The Social Investment Fund (SIF), an Organisation that delivers targeted assistance to urban and rural impoverished communities, says it is contributing to sustainable poverty reduction in rural and urban communities in the country. The SIF in a report indicated that, for the past 25 years, it had received funding support of over US$ 83.5 million from its development partners for implementation of projects aimed at alleviating poverty in impoverished communities nationwide. Out of the funding support, the SIF provided over 1,629 socio-economic infrastructures for rural and peri-urban communities for the benefit of about 1.6 million people -constituting ten per cent of the poor population in the country. The socio-economic facilities, the report said, included 6-Unit classroom blocks, Teachers' quarters, Early childhood development centres, Rural clinics, and Water and sanitation. Others included culverts, farm tracks, markets, artisan village, corn mills, as well as palm oil and shea butter processing cen tres. The SIF was set up in 1998 under the Companies Code 1963 (ACT 179) by the Government of Ghana, African Development Bank (AfDB), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). It was established as a rapid, reliable, and flexible mechanism for channeling resources to deliver targeted assistance to both Ghana's urban and rural impoverished communities. The SIF obtains funds for the implementation of its activities from development partners and the Government. It said its operations had increased employment opportunities for people in areas it operated. 'The implementation of civil works has created jobs for over 400 small-scale contractors who have been engaged over the years. 'The contractors have also employed about 5,000 artisans and 10,000 unskilled labourers for construction purposes,' the report said. It added that, under the just ended Integrated Rural Development Project Phase One (IRDP 1), over 2,000 employment opportunities were created for rural folks within the 21 beneficiary dist ricts. The report said SIF had improved the performance and services of entities and individuals by providing skills training in business development, problem analysis, project management, agribusiness, farm management practices, community governance, and public-private partnership. The entities and individuals comprised over 20,208 representatives of Local Government Authorities, Local communities, Community Based Organisations, Civil Society Organisations, Farmers and Farmer groups, and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). SIF had also increased access of MSMEs to microcredit over the years, with the SIF Microcredit Scheme benefiting over 60 Rural and Community Banks as well as Financial Non-governmental Organisations in Ghana. The report said the Scheme granted access of credit facility to over 20,000 MSMEs in pro-poor communities. 'Under the Integrated Rural Development Project Phase One, SIF supported and built capacity of 4,219 farmers with a revolving loan amount of US$ 3.12 million. That resulted in an increase in agricultural productivity and income for the beneficiaries,' the report added. Currently, the SIF is implementing Phase Two of the Integrated Rural Development Project (IRDP 2). Launched in August 2023, IRDP 2 is being implemented in 23 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies across the 16 regions of Ghana, with funding from a loan facility of US$ 20 million from OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID). SIF is also implementing the Post COVID-19 Skills Development and Productivity Enhancement Project (PSDPEP), launched in January 2023, with funding from a grant facility of US$ 28.5 million from AfDB. It is implementing PSDPEP with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), and the University of Ghana. The report said one major challenge SIF faced was the delay in release of funds by OFID for the implementation of IRDP 2, leading to late launch of the project, and delay in stakeholder sensitisation and orientation as well as ful l implementation of the project's key activities. The Fund recommended in the report that funds be released in time to enable IRDP 2 activities to be implemented within timelines and budget. Source: Ghana News Agency