NGO raises funds to build schools(11/6/09)

THE Benedict Sanitation and Development Trust Fund, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), has held an inaugural and fund-raising ceremony in Accra to raise funds for the construction of school blocks for communities in parts of the country.
The NGO hopes to raise GH¢50 million to build up to 6,000 basic school classrooms within the next six years.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NGO, Mr Charles Owusu, who spoke to the Daily Graphic after the ceremony, said the NGO would also renovate 35 senior high schools in the Eastern, Ashanti, Central and some parts of the Northern regions.
The projects are expected to commence before the end of the year.
He stated that the project was to complement government’s efforts at alleviating poverty in deprived communities through sustainable basic sanitation systems.
Under the initiative, he said, some lavatories would be sited at some departments of the Ridge Hospital and in individual households to help forestall the imminent outbreak of contagious diseases, adding “We also plan to provide 150 public places of convenience and washrooms.”
“It is important to know that access to proper sanitation facilities is not just vital for life; it is a human right and the basis of development,” he added.
In a speech read on his behalf, the Minster for Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Joseph Yieleh Chireh, lauded the initiative by the NGO.
He stated that despite the huge investment made by the government to improve the country’s sanitation, little impact had been made, as most cities and towns had drains which were choked with heaps of garbage.
“It is refreshing that there is increasing commitment from the government, development partners and stakeholders towards reversing the continuous deterioration of the sanitation situation in the country,” he added.
He called on other organisations to emulate the example by the NGO and support his ministry to make rapid progress to scale-up environmental sanitation infrastructure and services.
He also pledged the government’s support to ensure that the programme was sustained.