United States Ambassador's Special Self-Help Program has presented eight awards totaling $50,000 to support local communities committed to improving the lives of their residents. The Self-Help Program has provided support to grassroots development efforts in Africa since 1990. The current grants were awarded to the following organizations and communities: 1. The Volta Region’s Community Outreach Initiative, which will use the assistance to support rural youth through fish farming. 2. Pang Sang, an NGO based in Nugu, Northern Region, will use the Embassy's assistance to economically empower rural women through the production of shea butter. 3. In the Asante Region the funds will support the procurement of school supplies and furniture to be used by the Manso Abore Community Nursery School. 4. Solution Center, an NGO from the Eastern Region, will use the funding to assist women in the rearing of grasscutters and rabbits. 5. In the Greater Accra Region, the US Embassy's assistance will help Damgbe farmers in Ada to support disabled youth in agriculture through pepper, onion and water melon farming. 6. The grant also supported the Young Women Against Stigma(YOWAS), a Greater Accra-based NGO, to build sustainable livelihoods for persons living with HIV, orphans and vulnerable children. 7. LEKMA Polyclinic, in La community in Accra, will use the funding to procure needed medical equipment to improve the health conditions and infrastructure for the less privileged in the community. 8. In the Volta Region the Adaklu Youth Association will receive the funding to support the community with clean water by connecting piped water to the village. US Ambadassdor to Ghana, Ambassador Gene Cretz, congratulated the awardees and said he was pleased “to mark the beginning of eight new Ghanaian-U.S. partnerships.” He described the Ambassador’s Self-Help Program as “one of the most exciting and meaningful community based programs that I have the privilege to be a part of as the U.S. Ambassador.” Self-Help projects must meet the following criteria: they must be initiated by a local community or NGO; they must be sustainable, and they require no additional support from the U.S. government after the initial funding. The Embassy is currently accepting community proposals for the Ambassador’s Special Self-Help Program. The deadline is December 31, 2013. For additional information about the projects, refer to the Mission website: http://ghana.usembassy.gov/selfhelp.html.

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