Women & Cocoa Communities Initiative (TogetHER)

This project aims to empower women and young adults (18-35 years old) in rural cocoa-producing communities in the Ashanti and Western regions of Ghana. The training and support the project provides encourages collective savings entrepreneurship and financial inclusion and contributes to the sustainable resilience of the cocoa sector and the equal distribution of economic benefits and opportunities. Project activities include: (1) Interactive training and long-term support on financial and digital literacy for women and youth members of village savings and loans associations to encourage financial inclusion; (2) Technical training on climate-smart practices while developing and expanding promising income-generating activities; and (3) Training for the Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod) and Ghana’s Department of Co-operative on inclusive governance and administrative financial and environmental management.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) improved financial and economic autonomy for 3 000 women and 1 000 young people (50% women) in targeted rural cocoa communities in the Western and Ashanti regions of Ghana; and (2) improved performance of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture the Ghana Cocoa Board and the Department of Co-operative in delivering adapted gender-responsive and climate-smart products and services in collaboration with other stakeholders of the cocoa value chain for the benefit of women and youth.