By Philip Tengzu, GNA
Serekpere, (UW/R), May 10, GNA – The Langbuuri Engmaarong Women Group in Serekpere, a community in the Nadowli-Kaleo District, has received a fully equipped shea processing plant as part of initiatives to improve women’s livelihoods through commercial shea butter production.
The facility is expected to reduce the drudgery of manual shea butter processing and address the long distances women travel to neighbouring communities such as Sombo and Goli to mill shea nuts.
The intervention was initiated by the women’s group and supported by the Economic and Social Research Council of the United Kingdom through Newcastle University and augmented by the Institute of Global Value Inquiry in Berlin, Germany.
The shea butter processing plant is part of an 18-month impact-accelerated intervention known as Improving Older Women’s Lives in Rural Ghana: Enhancing Economic Empowerment and Tackling Gendered Ageism.
It is led by Professor Constance Awinpoka Akurugu of the University for Business and Integrated Development Studies (UBIDS) and Professor Cathrine Degnen of Newcastle University.
The research component focuses on gender and age-related inequalities in northern Ghana and seeks to understand the experiences of older women and improve their livelihoods.
Speaking at the launch of the facility, Professor Akurugu, the Director of the Centre for Gender, Diversity and Social Inclusion at UBIDS, expressed contentment with the completion of the plant and the relief and economic empowerment it will bring to the women.
Prof. Akurugu, also a Senior Research Scholar at the Institute of Global Value Inquiry, Berlin, explained that the intervention was borne out of appeals made by the women’s groups for support to construct the facility.
Madam Augustina Doozie, a member of the group, said the women, for years, endured long-distance walks to mill their shea nuts in other communities and all the challenges associated with it, including the risk of being hit by vehicles.
“Sometimes you can walk to either Sombo or Goli only to realise that either the machine has broken down or the operator is not available.
In some cases, we had to leave our shea nuts there and return the next day to mill them. It was very stressful”, she said.
Madam Janet Yelebo, another member, recounted how she narrowly escaped an accident while carrying shea nuts to Sombo for milling, an experience that led to her discontinuing the shea butter business.
She recalled an incident where a woman sustained serious injuries after she fell while returning from milling shea butter at Sombo.
“These experiences reflect the daily struggles, risks and physical burdens women endure in the quest to sustain their livelihoods through the shea butter business”, Professor Akurugu stated.
Professor Akurugu expressed optimism that the facility would ease the burden on the women, improve incomes, reduce time poverty and allow them to engage in other productive economic activities.
The Group started as a farming association, which later expanded into a Village Savings and Loans (VSLA) and shea processing entity after the members realised farming alone could not meet their economic needs.
Madam Rufina Dassah, a member of the group, said they mobilised cash and in-kind contributions to procure some of the equipment before receiving external support through Professor Akurugu’s initiative.
The women said the project would help them finance their children’s health and education, and meet household needs, especially for widows in the community.
They, however, appealed for support to access reliable markets for their shea butter as the new facility had increased their production capacity.
The women expressed gratitude to the benefactors for the support and pledged to maintain the facility to ensure its long-term sustainability and benefit to the community.
GNA
Edited by Caesar Abagali /Kenneth Odeng Adade