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By Florence Afriyie Mensah
Kumasi, 28th April, GNA – Fairtrade Africa has held a maiden graduation ceremony for 14 students who have undergone its gender training to become gender ambassadors, under its Sustainable, Democratic and Inclusive Cocoa Cooperatives in West Africa Project.
The Project, which is being funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) is ensuring that the graduates present the success stories of women and youth and strengthen the level of support of actors involved in the field of gender work.
The graduation is the maiden one in Ghana for the Women’s School of Leadership and the Young Cooperative Managers Academy – both trainers of Fairtrade Africa.
The graduands who were selected from the Asunafo North Cocoa Cooperative, Kuapa Cocoa Farmers Union (Konongo and Goaso), underwent a-one year intensive training.
They were exposed to women and leadership concepts, Fairtrade standards and Gender Strategy, women and economy, women’s understanding of money, group cohesion and participation of cooperation concepts, among others.
Mr Edward Akapire, Head of Region, West Africa Network at Fairtrade, speaking at the ceremony held in Kumasi, said the cocoa sector, an important tool for the economy of Ghana, was characterized by several problems such as poverty and gender inequality.
Cooperatives were essential to the structure of the sector and served as an important lever to solve the many problems faced by individual farmers.
Efforts must therefore be made to ensure that cooperatives become strong, inclusive, democratic, and sustainable producer organizations.
Mr Akapire, touching on the benefits of the Sustainable Democratic and Inclusive Cocoa Cooperatives in West Africa project, said it was designed to improve the technical and democratic capacity of cocoa cooperatives and enhance their inclusiveness.
It is also to strengthen the capacity of the vulnerable and excluded groups, including women and youth, to assume leadership positions and participate in decision-making processes.
Mr Chris Oluoch, Programme Director of Fairtrade Africa, challenged beneficiaries of the programme to apply the knowledge and skills acquired to improve their households, cooperatives, and communities.
He also reiterated Fairtrade Africa’s commitment to partnering with the government of Ghana to empower women and the youth.
“Our goal is to do more, that is, to empower more women and youth.
We are, therefore, committed, and open to partnering with government ministries, departments and agencies, like-minded NGOs, traders, chocolate brands and other commercial brands, as well as the donor community to achieve more.”
The goal of the Women’s Leadership School is to provide women cocoa farmers in Ghana with access to a training and mentoring program that would help them improve their knowledge, confidence, and ability to create wealth for a living wage.
The Women’s School of Leadership already has several years of experience in Côte d’Ivoire.
Since 2017, it has been helping to build the capacity of women and men in a number of areas, covering topics such as personal development, gender, leadership, income diversification, project management, strategic negotiation, financial management and entrepreneurship.
However, Young Cooperative Managers Academy is a new concept in both Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana.
The Young Cooperative Managers Academy also seeks to provide youth with training modules on critical and relevant topics, as well as hands-on assignments, coaching and mentoring.
GNA
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