By Comfort Sena Fetrie-Akagbor
Bunglung (N/R), May 18, GNA – Women groups from Bunglung Community in the Savelugu Municipality of the Northern Region have shared their accomplishments after undergoing entrepreneurship training from the Women Economic Advancement for Collective Transformation (WEACT) project.
The project, funded by Global Affairs Canada, was to take systemic approach to tackle the barriers women faced, seeking to increase their urgency to be economically empowered.
Mr Tijani Hamza, Country Director, Oxfam in Ghana, one of the partners of the project, said Oxfam in Ghana would continue to support women in the rural areas by providing them model equipment and resources to expand their businesses to larger levels.
Madam Beatrice Vaugrante, Executive Director of Oxfam, Quebec, pledged her support to assist rural women to improve their market linkages as well as grow their enterprises through co-operatives, markets, and value chains.
Madam Theresa Baveng, Coordinator of WEACT project said it was a five-year project seeking to address the systemic barriers to women’s economic empowerment and would benefit approximately 5,400 women and girls directly and 3,510 men and boy.
She said it was to promote the Shea and Cocoa chains across nine districts in the Upper East, Upper West, Northern, Savannah, Western North and Western Regions.
She said the project had so far improved the ability of women to overcome legal and social barriers individually and collectively to their participation in agriculture and economic activities.
She said the beneficiaries were also given startup capital for small and medium scale businesses for alternative livelihood during off cocoa and shea seasons.
Some of the beneficiaries gave testimonies about the impact of the project on their livelihoods.
Madam Safura Abdulai, Shea butter producer and a beneficiary of the project, said the entrepreneurship training she acquired had reduced her poverty level, and she was able to support her husband to send their child back to school.
She said after the training, she applied the knowledge she acquired from entrepreneurial creativity, and the business skills, which had increased her income, and lifted her and her family out of need.
Madam Abiba Iddrisu, a farmer and shea butter producer, said the skills training she acquired had provided her a support platform to connect with commercial customers, build her confidence and she was able to save to support her son at the university.
Madam Zeinab Mohammed, who is into soap making, said “The skills training has enhanced my micro-enterprises in areas like selling farm crops, soap-making business.”
She added that due to the WEACT project, women were now part of decision-making in their communities and able to perform social duties like the men.
GNA