Interestingly, poverty in Ghana has gradually assumed the state of normalcy. It is ostensibly no news again when people go hungry or are held captive by the ravaging impacts of chronic poverty and sordid malnutrition. In Ghana, according to the International Fund for Agriculture Development, about 51 percent of the poor people live in rural areas. Even disheartening is the fact that the rural poor live with limited access to basic social services, safe water, all-year motorable roads, electricity and telephone services. It is, however, very worrying if chronic poverty continues to permeate rural areas in developing countries including Ghana.

It is against this backdrop that the fight for developing and implementing strategies to reduce rural poverty is compelling. At attempts at reducing the alarming incidence of these patterns of poverty, the New Patriotic Party under the leadership of John A. Kufuor formulated the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS I) and the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS II) that spanned for the period between 2003 and 2009. There are also countless rural development strategies by international organizations and donor agencies. Nonetheless, the fight against poverty has not been adequate to improve ordinary livelihoods. As a result, there have been the interventions of non-governmental organizations, both local and international to supplement the efforts of government in combating the threats of poverty.

In 21st century, it is unacceptable to allow extreme poverty, hunger and malnutrition to hit the already vulnerable groups in our society. The fact that rural poverty has gained unenviable foothold provides ground for a sense of urgency in poverty reduction efforts. For how long would poverty continue to dent the image of the country that is perceived as the stronghold of democracy and the only specimen of peace and stability in the African region?
OSNERD in Perspective

It is in the light of all these that Osagyefo Network for Rural Development (OSNERD), a non-profit and non-partisan non-governmental organization, based in Kumasi seeks to push for the cause of reducing (or eradicating) poverty especially among the rural folks in the whole country who are predominantly farmers or attached to the primary sector and even transcend to incorporate enterprise solutions to fighting this canker. This involves re-orienting local conditions and businesses to have a positive impact on the lives of rural folks.
The goal of the organization is to seek for enterprise and innovative solutions to chronic poverty and hunger especially in the rural areas in Ghana and the territories of Africa.

OSNERD stands for social justice among the rural poor through improving agriculture, promoting quality health and education and to create rural employment by establishing small and medium scale enterprises.

With the objectives of OSNERD, we seek to ensure that livelihoods of the poor in the rural areas become meaningful. Among the objectives include the following:

1. To devise strategies towards the modernization of agriculture to ensure increased production and food security.
2. To extend the benefits of quality formal and informal education to the young and old to enable informed decisions that affect their lives.
3. To expand the contribution of good/reproductive health among rural people.
4. To promote good social life among the rural people.

As part of the efforts to achieve the objectives of the organization, the functions of OSNERD that would be carried out include the following:

? Collaborate with local and international organizations towards the improvement of livelihoods of the local people in the rural areas.
? Hold workshops/seminars for rural communities to educate individuals about the cause and solution to their plight and the need to exhibit the right attitude to life progress.
? Provide information to Ghanaian and international media sources in order to raise public awareness concerning the issues on rural poverty
? Advocate for the best policies of governments for rural development. In this we shall react to government policies and strategies on equitable distribution of national resources.
The Clarion Call!
It is a recognizable fact that Ghana can go no further in achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 than ensuring that the vestiges of rural poverty are cleared off the economy. Poverty is the prime factor behind increasing crime. It is the reason for poor education and its grim consequences. Poverty completely destabilizes the foundation of an economy of which Ghana is no exception. It is about time Ghana embed good and feasible practices to bridge the wide gap between the rural man and the urban man on one side and infrastructure on the other hand.

Therefore, the interventions in the contemporary state of rural communities are well legitimate. The issues of rural poverty in Africa and Ghana to be specific should of course continue to be of resounding discourse in any development strategies geared towards enhancing livelihoods. Given this premise, Osagyefo Network for Rural Development is calling on other NGOs to tighten their belts and create a different platform that will solve poverty especially rural poverty in the country and Africa at large. It is an undeniable fact that Ghana can never approach the center of development and growth when the economy is still lopsided in terms of infrastructure distribution, and general socio-economic opportunities. The rural communities have been left to grapple with intractable challenges with no end in sight.

Rural poverty reduction efforts should remain at the heart of the government, civil society organizations and all people if really we are aspiring for a “Better Ghana” tomorrow. OSNERD is ready to lead the course in this struggle for emancipation not from political rule but from the reign of “ABJECT POVERTY”. We ought to break ground in the new era of development that is completely distant from hardships, hunger and malnutrition. The fight against rural unsavory conditions is now!

OSNERD…..Care for Humanity.

By: Stephen Yeboah, National Co-ordinator, Osagyefo Network for Rural Development (contact email: stephenyeboah110@yahoo.com) and the Founder and International Co-ordinator, Michael Nkrumah [michaelnkrumah@hotmail.com] (001-614-329-1371