Mrs Evelyn Baafi Boamah, Deputy Director of Minerals Development Fund at the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, has called on Friends of the Nation (FoN), to continue to fight for the needs of the vulnerable in the society.
She said FoN, a Non Governmental Organization (NGO), has become the mouthpiece of the helpless, hence the need to continue in its efforts to alert the public on their predicament and developmental needs.
Mrs Baafi Boamah made the call when she addressed Persons with Disability (PWDs) and female traders in the Tarkwa-Nsueam municipality at a day’s stakeholder workshop on the opportunities under the Mineral Development Fund.
The programme, with support from STAR-Ghana, is being funded by UKAID, DANIDA and European Union. She said when FoN aids such groups to come up with concrete plans they should endeavour to assist them with monitoring strategies to ensure better results.
“For instance PWD’s need help and since FoN is their mouthpiece they should do follow-ups for them as well”, she said.
She informed the participants they could benefit from the Minerals Development Fund (MDF) in three ways, “when it is disbursed to the assemblies through the office of the Administrator of Stool Lands, the Local Management Committee and directly made to the MDF where they handle it as special project”.
She said with the special project they are treated as urgent and the fund has the mandate to seek approval from Parliament to finance the project.
Any request submitted to the institutions mentioned should be put on paper and it must be part of their plan for implementation in the ensuing year, the deputy Director of MDF, said. She said the plan must also reach the assembly, Local Management Committee and the MDF before the end of September each year.
Mrs Boamah said the beauty of the MDF was that they have the authority to monitor any project the institution funds. She said preparations are underway for the MDF Board to inaugurate the Local Management Committee.
She said “once they are inaugurated in Tarkwa, the group has the opportunity to consult them and make sure they submit their request to them for consideration”.
Miss Efua Ewur, the Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator for FoN, expressed her appreciation to the sponsors for partnering them to educate PWD’s and female traders and urged the participants to spread the knowledge they have gained.
Source: FoN urged to fight for the vulnerable in society By Erica Apeatua Addo, GNA