The Rural Enterprise programme (REP) under the Yilo Krobo Municipal Assembly has held its annual work plan budget preparation stakeholders fora.
The Project which started rolling out in the Yilo Municipality from 2013, is to conduct detailed needs assessment to guide the YKMA towards churning out interventions that reflect the needs and aspirations of the people through stakeholders meeting.
Head of Business Advisory Centre (BAC) of the Yilo Krobo Municipal Assembly, Mr. Reindolf Akuoko Amoaning explained that the takeholders meeting is held annually to consult the players on the kind of activities to be carried out in the coming years and draw a suitable budget from the plan.
He added that, the programme is a government initiative that is geared towards the creation of jobs and elevating poverty in the country to small and medium businesses especially in the rural areas.
Mr Reindolf explained that, the project focuses on three main components which include Business Development Service (BDS), which entails activities such as training of personnel for some jobs like soap making, tie and dye making, honey production, costing and pricing and Access to Rural Finance (ARF) which focuses on helping their clients get financial support from banking institutions.
Mr Akuoko however noted that due to challenges encountered, regular funding and mid-term review of projects from their donors can only be assessed if their goals and objectives are seen to be making any impacts.
He regretted that most activities planned for the past years were not achieved, adding however that measures have been put in place with full assurance from the African Development Bank (ADB) and International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) to fully fund all ‘well-planned’ activities.
The Head of the Business Advisory Centre (BAC) nevertheless expressed contentment with participation which he described as ‘encouraging’ and hoped that it continues in the forthcoming activities.
The Rural Enterprises Programme under the Yilo Krobo Municipal Assembly per the work plan for 2018 will roll out a lot of activities which includes; Technology improvement and packaging training in bead making, Technology improvement and packaging training in leather works, Community Based Training in Cassava processing, Bee-Keeping, mushroom cultivation, Auto mobile diagnostic devices usage and application phase 1 in fuel injection system vehicles among others.
The forum was graced by the MCE for Yilo Krobo Municipality, Hon Ebenezer Tetteh Kupualor, Head of Business Advisory Centre, Mr Reindolf Akuoko Amoaning, Reps from the municipal MOFA Department, Reps from Farmer Based Organization, among others.
BRIEF HISTORY OF REP
The Rural Enterprises Programme (REP) is part of the efforts of the Government of Ghana to reduce poverty and improve living conditions in the rural areas. REP is an upscale of the Rural Enterprises Project – Phases I & II (REP-II & I) which were implemented in 66 districts across the country from 1995 to 2011.
The Programme seeks to upscale and mainstream, within public and private institutional systems, the district-based micro-and small-scale enterprises (MSEs) support system piloted by REP-II & I to at least 161 municipalities and districts in all the ten regions of the country from 2012 to 2020.
Source: Joyce Bedeley/ritefmonline.org/jbedeley9357@gmail.com
