Koforidua, Sept. 12, GNA - The National Volunteer Service (NVS), has planned to recruit experienced retired public and civil servants for national volunteerism.

Some of the personnel would be deployed to the Ghana Education Service (GES) to augment the staffing situation. Nana Fosu-Amankwah, Eastern Regional Director of the National Service Scheme, announced these at an assessment and selection exercise of the Scheme for the 2008/2009 year, in Koforidua on Friday. He explained that the NVS was initiated as a result of the shortcomings of the National Service Act.

Nana Fosu-Amankwah said "The NVS is the nation's volunteering body on, which the national institutional framework hinges thus bringing on board people endowed with expertise and competency to contribute to the national development agenda." He said the NVS would assist in fighting poverty, indignity, and injustice and improve upon the lives of the people. Nana Fosu-Amankwah said volunteerism, was a cost-effective means of service provision, employment generation, economic and human resource capacity building.

He said national volunteerism has led to increase in enrolment in some schools in the rural areas and improved community participation sanitation and water activities. Mr Ofosu Asamoah, Eastern Regional Minister, said the interest of the youth in volunteer work kept increasing. He said national volunteerism was giving the youth the opportunity to drift from the over-populated urban areas to the rural communities to contribute to national development.

Mr Asamoah urged volunteers to sensitize the people on HIV/ AIDS and environmental protection among others.