Pure Trust Social Investors Foundation, a Tamale-based non-profit organization has organized a forum on the “Ghana Community Foundations Development Project”(GCFDP) initiative to encourage the public to give back to society
The project is to educate the youth and members on the GCFDP, a project aimed at mobilizing resources for community development and inspire the youth on the need to focus on the society .
The establishment of the foundation is also to help bring people together to pool resources to harness on the potentials within the community.
Since the inception of the project, over 40 communities have been introduced to the concept with 15 Community Foundations (CF) emerging to mobilize funds for their incorporations.
Also, a total of GH71,750.00 have so far been raised by all pilot CFs from the various local communities.
The forum that brought together stakeholders, staff, and some voluntary citizens was to provide an opportunity to connect current, past and future residence and natives of a community to vital projects or development needs of the community to increase its vitality.
Community development is a shared responsibility between citizens and residence of every country including Ghana
Speaking at the forum, the Monarchical Historian at Manhyia Kumasi Nana Osei-Bonsu Safo-Kantanka called on the youth to take advantage of the community foundation to help build the society in which they belong.
“More often, we look up to the government, church organizations, and other stakeholders for aid to develop the communities that do not materialize but the foundation is to enable the individuals and the group to solicit support for developmental projects. With the community foundation which is homegrown is to bring about more activities than depending on the aids” he said.
“We identify what the community needed at a particular moment before providing those needs”he added.
Touching on the challenges, he said most people rely on the government for intervention.
Way forward
He said the leadership would continue to educate the public on the importance of community foundation and the need for them to participate to build a future for the communities across the country.
The Chief Executive Officer for Songtaba, another Tamale-based humanitarian organization Hajia Laminatu Adam said, the voluntary community programme has helped to support the less privileged ones in some societies across the region.
She said it is about time residents take control of the issues in their communities being education, health, and agriculture among other human rights, and address them than to wait for government interventions that most often delay.
She encouraged that the community foundation should be adopted by all to address issues confronting them.
The Project Director for Pure Trust Social Investors Foundation Habib Haruna said the establishment of the foundation was due to management observing that the retarded growth in the various communities.
He said, through the foundation, an endowment fund had been established to support needed students as well as address other community issues.
He assured that accountability would be made to ensure value for the resources provided to encourage more of them to address the perennial issues at the community level.
