Wa, Feb 14, GNA - The Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is to phase-out the school feeding programme it is operating in the three northern regions with funding from the United States Agency for international development (USAID) by September next year.

This is as a result of a change in policy of USAID and also due to competition for resources provided by USAID to support programmes in developing countries.

Consequently, a meeting to sensitize stakeholders in the Upper West Region on the impending phase-out was held at Wa on Tuesday by CRS and USAID.

Mr Daniel Ayugane, CRS head of programmes and Mr Alfred Osei, food aid specialist of USAID, briefed the meeting which was also aimed at finding possible ways to avert any negative impact the phase-out might have on the beneficiary children and schools.

Mr Ayugane said the challenge posed by the phasing out of the programme was how to sustain the investments that donor-provided resources have accomplished without shutting down or choking off the gains made over the years.

He expressed the hope that stakeholders, including district directors of education, district chief executives and officials of the Ghana school feeding programme would come out with appropriate strategies to minimize any negative impact the phase-out might create. Mr Ayugane said the decision to phase-out the school feeding programme was in response to the fact that Ghana was no longer among the priority countries earmarked for "Title Two Assistance" for development programmes.

He said CRS programmes in the area of HIV, peace building and good governance are not affected.

Mr Osei expressed the hope that operators of the Ghana school feeding programme would collaborate with CRS so as to gain from its experience and structures.

Mr Ambrose Dery, the Upper West Regional Minister, expressed gratitude to CRS and the described it "as a dependable partner of the people of the region." and recalled his school days when he was a beneficiary of the CRS food aid programme.