UKAID Grants 3 Million Pounds For Statistical Development Plan

The UKaid is providing three million pounds sterling to support Ghana's Statistical Development Plan. Mr. Jim Drummond, director of UKaid in-charge of Western and Southern Africa, announced this at a press briefing at Sekondi, on Thursday. He said two million pounds sterling of the grant is for the post-enumeration activities of the 2010 Population and Housing Census. Mr. Drummond, who was on his first visit to Ghana, said the funds had been channelled into a World Bank Trust Fund, designed to accept funds from a variety of development partners. He said the UKaid is also providing 3.3 m pounds sterling to strengthen the structures and systems in the Department of Social Welfare to implement the Livelihoods Empowerment against Poverty (LEAP) programme. Mr. Drummond said the 2010 Population and Housing Census was important because it could help assess Ghana's progress towards the achievement of the objectives of the Millennium Development Goals. He said the census would make it possible to determine which areas UKaid could partner the government to reduce poverty. The Census, which officially took off on September 26, ends on October 12. Material and logistical constraints are reportedly thwarting its implementation.