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EU humanitarian aid to Ghana and Madagascar

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The European Commission has approved programmes in Ghana and Madagascar amounting to €165 million as part of its ongoing commitment to fighting poverty and promoting economic development in Africa. In Ghana, funds will boost central government spending on poverty reduction, while in southern Madagascar, the European Commission will fund a rural development programme implemented by local organisations, and a parallel road upgrading programme to help boost the local economy.

The European Commission is committed to helping developing countries devise - and carry out - their own strategies for tackling poverty and growing their economies for the long term. It does so by supplementing, where appropriate, the government's central budget and helping administrators to implement government policies effectively. In return for EC support, the government must show that its policies are having a tangible beneficial impact on the ground.

Ghana: 62 million in budget support to tackle poverty

One such example of this strategy is in Ghana, where the Commission budget support programme will finance the government's Poverty Reduction Strategy for the period 2004-2006.

The strategy aims to make a real difference to the poorest people in Ghana by:

• accelerating annual growth to 5%,
  
  
• cutting the share of the population living in poverty from 39% to 32%,
  
• improving infrastructure and widening access to basic health and education services,
  
• making the public sector more efficient, and public institutions more open and better run.

The programme is set to run from mid-2004 and to the end of 2006, and has been conceived, and will be implemented, in close cooperation with several key partners, including the World Bank and the overseas development agencies of Denmark, Germany, Netherlands and the UK.
Madagascar: over € 100 million to promote growth in the south

But the Commission provides support in other ways too. In Madagascar, the Commission has approved two programmes intended to tackle poverty and promote growth, but delivered in different ways.

Working with local communities to tackle rural poverty

The first is a €60 million Poverty Reduction Programme targeting the country's southern provinces. The programme was devised in close consultation with local government and rural organisations, who will also implement the programme.

The programme aims to:

• strengthen infrastructure,
  
• widen access to health and education services, and to drinking water, and
  
• raise farmers' productivity, and hence their incomes.

The programme is set to run in two overlapping stages (2004-2008 and 2006-2010), with stage two conditional on a positive review of the country's overall development performance in 2006.

Investing in vital transport infrastructure

In tandem, the Commission has approved a €43 million road upgrading programme in southern Madagascar. The programme is set to run from 2005 to 2011 and complements other transport and rural development programmes in Madagascar funded by the EC and other donors.

By upgrading key sections of southern Madagascar's road network, the programme will facilitate the movement of both goods and people, improve access to basic social services, boost the private sector, and thereby tackle poverty and promote economic growth.

Additional information on EU relations with Ghana and Madagascar at:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/development/body/country/country_home_en.cfm?cid=gh&lng=en&status=new
http://europa.eu.int/comm/development/body/country/country_home_en.cfm?cid=mg&lng=en&status=new

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