Australia Grants Aid Support To 105 Upper West Women

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A total of 105 women farmers from the districts of Sissala East, Lambussie-Karni and Wa West in the Upper West Region benefits from the ?TARGET 100: Skills Training and Livestock Rearing for 100 Women Rural Farmers in Upper West Region? project of the Coalition for Change (C4C).
soap making lambussie 2The project is funded by the Australian High Commission in Ghana through its Direct Aid Program (DAP). The DAP provides funding to civil society groups to pursue small-scale development projects and provide humanitarian assistance, in line with Australia’s international relations and public diplomacy objectives.
The Target 100 project is geared towards empowering the parents especially women who are dominantly farmers and aims to create rural opportunities geared towards increasing income based on the needs of the women farmers groups to improve and support their families and children in school through sustainable agriculture and income generating activities.
The project supported a total of 105 women living in households with 580 members in total. Each of the 105 households of the women famers had an average of 6 members. The project run in seven (7) communities in three districts of the Upper West Region namely: Sakai, Wellembelle, Nabulo, Tarsaw, Nabugubelle, Olli and Kongor in the Sissala East, Lambussie-Karni and Wa West Districts.
In Sissala East District, 30 women farmers and their 204 household members benefits the project through the production of maize and soya beans. The two crops were chosen based on their high demand within Ghana. Maize is becoming the staple of most households in the district, the region and Ghana at large for preparing tuozaafi (tz), banku, kenkey, akpele, and porridge. The demand of the crop within and outside the region is high especially in the lean season whilst the soya bean is an ?upcoming? crop in the region which has potential in supplementing the nutritional and economic well-being of women and their households.
The project also provided soap making training in Olli, Wa West District where 43 women farmers within the households of 209 members benefitted whilst 32 women farmers with 167 household members also benefitted the same training in Kongor, Lambussie-Karni District. The groups in both trainings demanded soap making during the needs assessments conducted by C4C. About 172 and 167 balls of soaps were produced during the training in Olli and Knongor respectively. In both trainings, materials and supplies were handed over to the women for their start-up production where they also appreciated.
C4C pointed out that the project was a success. It ensured the transfer of technologies; farming techniques and soap making procedures to the beneficiaries using a participatory and demonstrative approach; increased the acreage of land of the women beneficiaries; and it introduced a new crop (soya beans) to most of the beneficiaries. In addition, the yields of the maize and soya production is estimated to be enough to feed their households all year round while supporting their own sponsored cultivation next season.
?We are very grateful to the Australian High Commission for the partnership to help the needy in our region and country at large. The DAP opened the organization to new opportunities for partnership, collaboration and funding support. The DAP funding has been key to achieving our five year project, the Millennium Underprivileged Low-income -households Targeted Interventions (MULTI) Project. Two objectives of the MULTI Project were carried out in the beneficiary communities namely; a) Closing the gender gap in agriculture and b) Economic empowerment of women,? C4C Executive Director Rubelyn Yap added.
C4C is a non-governmental organization aims to empower communities through capacity building of community members to include but not limited to parent teachers associations and school management committees, women farmers and women farmer based organizations and the youth. It champions quality basic education, promotion of gender equality and social inclusiveness, women empowerment, secure livelihood, youth development, nutrition and health in Ghana and is based in Wa Municipal in the Upper West Region.

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