SOME companies in Tamale and the Northern Region in general can be mentioned when it comes to giving back to society part of the profits they make and one company that has carved a niche for itself in improving the welfare of inhabitants of its operational communities is the Integrated Tamale Fruit Company (ITFC), a subsidiary of Wienco Ghana Limited.
The company has made a conscious effort towards meeting its corporate social responsibility and this is largely due to the philosophy of its owner, Mr Henri Wientjes, that the improvement of the lives of people is the basis of business and not the opposite.
In 2004, the company introduced a project known as the Children to School Project (CTSP) to enable it to support children in deprived communities to pursue their education.
To achieve this goal, the ITFC set out to help sponsor teachers to teach in rural schools, provide accommodation for the teachers, institute a feeding programme for the children, and provide teaching and learning materials to the schools.
It also made efforts to improve the health of the children through regular health checks, provision of medication and the organisation of sporting activities to keep the children fit.
Today, the ITFC can pat itself on the shoulder following the successes it has chalked up by bringing smiles to children and families in rural areas through the CTSP, which has grown to become a non-governmental organisation (NGO).
The CTSP is currently sponsoring 11 teachers to teach voluntarily in four basic schools in four communities in the Savelugu/Nanton District that the ITFC has adopted. These are Dipali, Gushei, Tuunayili and Tiglasugu Tampia.
The Project Co-ordinator of the CTSP, Mr Baba Musah, told the Daily Graphic that four teacher’s bungalows had been put up under the project in the communities, with each bungalow having six rooms, a kitchen and bath and toilet.
He said in addition, the project had provided overhead tanks to all those bungalows and constantly supplied water to the tanks, explaining that “this is to encourage the teachers to deliver and not to cite the lack of accommodation or water as excuses to stay away from the rural areas.”
“Furthermore, regular training programmes are organised for the teachers to refresh their skills and increase their output,” he added.
Mr Musah said under the feeding programme, a nutritious hot meal was provided for each pupil in the four primary schools in the CTSP’s four adopted communities. He said the project paid eight cooks to oversee the feeding programme.
“For the health programme, a nurse has been employed by the CTSP to spearhead a health screening exercise in all four schools every two months. Those found to be ill are given medication and monitored to recover,” he stated.
The co-ordinator further mentioned that the CTSP had provided playgrounds to support recreational activities in the schools and had also donated assorted teaching and learning materials to enhance classroom activities.
He said because the CTSP had become an NGO, it had expanded its donor partners to include other organisations, but noted that the ITFC still sponsored about 80 per cent of all activities of the CTSP.
Meanwhile, aside all these achievements, the CTSP recently launched a scholarship programme to motivate children from the four communities to improve their performance.
The scholarship comes in two categories; the general and the competitive. Under the former, all schoolchildren transiting from primary to junior high school are given a support package that includes books, pens and pencils, school bags and T-shirts.
Under the competitive category, each year, two children, male and female, from each of the four communities who perform to meet a set target will be sponsored to pursue a SHS education.
Those beneficiaries who sustained or improved upon their performance would continue to receive sponsorship till they complete tertiary education.
The sponsorship involves payment of fees, provision of learning materials and pocket money for spending this is for children above the JSS level.
At the launch of the CTSP Scholarship Programme, the owner of Wienco Ghana Limited, Mr Henri Wientjes, said he would only be satisfied if the children utilised the scholarship and improved upon their performance.
He challenged the children not to let their deprivation limit them, but rather let it inspire them to reach greater heights.
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