Local and international representatives of EDUCO, have paid a courtesy call on Alhaji Limuna Mohammed-Muniru, Northern Regional Minister, to brief him about the interventions of the organization in the region.

The meeting, which took place in Tamale on Monday, also afforded EDUCO, which is a donor agency supporting projects in the areas of education and child rights, to introduce all its local implementing partners to the Minister, for strengthened collaboration to ensure efficiency.

Mr Chema Rodriguez Sala, West Africa Representative of EDUCO, who spoke about the interventions of EDUCO in the Northern Region, said the organization’s projects were aimed at complementing national initiatives to promote basic education and child rights in the country.

Mr Sala pledged that EDUCO was committed to contribute to the development of the Northern Region, particularly the Savelugu/Nanton Municipality, where all its partners had been implementing various educational projects.

EDUCO works in primary education in the Savelugu/Nanton Municipality, with four partners, and also supports a project on “Kayayei” and child trafficking in the Kumbungu District and Volta Region respectively.

The partners include the Savana Signatures, Northern Network for Education Development, Tuma Kavi Development Association, and Pan African Organization for Research and Protection of Violence on Women and Children, all of which work in the Savelugu/Nanton Municipality, while Youth Development Resource Centre works in the Kumbungu District and the Association of People for Practical Life Education operates in the Volta Region.

Alhaji Mohammed-Muniru commended representatives of EDUCO for calling on him to brief him about their operations saying it showed that EDUCO recognized the vital roles played by the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) to promote development in the region.

He pledged the RCC's readiness to share government’s priority programmes on education to inform it (EDUCO) about which programmes to implement, to avoid duplication of projects to ensure efficiency.

He said standards of education were not the best in the region, but gave the assurance that efforts were being made to improve the situation, and emphasized the need for effective collaboration between the state and non-governmental organizations, to ensure maximum results.

Mr Wilfred Dery, Ghana Local Representative of EDUCO, thanked the Minister for the warm reception, and gave the assurance that EDUCO would collaborate effectively with the RCC to promote education in the region.