Some vulnerable groups within the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality in the Eastern Region have been enlightened on some key pro-poor government policies at an event at Agomanya.

The vulnerable groups included persons living with disabilities (PWDs), market women, and women who engage in farming.

The event brought together major key stakeholders such as officials of the Lower Manya Krobo Municipal Assembly, the Department of Social Welfare, the Department of Agriculture, the Ghana Enterprise Agency, and the Business Advisory Center targeted at strengthening the enterprises of the various groups.

Executive Director for the Youth and Women Empowerment (YOWE), Emmanuel Nuetey
Siakwa explained that the event aimed to facilitate the interface between the leadership of the PWDs and market women by creating an avenue for easy access to officials of the aforementioned departments.

He urged the participants to take the training seriously to enable them to reap the benefits of their labour by empowering themselves financially for the larger benefit of their families and society.

Janet Adenyor, Social Welfare Officer at the Lower Manya Krobo Municipal Assembly centering her presentation on the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) program for the poor, and livelihood empowerment items given to the PWDs explained that most beneficiaries of the latter resorted to selling the items given them instead of using them for the intended purposes.

Cautioning the PWDs against the practice, she warned that beneficiaries caught indulging in such acts stood the risk of facing sanctions.

The social welfare officer urged female PWDs to stand up and make their voices heard in their communities and also partake in key decision-making processes to ensure that they make the necessary impact.

However, she identified delay in the release of the funds for the beneficiaries as one of the key challenges confronting the social welfare department, adding that the department is under-resourced, a situation which hampers its effective community engagements.

On his part, the Director of Agric Agents at the Department of Agriculture at Lower Manya Krobo, Alex Fordwour explained the benefits of planting for food and jobs and urged the participants to take advantage of the policy to reap its benefits.

The MCE for Lower Manya Krobo, Simon Kweku Tetteh urged the beneficiaries to cooperate with the facilitators to ensure that they reap the maximum benefits of the program by putting into practice what they’ve learned at the seminar.

He pledged the unwavering support of the Assembly for the departments of Agriculture, the Department of Social Welfare, and other pro-poor agencies and departments to address the needs of the beneficiaries as these go a long way to not only financially empower them but also boost the local economy.

He was also optimistic that the program would go a long way in alleviating poverty in the municipality.

About the project:

Youth and Women Empowerment (YOWE), a Youth and Women-Centered NGO, with
sponsorship from the STAR-Ghana Foundation, under the Action for Voice and Inclusive Development (AVID), has embarked on an ambitious task to train various groups aimed at empowering them with the requisite knowledge and skills to improve their livelihoods.

The project is a 15-month strategy designed to guide the beneficiaries towards applying the acquired requisite knowledge and practical skills to alleviate poverty, thereby placing them in the position to support themselves, their dependents, and the larger society.

The GH₵ 300,000 funded project to be executed within fifteen months in the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality and Upper Manya Krobo District in the Eastern Region has offered the implementers a unique platform to empower various groups including Women Farmer-Based Groups, Persons with Disabilities (PWD) and Market Women in terms of proper organization of their trade to reap maximum benefits.

As part of the objectives of the project to address sanitation challenges confronting market women at the Agormanya and Asesewa markets, YOWE in collaboration with various stakeholders including the two districts (Lower Manya Krobo Municipal and Upper Manya Krobo District) and sanitation giants, Zoomlion Ghana Limited, will ensure sound sanitation, hygiene, and food safety at the markets.