Adieye (W/R) Dec. 20, GNA - Anglogold Ashanti Iduapriem Limited (AAIL) has donated a 23-seater Benz bus valued at GH=A220,600 to Badukrom and Wongarakrom, both communities, to facilitate mobility of the people in the area.

Again three citizens from the area: Bossby Nti-Appiah, George Debrah and Louise Atisoe, were presented with sponsorship package to undertake mechanical, electrical and mechanical engineering courses, respectively, at the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) at Tarkwa.

The sponsorship is under the placement on the Community Youth Apprenticeship Scheme which is aimed at equipping unemployed school leavers in the Mines catchment communities with mining related skills to enable them to benefit from job opportunities offered by mining and other related industries.

These ceremonies were held at Adieyie at the week-end during Hand-in-Hand Beneficiaries Open Day Celebration. The occasion was to showcase the sustainable alternative livelihood programmes to uplift the economic well-being and improvement of the living conditions of the communities. It was also to afford Hand-in-Hand Beneficiaries Programme to come together to share experiences and make the general public and stakeholders aware of the impact so far made on their lives in the form of testimonies and exhibits.

Addressing the gathering, Mr Anthony Evans Amoah, Western Regional Minister, suggested to AAIL to involve the younger generations, who might decide to do other things other than indulging in galamsey. He told the Mine to help the school children by way of providing seedlings for them to plant in their communities as a component of Greening Ghana Initiative Programme, saying, this would whip up their interest in environmental rehabilitation.

The Western Regional Minister appealed to the beneficiaries of the soft loans provided by the Mine to pay back for others to benefit. Mr Amoah said failure to do this would prevent others from enjoying it and that would discourage the Mine from continuing to provide the facility.

With the discovering of oil in the Western Region, Mr Amoah pleaded with the parents to send their children to school to acquire employable skills and qualifications to merit employment in the oil industry.

Miss Joyce Aryee, Chief Executive of Ghana Chamber of Mines, said the Chamber believed in communicating openly and honestly with the stakeholders about its business practices and the social environmental initiatives.

She said the Chamber, therefore, placed special emphasis on strengthening decision-making and clarifying responsibility with the aim of expanding corporate value in a sustainable manner. Miss Aryee said the Chamber had established Community Relations Forums aimed at promoting dialogue between members and residents within their respective catchment areas.

She said the Chamber had initiated a Mining Industry/Traditional Leaders Consultative Forum in the last two years to hold discussions with the National and Regional Houses of Chiefs to explore ways of hastening development in host communities. Giving a brief overview of the 'Hand-in-Hand' programme Mr Ferdinand Nyantakyi-Dapaah, Director of Programs, Opportunities Industrialisation Centre International (OICI), said AngloGold Ashanti, Iduaprim Limited in partnership with OICI launched the Hand-in-Hand Alternative Livelihood Programme at Adieyie on January 28, 2005. He said the programme currently was in its third phase of implementation and its overall goal was to improve the quality of life and income generating opportunities of the poor, disadvantaged youth and adults in eight communities.

Mr Nyantakyi-Dapaah said the implementation strategy included the provision of training and capacity building; technical assistance; inputs supply; micro-credit and business development services to improve the quality of life and economic growth of beneficiaries. He said the programme had made modest gains and the impact had been recorded in all the eight participating communities, adding, 1,931 mine impacted population had been sensitized on the programme. Mr Nyantakyi-Dapaah said there was now positive perception of community members on Anglogold activities as a result of regular community engagement; reduction in animal mortality due to the activities of trained community livestock workers and increased agricultural productivity among other things. GNA