Bolgatanga, Aug 6, GNA - Municipal and district assemblies in the Upper East Region have given out more than 178 million cedis from their share of the common fund to support activities being undertaken by population advisory committees.

Bawku West District Assembly provided 49 million cedis, Bongo, 20 million cedis, Bulisa, 25 million cedis and Kassena Nankana 20million cedis for population-related programmes during 2004. Bolgatanga Municipal Assembly gave 54 million cedis while Bawku East gave 10million cedis.

This followed a directive by the Regional Minister, Mr. Mahami Salifu, to the assemblies to create separate budgets for the committees to ensure they carried out their responsibilities effectively.

This came up when District Advisory Committees in the region held a mid-year review meeting in Bolgatanga on Thursday to share experiences and plan for the rest of the year.

The committees would identify and define population needs of the districts and assist in translating policy objectives into relevant action plans.

They would also identify priority areas of research for planning in the districts and ensure the effective use of population data. In a speech read on his behalf by Mr. S. M. Billey, deputy Regional Coordinating Director, the Regional Minister urged the assemblies to take over ownership of population programmes as a means of promoting grassroots development.

''Tackling social sector and population problems go a long way towards realizing the goals of the government's Poverty Reduction Strategy".

Mr. Sylvester Agangmikre, Regional Population Officer commended the Assemblies for the financial help given the committees and urged the members to work hard enough to justify further assistance.