Eight communities in the Sissala East and West Districts have been provided with dams by Plan Ghana, a humanitarian development NGO operating in the Upper West Region to sustain their livelihoods. The communities are Jeffisi, Zini, Kopulima, Pulima, Boti, Nimoro, Nyantie and Tiwii. The people are using the dams as their source of drinking water and for livestock rearing as well as irrigation to help increase their incomes and also their nutrition. Mr. Samuel Paulos Country Director of Plan Ghana made this known during a courtesy call on the Upper West Regional Minister, Mr. George Hikah Benson at his office on Sunday. The projects cost the NGO 3,000 Ghana Cedis (30 billion cedis). Mr. Paulos said the NGO was into ensuring food security, the provision of water and educational facilities as well as children's rights and appealed to the beneficiaries to take good care of the dams. He noted that the proper usage of the dams would encourage the donors to continue supporting the NGO to extend its operations to other districts in the Region. On children's rights, he said the NGO is envisaging that children would be given the platform to air their views freely to influence national policy towards them. "It would also enable them to utilize their energies to champion their rights", he said. Mr. Benson commended the NGO for the humanitarian services it was rendering to the people in the Region and gave the assurance that the Regional Coordinating Council would continue to support it in its operations. The Regional Minister admitted that widowhood rites and the rights of children in the two Sissala Districts had improved through the activities of the NGO. He appealed to traditional and community leaders to reform the widowhood rites in the region; describing it as the worst form of practice as it discriminates against women and children and impeded their total development. Source: GNA