Bongo (U/E), July 11, GNA - World Vision (WV) Ghana has ended its operations in the Bongo District, Ms Benedicta Pealore, the Area Development Programme (ADP) Manager, has said.

World Vision is a Christian relief, development and advocacy organization dedicated to working with children, families and the communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice.

Ms Pealore said at a ceremony in Bongo to close the programme at the weekend said World Vision Ghana started its ADP operations in the Bongo District in 1996.

It had funding from WV Switzerland to bring about holistic transformational development of children, families and communities. She said the major source of funding had been through child sponsorship where over 2500 children had been linked to sponsors in Switzerland.

The sponsored children served as ambassadors to all the children in the Bongo District and the resources that came in were used for the development of all children and their communities. Mr Roland Diethelm, a representative from Switzerland, said over five million dollars was used in the Bongo District in the 15 years of operations and presented a projector to the DCE of Bongo to enhance teaching and learning in the Bongo District.

Mr Mark Woyongo, Upper East Regional Minister, commended the ADP for its achievements in the areas of health, education, economic development and advocacy in the Bongo District. He said over the 15 years of the ADP, malnutrition had been reduced from 33 per cent to 12 per cent and maternal mortality from 121 deaths per 100,000 to 93 deaths per 100,000. Mr Woyongo said illnesses among children under five years had been reduced from 45 per cent to 15 per cent, HIV incident rate went down from 3.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent, school enrolment rose from 62 per cent to 91 per cent, enrolment in second cycle schools rose from 389 to 1715, and school blocks were also increased from 32 to 120 over the same period.

Mr Woyongo commended WV for the impressive performance in the district and cautioned the Bongo District Assembly, the beneficiary communities and all stakeholders to develop the habit of maintaining the infrastructure left behind by WV. He appealed to the WV Programme Office to consider leaving behind a skeletal staff that will continue to run the programme office for about two years before the final pull out.

Mr Woyongo assured them that the Regional Coordinating Council would continue to monitor the successes chalked through the WV Programme to ensure that the impressive indicators do not slide back. Mr Basilio Okello, the National Director of World Vision, urged the people to apply the knowledge and skills they had acquired to improve their lives and appealed to the District Assembly and the traditional authorities to address the phenomenon of young people migrating to Kumasi and Accra for jobs. Mr Clement Akugri, the District Chief Executive for Bongo, thanked World Vision and assured them that measures were already in place to ensure the maintenance and expansion of what they had left behind. Bonaba Alemyaarum Salifu Baba Atamale, the chief of Bongo, also thanked World Vision for their intervention and assured them that every facility left behind would be taken care of.