The Akoma Cooperative Women’s Group, a group of 75 women Shea butter producers in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region, has received training on the Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA) concept.
The VSLA concept is a rural banking system where a group of people collectively support a structured process for saving money and sharing of proceeds within stipulated time agreed upon and lending to each other in the form of loans with an agreed interest rate.
The community banking system is being managed by the members based on their agreed rules and regulations that aim to provide financial independence and take them out of extreme poverty.
The training, organised by the Freeworld International, in collaboration with the African Ally, both Non-Governmental Organisations, was part of strategies to strengthen the group and encourage the culture of saving and investment to ensure financial independence for the women.
The activity was part of a project, dubbed: “Empowering women groups in the struggle for survival in some rural communities in the Upper East Region of Ghana”, funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) through the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Germany.
The project also formed part of commitment of the Government of Germany to support rural communities in selected countries, including Ghana, to enhance income levels and livelihoods of vulnerable people.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency on the sidelines of the training workshop at Pusu-Namongo, Mr Benjamin Kwadwo Appiah, the Executive Director, Freeworld International, said as part of the support, a multipurpose shea butter processing machine had been procured and installed to help the women increase production of high quality shea butter that met international standards.
The women also benefitted from capacity building training on quality shea butter production, financial management, business management skills, record keeping, and alternative livelihoods interventions and a link to the banks for soft loans.
The main goal of the project was to contribute to the livelihood of women shea butter producers through increasing their productivity and production efficiency and improving the quality of their products.
“Over the years, we have learnt that the VSLA is a very sustainable poverty reduction strategy that can be integrated into development strategies such as this project, so we are training them and providing machines for them but we need to also diversify their income sources, and one of the ways to help them is the VSLA”, he said.
The concept would allow the group to save and lend to each other to help them expand their shea butter and other alternative businesses as well as contribute to maintaining the shea butter processing machine installed for them.
“We have trained groups who are into livestock, vegetable production among others and so we expect that the group will come out with one sustainable project to bring income and also be able to export the shea butter”, he added.
Ms Vera Yeboah, Administrative Assistant, Freeworld International, who facilitated the training, said the training was part of efforts to strengthen the group and address the challenges that might threaten its smooth operations.
Ms Rose Ayinsogmma Abeena, the Secretary of the Akoma Cooperative Women’s Group, said the knowledge acquired would strengthen the women and empower them economically.
