other insecurities in the formal sector.
Under the DWCP, a Local Economic Development (LED) initiative was piloted in two districts and successfully replicated in two others, all in the Central Region between 2003 and 2007.
Through dialogue and partnership building, district assemblies and the local private sector, mainly small business associations from the informal sector, collaborated to determine economic opportunities in their localities with the view to exploiting them for increased production and job creation.
The framework was developed under the Sub-Committee for Production and Gainful Employment (SPGEs), which now serves as a permanent forum for public private partnership at the local level.
Based on the success of the pilot and its replication, the ILO now intends to extend the scheme to six additional districts, with additional focus on knowledge development and capacity building for more effective policies to reduce poverty in the beneficiary districts.
The programme targets women and men, especially the youth of the informal sector as well as those employed or aspiring to work in micro, medium and small scale enterprises.
Currently, the programme in the Central Region is being pursued in four districts - the Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam, Effutu, Mfantsiman and Twifo-Hemang-Lower Denkyira.
At a review workshop held for the SPGEs at the Teachers Resource Centre at Saltpond last Thursday, Dr Nii Moi Thompson of International Projet Expert and Local Economic Development (LED) charged the SPGEs to work hard and map out strategies to ensure the success of the programme in their respective areas.
Dr Thompson said most of the time projects had taken off with high expectations only to fizzle out as soon as donor partners handed them over to the participating communities.
The Municipal Co-ordinating Director of the Mfantsiman Municipal Assembly, Mr Amoako-Kwarteng, urged the participants to take the workshop seriously in order to formulate plans and programmes that would exclusively address the developmental challenges with the view to improving the lot of the majority of the rural people.
In a presentation, Mr Patrice A. Caesar Sowah, the National Project Officer of the Youth Employment and Women Entrepreneurship, called for positive action in support of women and the youth and the development of knowledge-base women entrepreneurs.
He also called for the promotion of representation, advocacy and voice, innovative support services for women entrepreneurs, strategic alliances and gender mainstreaming.