Tamale, Oct. 23, GNA - The Christian Children's Fund of Canada (CCFC), an International Christian NGO operating in the Northern Region has within its 10 years of operation, spent about five million US dollars (About 46 billion cedis) to embark on development projects in needy communities.

The CCFC has also assisted a total of 41,370 individuals, including school children, farmer groups and women in its operational areas. Madam Sanatu Nantogma, Country Director of CCFC told the GNA in an interview in Tamale that the NGO was striving harder as a worldwide team to create a better future of hope for children as a way of emulating Christ's love.

She said apart from the individual support, working through five local partners the CCFC had so far supported 96 educational institutions, providing classroom infrastructure and teachers' quarters while it had also supported 85 communities particularly in the guinea worm endemic areas, with good drinking water.

The NGO's main areas of intervention are education, health and nutrition, water and sanitation, micro-enterprise development, relief services and institutional and organisational strengthening. The CCFC also helps needy parents to pay their wards' school fees, settle medical bills for needy children, supports clinics in the operational areas, as well as offering literacy training to facilitators in adult education.

Madam Nantogma disclosed that about four million dollars would be spent in development projects in the region for the next four years. She said every year, 8,400 school children in 47 basic schools benefited from a package of exercise books, textbooks, notebooks and other learning materials.

Additionally, she said, 8,400 children are assessed half yearly on their nutritional status and given Vitamin "A" supplement, anti-malarial drugs and de-wormers to improve their health status

Other areas the NGO assisted are training of volunteer teachers, provision of furniture to needy schools, in-service training for teachers, provision of school uniform to needy children and infrastructure for schools and teachers in its operation areas. Madam Nantogma said more than 2,000 women in the region had benefited from its Micro-enterprise Development (MED) programme, under which they are given loans to expand their businesses. She gave the assurance that the CCFC would continue to assist parents, communities and partners to create and sustain an environment conducive for learning and teaching in the programme areas. Other African countries in which the CCFC is operating are: Burkina-Faso, Ethiopia and Tanzania with its head quarters in Canada. 23 Oct. 06 Attention recipients: Item 21 ends our third transmission