Plan-Ghana extends operations to Northern Region

Plan Ghana, an NGO working to promote child rights to end poverty, has extended its operations to the Northern Region to contribute its quota towards improving child welfare in the area.

Mr Prem Shukla, Country Director of Plan Ghana, speaking at the inauguration of an office accommodation to mark Plan Ghana’s Operations in Northern Ghana in Tamale, on Friday, said the opening of the office marked the beginning of life changing moments for children and their parents.

He said children were at the heart of the NGOs strategic development projects and programmes and stressed that Plan Ghana was committed to ensuring that many children got support and opportunities they need to further their growth and advancement in life.

Mr Shukla said Plan International had been working for the past 75 years, and that, its operations currently covered 71 countries worldwide, promoting children’s rights and providing opportunities for millions of children.

He said children, who were marginalized, would continue to receive the needed support in education as well as protect them against any forms of maltreatment, and stressed that, his outfit does so in partnership with communities, ministries, departments and agencies as well as civil society groups.

He said Plan Ghana had made a remarkable impact in the lives of more than some 500 thousand children who had been reached directly and indirectly through its various development interventions in the sectors of education, health and livelihood, water and sanitation, human rights and youth development.

He assured deprived children and communities in the Northern and Upper East Regions that the extension of Plan Ghana’s operation to those areas would help improve child welfare, especially in the areas of education and health.

He said its entry into the Northern Region was also aimed at enabling Plan Ghana to scale-up its proven interventions and to efficiently operate in the three Northern Regions and the upper part of the Volta region to make the desired lasting improvement in the lives of children.

Alhaji Limuna Mohammed-Muniru, Northern Regional Minister, in a speech read on his behalf, commended Plan Ghana for its life-changing programmes for deprived children and their parents in the country for the past 22 years.

He said Plan Ghana was complementing government efforts in improving lives of the people, especially in the areas of education, healthcare delivery, water and sanitation, and expressed the hope that its presence in the Northern Region would facilitate poverty reduction among rural communities.

Alhaji Mohammed-Muniru said the Northern Regional Coordinating Council was ready to partner with any development partner, whose work fell in line with government’s programmes and urged management of Plan Ghana not to hesitate to knock at his doors for the needed partnership.