THE Social Opportunities Project (SOP) targeted at improving the socio-economic life of the rural poor in the country has commenced in Tamale.
The US$88.6 million project is to provide rural poor households with access to employment and income-earning opportunities, especially during agricultural off-seasons, while rehabilitating productive and social infrastructure such as dams and feeder roads.
The five-year project is being funded by the World Bank through a loan facility.
In all, 40 districts are to benefit from the project nation-wide. They include 11 districts from the Northern, six from the Upper West and eight from the Upper West regions.
At a capacity-building workshop for 20 beneficiary districts in Tamale last Tuesday, the outgoing Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Joseph Yieleh Chireh, explained that the government adopted a National Social Protection Strategy (NSPS) with the aim of protecting the poorest and most vulnerable segment of society.
According to a speech read on his behalf, a number of programmes, such as the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP), the Capitation Grant, School Feeding, distribution of free school uniforms and free maternal care for pregnant women, were all part of the NSPS.
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