By Solomon Gumah
Tamale, Dec. 22, GNA – Shea Network Ghana (SNG), a non-government organisation into shea businesses, has trained 40 women on a new technology called “valorization of the shea biomass.”
It is part of efforts to improve economic growth for women entrepreneurs in the Shea sector.
The women were selected from communities in the Northern, Savannah, Upper East and Upper West Regions where the SNG and its partners operate.
The communities included Salankpang and Kpulgine in the Mion District of the Northern Region, Kananto and Larabanga in West Gonja District of the Savannah Region, Kpatia and Gbellingivus in the Garu District of the Upper East Region and Jawia and Sorbelle in the Sissala West District of the Upper West Region.
They were trained to serve as trainer of trainees for other women in their communities to add value to the shea leftovers for other uses including making variety of soaps, and fuel for fire to replace firewood.
The four-day training, held in Tamale, formed part of the implementation of the Women’s Economic Advancement for Collective Transformation (WEACT), a five-year project being implemented by SNG and five other NGOs, supervised by the OXFAM and funded by Global Affairs Canada.
Women face many complex barriers to their economic empowerment such as prohibitive social norms, restricted access to productive resources, patriarchal structures, the traditional vision of labour at the household level and lack of education.
The situation is even more serious for women in shea and cocoa areas as they as main actors in the value chains, are not able to reap the full benefits of their labour.
The WEACT, therefore, seeks to change the narrative by adopting multiple entry points to address these barriers.
Ubaidatu Iddrisu, WEACT Project Manager at SNG, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Tamale after the training, said the project sought to increase access to economic opportunities by implementing a gender-responsive skills development programme focused on transformative leadership, business acumen and negotiation skills as well as providing technical and financial assistance for women to develop alternative livelihoods.
She said the 40 women were leaders of women cooperative businesses in the value chain, who were expected to impact the same knowledge to their members, and commended OXFAM Ghana and Global Affairs Canada for their support.
Some of the beneficiaries expressed gratitude to SNG and its partners for the support and pledged to transfer the knowledge gained to their members and their communities to improve their operations.
GNA