The Newmont Ahafo Development Foundation (NADEF) has announced the start of 26 development projects in five communities within the Asutifi North District of the Ahafo Region. The initiative aims to improve infrastructure and enhance the livelihoods of residents.
The beneficiary villages are Wamahinso, Gyedu, Ntotroso, Kenyasi Number One and Kenyasi Number Two. Projects span education, healthcare, security and community development, including a new clinic, police station, social centres, classroom blocks and landscaping works at the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) campus. NADEF is also preparing a proposed College of Education site.
NADEF’s Board of Trustees recently inspected ongoing works in Wamahinso, where a social centre, clinic, police station and classroom block are under construction. The team also visited the UMaT campus at Kenyasi Number Two and the proposed College of Education site at Kenyasi Number One.
Board Chairman Professor Yaw Ofosu‑Kusi led the inspection, joined by Executive Secretary Elizabeth Opoku‑Darko and other trustees. He said the visits were necessary to assess progress and address concerns, adding, “The way forward is to be more accountable. The way forward is to cooperate much more with the communities.”
Beyond physical infrastructure, NADEF is providing scholarships and empowerment programmes to equip residents with skills and professional qualifications. Professor Ofosu‑Kusi highlighted that beneficiaries have earned qualifications in nursing, teaching, engineering and medicine, and that some have started their own businesses.
Community leaders praised the Foundation’s work. Chief Nana Agyei Twum II of Wamahinso thanked NADEF for the social centre, health centre and police station, while Rev. Joseph Ato Brown, headteacher of Ntotroso Methodist Basic School, expressed gratitude for the renovation of the school’s classroom block.
NADEF’s cumulative impact is expected to generate employment and improve household incomes, with the Foundation hoping for a multiplier effect through community involvement.
