Project profile — Women & Cocoa Communities Initiative (TogetHER)

• Ghana (100.00%)

• Agricultural policy and administrative management:
Agricultural policy and administrative management (31110) (20.00%)
Agricultural financial services (31193) (25.00%)
Agricultural co-operatives (31194) (25.00%)
• General Environmental Protection: Environmental education/training (41081) (30.00%)

• Gender equality (significant objective)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (principal objective)
• Participatory development and good governance (significant objective)
• Climate Change Adaptation (significant objective)
• Youth Issues (significant objective)

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.

Results achieved as of March 2025 include: (1) provided financial literacy training to 3,372 (1604 women, 764 young women, 273 young men and 731 men) members of Village Savings and Loans Associations. This training helped them to enhance awareness of credit sources, building bank relationships, loan application procedures, and insurance introduction; and (2) trained 57 staff (26 women and 31 men) from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the Ghana Cocobod and the Department of Co-operative on gender-responsive and climate-smart products and services, in collaboration with other stakeholders from the cocoa value chain.

• Proactive disclosure