A Canadian NGO, Mennonite Economic Development Associates-Ghana (MEDA-Ghana) has organized its final GROW Technology Fair to signify the end of a-20-million-Dollar program on food security in the Upper West Region.
The program which started in 2012 dubbed Greater Rural Opportunities for Women (GROW project) in Northern Ghana has helped to empower over 23 thousand women and their households economically in Upper West through the soybean value chain using a business oriented approach.
The event apart from serving as a platform to officially bring the GROW project to a close, was used to honor and thank the women and groups who partnered MEDA-Ghana on the project.
Correspondent Emmanuel Mensah-Abludo in this report says 55 awards were given to outstanding individuals and groups at the Fair in Wa.
The Key Facilitating Partners (KFPs) of the GROW MEDA project are Pro Net North, Community Action for Rural Development (CARD), Partnership for Rural Development Action (PRUDA), Capacity Enhancement and Community Support (CAPECS and Tumu Deanery Rural Integrated Development Programme (TUDRIDEP).
The Country Project Manager of MEDA-Ghana, Karen Walsh was thankful to Global Affairs Canada (GAC) for funding the project in the Upper West Region to empower women to change the dynamics of how they are culturally perceived.
Madam Walsh announced that as a result of the project, one woman has become an international trader, making eight thousand Ghana Cedis a month.
According to her, We have changed the paradigm from where men think women are lazy and women are not farmers. Now women are farmers and women are changing the world. The lessons we have learnt is that you never give aid anymore, what you give them is opportunity and education and then help them reach their desires.”
The Country Project Manager of MEDA-Ghana noted that: “We dont give them handout, we ask them what can they do and we show them how to do it.
Instead of giving them fish, they are now sport fishermen, they are now on the ocean”. Madam Walsh intimated that the next level is to see the women of Upper West in bigger agro business.
The Deputy, Program and Planning of GAC, Corey Huntington stated that she was happy about the new technologies that they women used, the savings that they made as well as the changes they made for their families during the course of the project and the nutritious food they were able to give their children from the cultivation of soya.
Ms. Huntington reiterated her joy for being part of a ceremony to honor so many farmers for their excellence in the things that they learned and congratulated them for their roles in the GROW project.
The Director of ProNet North, Martin Dery observed that after over six years of partnership on the GROW project has been very exciting in empowering women.
He indicated that though the project has come to an end, the KFPs are around and will continue to extend the necessary support to the womens groups for them to run their affairs.
The Acting Upper West Regional Director of the Department of Gender, Charity Bature commended the women for their hard work on the GROW Project and thanked MEDA-Ghana for the exposure given to those who benefited from the project.
She encouraged the women to uphold the skills acquired from the GROW Project to keep them economically viable.
The Director of PRUDA, Amatus Nuotuo described the GROW Fair as a session to actually appreciate the efforts of women who participated in project and promised that his organization will keep on stoking the fire the GROW Project has lit in the Upper West Region.
The award categories were Best GROW Farmer, Best Conservation Agriculture Farmer, Best GROW Lead Farmer, Best Seed Producer, Best Male Gender Activist, Best GROW Group, Best Sales Agent and Best Field Officer.
Story by Emmanuel Mensah-Abludo
