Silver Spring, Maryland—On Monday, March 3, 2008, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) signed an agreement with the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA), a Ghana government agency that implements development contracts funded by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a United States government agency that funds efforts to advance sustainable economic growth in poorer countries. With the multi-million dollar, four-year agricultural project, ADRA will expand its ongoing efforts to reduce poverty in central Ghana.
The contract was signed in Ghana Monday morning at the Novotel Accra City Centre Hotel, with media coverage provided by national and private television, radio, and print media outlets. The country director for MCC Ghana, the country director for ADRA Ghana, and the chief executive officer of MiDA spoke at the event, emphasizing the importance of the agreement and the high expectations of MCC, the Ghanaian government, and MiDA.
"ADRA Ghana is grateful for the opportunity to once again demonstrate our capability and commitment towards improving the lives of the underprivileged in Ghana," enthused Samuel Asante-Mensah, country director for ADRA Ghana. "Our 11 years of experience in food security projects and in empowering farmers to overcome poverty will be to the advantage of MiDA and will ensure this project's success."
Valued at $6,474,235, the entire project will be implemented over a four-year period in two, two-year phases. The agreement signed Monday initiated Phase A, worth $3.2 million.
The project will develop the capabilities of subsistence farmers in central Ghana, training farmers' groups in literacy, business planning, and marketing methods. In order to help farmers increase their crop yields, ADRA will facilitate access to irrigation ponds, as well as grain storage and temperature sensitive facilities designed to reduce post-harvest losses.
Expected to benefit 30,000 farmers in 600 farmers' groups in the Afram Basin, the project will stimulate economic growth in a region of Ghana with tremendous potential to become the country's food basket.
ADRA's project is part of the Ghana Compact, a five-year, $547 million contract between the MCC and the Government of the Republic of Ghana to alleviate poverty and improve the physical and institutional infrastructure of the agricultural sector in the country.
"We are absolutely thrilled with this achievement," shared Charles Sandefur, president of ADRA International. "ADRA International is very proud of the work that ADRA Ghana has done toward empowering Ghanaians, and looks forward to their continued success in this new initiative."
ADRA is present in 125 countries, providing community development and emergency management without regard to political or religious association, age, gender, race, or ethnicity.
Additional information about ADRA can be found at www.adra.org.
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Author: Nadia McGill
Media Contact:
Kara Watkins
ADRA International
12501 Old Columbia Pike
Silver Spring, MD 20904
Phone: 301.680.6357
Mobile: 301.526.2625
E-mail: Media.Inquiries@adra.org
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
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