Ghana’s dream of winning her first and Africa’s first World Cup has been given a massive boost with the official launching of the Ghana Dream Project on Friday. The project is pioneered by the National Youth Project and the National Youth Council with support from the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Ghana Football Association. An official mascot designed with an animated black star wielding a replica World Cup trophy and seated deep in the heart of a Ghana map was out-doored by the Minister of Youth and Sports, Akua Sena Dansua and Mike Gizo, ex-former deputy Tourism Minister under the Rawlings led administration. The huge mascot is expected to travel the length and breadth of the ten regions of Ghana to raise passions and support for the Black Stars ahead of the World Cup which kick-starts on June 11, 2010. Vice-President of the Ghana Youth Project, Mr. Philip Asare told a gathering of football supporters, journalists, musicians, politicians and members of the Shai Traditional Area, who thronged the Banquet Hall, State House-Accra that the mascot is to collate over a million signatures and raise an amount of one million Ghana cedis within six months. The amount will be channeled into alleviating poverty in the country, he noted. Speaking on behalf of the vice-president John Mahama, the Sports Minister Akua Sena Dansua applauded the efforts by the project managers and pledged government’s support. She was convinced the project will go a long way to harness support for the Black Stars in their bid to win the first World Cup. Chairman of the occasion, Mike Gizo, who is also Paramount Chief of Shai Traditional Area, was also hopeful Ghana will make a bold statement at the World Cup.