Tamale, May 6, GNA - The Regional Advisory Information and Network Systems (RAINS), a Tamale based NGO dedicated to offering care and support to needy persons and communities, on Monday presented cheques totalling Gh¢ 12,000 to two vocational training centres in the Savelugu/Nanton and the West Mamprusi districts for girls training. Under the programme RAINS would help to train more than 2,800 needy girls at the end of the programme's implementation in the two districts.

Comic Relief, a UK based NGO, is funding the project while Hope for Children, another UK based NGO in collaboration with RAINS, would ensure that the programme was well implemented and succeed to end child trafficking.

The Walewale Vocational Training Centre in West Mamprusi received 4,000 Ghana cedis because it had an earlier support from RAINS while the remaining 8,000 Ghana cedis went to the Savelugu Vocational Centre. Presenting the cheques to representatives of the two institutions in Tamale, Madam Patience Sakoalia, Monitoring and Evaluation Officer of RAINS, said her outfit had established Child Surveillance Units in 20 communities within the two districts as means of fighting child trafficking.

She said though several interventions had been put in place to fight child trafficking the problem still persisted and called on stakeholders to help address the canker to give hope to vulnerable children.

Mr. Alhassan Musah, Programmes Manager of RAINS, said it needed multiple strategies to effectively win the fight against child trafficking and labour and that it was necessary to focus much on community participation. He said over the years RAINS and its development partners had raised enough awareness on child trafficking and expressed regret that stakeholders in the public service were not doing enough to help fight the problem. Mr. Musah said RAINS would continue to collaborate with district assemblies in its operational areas to ensure that problems associated with children and other vulnerable in society were addressed. Mr. Nabila Sulemana, District Chief Executive for West Mamprusi, expressed the willingness to address all problems in their districts particularly those that had something to do with raising the standards of education and eliminating poverty. He appealed to other NGOs and philanthropists in the region to help address problems of poverty, hunger and disease to ensure a healthy nation. 06 May 08