Vulnerable Women To Benefit From New Project

Kpandai (N/R), July 20, GNA - Some ten communities in the Kpandai District in the Northern Region are benefiting from a pilot project dubbed: Promoting Resilience for Improved Income through Capacity Enhancement (PRICE).

The PRICE for women project is aimed at extending financial service support to vulnerable women especially, members of the Christian Mothers' Association (CMA) in rural communities through the Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA) concepts.

The VSLA brings together a group of people who save among themselves and take small loans from the saving over a period of time, after which the accumulated savings and accruing interests is distributed among members to expand or engage in income generating businesses.

The two-year pilot project (2018-2020) is funded by Misereor, a Germany-based Catholic funding agency.

Reverend Sebastian Zaato, Tamale Catholic Archdiocesan Development Coordinator, said the project seeks to inculcate the habit of saving among beneficiaries to enable them grow their businesses as well as gain access to bigger loans facilities.

He said many rural women are unable to sustain their business as a result of high interest rate charged by financial institutions as well as title deeds or landed properties demanded by traditional banks as collaterals for accessing loans.

Rev. Zaato said beneficiaries would be trained in financial management, gender sensitive practices and social inclusion to enable them manage the project, adding that the scope of the project would be expanded to cover other groups.

Mr Atta Emmanuel Kofi Tatablata, Kpandai District Chief Executive (DCE), said the concept of VSLA has been implemented in the district but on a more limited scale, expressing optimism that the project would enrol more women into the programme.

He said the district assembly is committed to ensure the successful implementation of the project, saying 'Government policy of Ghana beyond Aid can only be realized if the economies of our local communities are improved to make citizens self-sufficient'.

Rev. Alphonsus Dakorah, the Parish Priest, advised the beneficiaries to gird their loins to take advantage of the project to better their lives saying 'Women are the bedrock of our families'.