Manso-Nkwanta (Ash), Sept. 8, GNA - The United Nations (UN) Millennium Villages Project (MVP), which operates in the Amansie West District of Ashanti, has for the past two years supported 113 untrained teachers, to pursue the Untrained Teachers Diploma in Basic Education (UTDBE) distance education programme at the Wesley College in Kumasi. Mr Samuel Asare Afram, Cluster Manager of the Project, who disclosed this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency at Manso-Nkwanta at the weekend, said the MVP has also supported 30 needy but brilliant students in the district with scholarship packages. He said as part of the package, the Project paid 500 dollars each to enable the 30 beneficiaries to further their education at the Senior High School level.

The Cluster Manager explained that the goals of the MVP were to reduce extreme poverty on the part of the people in the area through various programmes and development interventions, and said for instance that the Project in the past trained farmers in new method of farming. Consequently, he said these farmers have been supplied with over 40,000 improved cocoa seedlings for replanting at their individual farms to improve yields.

On health, Mr Afram said the project has also paid medical bills for residents in the Bonsaaso cluster of areas, to enable them seek quality health care delivery at health facilities, stressing that his outfit intends to register the people to access the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). He said the MVP further supported the District Health Administration and Assembly to organise various courses and workshops for their staff to update their skills, whiles increasing their knowledge in their fields of endeavours.