The Social Cohesion (SOCO) project has cut sod for the construction of seven sub-projects in the Yunyoo district of the Northeast Region to prevent the spread of conflicts and extremism within the Sahel region.
The project is part of the Gulf of Guinea Northern Regions Social Cohesion (SOCO) project that is being implemented in 48 MMDAs across the five Northern Regions and the Oti Region.
The project is funded by the World Bank and being implemented by the Ministries of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development (MLGDRD), Finance, the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Youth and Sports, and Gendarmerie.
The Yunyoo district has so far received an amount of GHC4,698,150.50 as its share of the project allocation, which include the inter-cluster games aimed at promoting unity in the district.
The project also seeks to improve the social and economic resilience of the targeted Northern Regions and strengthen regional discussion across the Gulf of Guinea countries.
The seven sub-projects to be constructed in the district include the construction of a three-unit classroom block with auxiliary facilities, a supply of 60 dual desks, and 10 teachers’ tables and chairs at Biambik, the construction of a warehouse for grain storage at Gbingbani, construction of CHPS compound with three bedroom nurses accommodation fully furnished at Kpalori.
Others are drilling of two boreholes with fitted hand pumps at Yunyoo Senior High School and Puloti, construction of three-unit classroom block with auxiliary facilities, supply of 60 dual desks and 10 teachers tables and chairs at Sangbal, and construction of community information center at Yuyoo for dissemination of information in the area.
The SOCO project zonal coordinator for the Upper East and North East Regions, Samuel Agyarko Larbi, speaking to the media after the games in Yunyoo asserted that 400 communities and 217 clusters are benefiting from the project.
“48 MMDAs are benefiting from the project and a number of about 1,400 communities are benefiting. We have 217 clusters benefiting from the project.
“Most of the contractors have started the project and the projects are ongoing now. In the Bolga zone alone, which is for the North and Upper East, the number of physical projects is 284 for the entire zone. It is causing over GhC 4 M in Yunyoo alone for 2023,” he said.
The district chief executive for the area, Konlan Bitian stated that all seven sub-projects kicked off are expected to be completed in six months.
“The completion date is not very far. They have only six months to start and complete the work. So we have cut sod for the commencement of all the projects. And we know very well that in six months, all the projects will be completed,” Bitian said.
The district chief executive also bemoaned drug abuse among youth and teenage pregnancy in the area, which he said is causing school dropouts in the district.
“We have detected that most of our youth involve themselves in influential drugs. They take drugs to do things that are not necessary,” he said.
Reporting by Dokurugu Alhassan in the North East Region
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