General Assembly of Presbyterian Church of Ghana establishes an NGO

Right Reverend Dr Yaw Frimpong-Manso, Moderator of General Assembly of Presbyterian Church of Ghana on Sunday inaugurated the Church's Relief Services and Development Organization at Reverend Ernst Peyer Congregation at Bantama in Kumasi.

The organization seeks to enrich and increase the Church's social services through effective mobilization of resources.

It would also afford the church, a better focus on social services which would lead to improved expertise, better services and visibility.

Rt-Rev. Frimpong-Manso said the church had not only been involved in preaching the gospel and nurturing of respondents but also provided social services to many needy communities over 150 years when it was established.

He said the church's social service interventions were in health services, agriculture and entrepreneurial capacity building.

Rt-Rev. Frimpong-Manso noted that for the past 30 years, the church had not been able to meet the demand for social services by rural communities.

“Our inability to meet these demands stems from mainly dwindling sources of overseas partners' support and weak internal structures of resource mobilization.” He said.

Rt-Rev. Frimpong-Manso pointed out that, establishment of the organization was in the right direction because relief services development had its roots in a church with a tradition or culture of hard work, discipline, integrity, proven structures for openness and accountability.

He said resource mobilization would be a major activity and the organization would need credible, effective structures and tools to mobilize adequate resources to undertake its programmes.

Reverend Kwabena Yeboah-Duah, Director of Social Services said the organization would need an initial operational capital of about 20,000 Ghana cedis to build capacity in relief services and disaster management with its target on floods and fire outbreak.

He announced that personnel from Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) and National Disaster and Management Organization (NADMO) had been contacted to assist the department to design training programmes in fire prevention, control and relief.