Ofosu Ampofo touts achievements
By Fatima Adam
The Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo has ranked the Local Enterprises and Skills Development Project (LESDEP), an initiative of his outfit, which seeks to achieve a sustainable and equitable economic growth through citizen participation, as the most achievable program in 2012.
He explained that the initiative was organized by his outfit to serve as an employment avenue, a means of enhancing the socio-economic standards of the youth in the country and to help develop the informal sector as a means of contributing towards national development.
Ampofo disclosed that 30,993 individuals had benefited in the field of vocation and entrepreneurship from the program out of total number of 40,000 individuals targeted.
To ensure that the trainees make good use of the knowledge put in them, he stated that LESDEP went further to organize a business advisory service to ensure proper management of their businesses.
The minister further explained that the program, in ensuring a balance in dealing with unemployment in the nation, equipped people from both the Rural and Urban areas and also people with disabilities and unemployed graduates.
He made the above statement when he took his turn at the ‘Meet-the- Press’ series which was held yesterday in Accra.
He announced that the initiative; Local Enterprises and Skills Development Project (LEADEP), had also collaborated with the Institute of Local Government Studies which provided entrepreneurship seminars in all 10 Regions for unemployed graduates.
Hon. Ampofo added that LESDEP had also provided 15 trucks valued at GH¢ 567, 600 each to the Ghana Cooperative Butchers Association to help reduce transportation cost and make meat affordable to the general public.
Other areas that benefited from the LESDEP initiative include agro processing, construction, fishing farming, ICT services, crop farming, edible oil processing, tricycle motor bikes and mini goods loader, among others.
Other achievements of his outfit for the year 2012 were the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP). According to him, it had been increased from 1,040,000 pupils in 2010/2011 to 1, 600,000 in 2011/2012 academic year.
He further stated that the ministry had provided pick-up vehicles to Regional Coordinators of the GESP programme to help strengthen their monitoring capacity.
“Additionally, re-targeting of schools under the programme was undertaken to enhance accessibility of vulnerable and deprived schools and children”.
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