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The Ghana Developing Communities Association (GDCA), an NGO, headquartered in Tamale and working across the northern part of the country, has marked its 40th anniversary celebrations at Dalun in the Kumbungu District of Northern Region.
The anniversary, which was to celebrate GDCA and its partners’ four decades of impactful community service and development, was also used to mark the 28th edition of the Denmark Seminar, a celebration of mutual partnership between GDCA and its Danish partners.
The anniversary celebration, which was attended by various stakeholders including traditional authorities, representatives of NGOs, civil society organisations, community-based organisations amongst others, was under the theme: “Inclusive Education for Sustainable Development”.
Dr Osman Al-Hassan, Chairman of GDCA Governing Board, speaking at the event, said it was to celebrate the various impactful interventions implemented by GDCA and its partners over the past 40 years.
He said, “Today, we are able to reach out to 50,000 to 60,000 individuals and families in deprived communities, whose lives are impacted upon in one way or the other such as education, livelihoods, inclusion, women’s economic empowerment, social accountability, youth empowerment and climate change.”
He paid tribute to the forbears of GDCA saying “We are reaping the seed that was sown by our forbearers led by Professor Abubakr Al-Hassan on the Ghana side and Dr Yohannes Holm on the Danish side, and with the support of all the pioneering leaders of both sides.”
Dr Al-Hassan gave a brief background of the Denmark and Ghana partnership, which began in 1989 as a seminar that brought to light the need to introduce an innovative and inclusive educational approach to break the cycle of illiteracy in northern Ghana.
He narrated that the seminar led to the development of a concept paper dubbed, “The Dilemma of Education in the North”, ⁰development of the School for Life Programme with the support of the Dagbon Traditional Council.”
He said the programme targeted the most vulnerable children in deprived communities with complementary basic education, adding it had since catalysed the education of more than 400,000 children, many of whom were now contributing positively to the socio-economic development of the country.
Madam Rikke Mikkelsen, a representative of the Ghana Friends in Denmark, spoke about some of the key issues that were discussed in Denmark during the celebration of the anniversary, which included the fact that education was the right for everyone and not a selected few.
She said the event also provided the platform for a representative of the School for Life Programme in Ghana to share with partners some of the key interventions of the programme and how communities were embracing it.
Alhaji Shani Alhassan Saibu, Northern Regional Minister, whose speech was read on his behalf, said GDCA had demonstrated that inclusive education was not merely a goal but an achievable reality.
He said over the years, GDCA and partners had worked tirelessly towards addressing the disparities in access to education, and engaging families, schools, and community leaders to ensure that education was valued and accessible for all children and other vulnerable groups.
He lauded GDCA’s interventions on skills development, particularly in technical and vocational education, saying it was a vital step to complementing government’s efforts for sustainable development.
Dalun Lana Tapha Mahamadu lll, Paramount Chief of Dalun Traditional Area, eulogised GDCA for its various development initiatives such as the construction of classroom blocks, teachers’ quarters, clinics, and the provision of potable drinking water amongst others.
Source: GNA
