With ECOWAS and Spanish Cooperation technical and financial Support, ECOWAS and Millenium Child Support Group (MCSG) Commissioned and handed over, this 17 September 2025, a water borehole to Dakuma/Hiel Basic School in the Sissala West District, Upper West Region, Ghana. The facility falls within the Spanish Cooperation-funded regional project aimed at promoting academic success through school feeding.
The facility is a symbol of hope, dignity, and shared progress and prosperity. The hope is to (i) strengthen education by reducing water-related absenteeism. (ii) improve sanitation and hygiene for schoolchildren and (iii) reduce the daily burdens of water collection, especially on girls. A similar facility was also commissioned and handed over to Kanee/Basic school, last July in the Jirepa Municipality, Upper West Region, Ghana.
Implemented by MCSG, the “Promoting Academic Success among Underprivileged Schoolchildren at Rural Areas through School Feeding Program in Ghana”, takes into account the need to improve water resources availability and management through, for example, the introduction of agricultural hydraulics to supply drinking water to schoolchildren, the development of agroecological vegetable gardens and livestock to enrich canteens with animal proteins. The borehole adds to the activities and support services linked to canteens such as dissemination of good nutritional practices, hygiene kits, organization of local canteen supplies, strengthening of community governance and management committees, etc.
Commanding the efforts of Millennium Child Support Group (MCSG), whose leadership and community-centered approach made this borehole project possible, the representative of ECOWAS, Mr. Francis DABIRE, rightly appreciated, on behalf of the Executive Director of the Regional Agency for Agriculture and Food (RAAF), Mr. Mohamed Zongo, the strong local collaboration and inclusive participation. MCSG has demonstrated how meaningful development must be grounded in the realities and aspirations of the people it serves.
“Ending classroom hunger is an integral part of the Ambition of our Group geared towards saving the child, saving the future and saving the world. In this regard, ECOWAS contribution is instrumental, and we are appealing for greater collaboration, partnership and support to reach out to more vulnerable schools and pupils in a near future”, Dr Godfrey Ato Parker, Chief Executive Officer of MCSG and Project Coordinator of the Ghana project insisted while addressing Community members and ECOWAS Representatives.
Going forward, Government officials (District Chief Executive, the District Director of Education, Officials from Ghana health Service), traditional chiefs of Zini and elders of Dakuma, teachers, parents, pupils and Community members showed interest and commitment to supporting the advancement of the initiative in the region, especially in maintaining the handed over facility and thinking already for ways for sustaining the initiative when the project ends.
The District Chief Executive, Mr. Fuseini Gbene, expressed Ghana’s gratefulness to ECOWAS for the grant to the Millenium Child Support Group as it supports and complements the ambition of the national school feeding policy. Though more support is still expected from ECOWAS considering the various challenges in the sector, Ghana remains committed to improving the entire sector efforts, involving all stakeholders and looking for more partners’ contributions to keep up the momentum.
Through its regional school feeding program, ECOWAS is investing in human capital development on the one hand and in business opportunities promotion for local agricultural producers on the other hand. The ECOWAS-funded school feeding field projects cover all its Member States plus Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.1100
