Africa 2000 Network designs new info platform

Local communities in Ghana are being afforded a platform to be actively engaged in the marketplace of skills and knowledge sharing.

The Africa 2000 Network-Ghana (A2N), an NGO has designed a development information portal to serve as a one-stop shop for locally-relevant development content.

The platform is under the Sustainable Rural Livelihood Project (SRLP), which focuses on improving the productive capacity of communities in terms of economic, health, education and gender equity.

The SRLP was established in 2006 by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to promote growth and reduce poverty in deprived communities.

Project Coordinator, Edem Senanu, tells Luv Fm implementation of programmes in the current 61 communities in six regions has recorded between 30 and 200 percent increase in incomes.

He says the project has helped develop skills in leadership, community mobilization, lobbying and advocacy as well as technical skills for income generation activities and created linkages to the district assembly for problem solving.

“That process has ended up in them improving their health, for example through accessing cheap health post, through accessing school blocks, boreholes, through increasing their knowledge on leadership, on managing of disasters, through the utilization of improved types agricultural inputs like seeds, irrigation, etc. so a lot of the communities we've worked with have seen significant improvements in their livelihoods”, Mr. Senanu stated.

He says the Ghana Development Information Portal (GDIP) www.tsobio.com supports the communities to assess and prioritize challenges and tackle them based on assets and resources available in the area.

Mr. Senanu expects the service to be standardized for national adaptation by end of 2010.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh