Project profile — Greater Rural Opportunities for Women (GROW) in Ghana

• Ghana (100.00%)

• Basic Health: Basic nutrition (12240) (10.00%)
• Informal/semi-formal financial intermediaries:
Informal/semi-formal financial intermediaries (24040) (10.00%)
Education/training in banking and financial services (24081) (5.00%)
• Agricultural development:
Agricultural development (31120) (25.00%)
Agricultural inputs (31150) (15.00%)
Food crop production (31161) (10.00%)
Agricultural extension (31166) (10.00%)
Agricultural services (31191) (10.00%)
• Other Multisector: Rural development (43040) (5.00%)

• Gender equality (principal objective)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (principal objective)
• Participatory development and good governance (significant objective)
• Trade development (not targeted)
• Biodiversity (not targeted)
• Climate change mitigation (not targeted)
• Climate Change Adaptation (significant objective)
• Urban issues (not targeted)
• Desertification (not targeted)
• Children's issues (not targeted)
• Youth Issues (not targeted)
• Indigenous Issues (not targeted)
• Disability (not targeted)
• ICT as a tool for development (significant objective)

Through partnerships with local organizations, the Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) expects to help farmers in the Upper West Region overcome constraints and become viable economic partners. MEDA seeks to provide ongoing training, capacity building and mentoring of Ghanaian government agencies (District Assemblies, Regional Planning and Coordination Units, Ministry of Food and Agriculture extension services) and non-government organizations. Targeting women and their families, MEDA intends to undertake activities to improve: production (improved input supplies, awareness of improved techniques, drip irrigation technologies, credit, training); post-harvest handling (storage, sorting, processing such as solar drying, customized loan products, training); and facilitation of market linkages (sales agent model, strategies to deal more effectively with traders, market information and ability to use market information in sales transactions, basic business management and access to target markets).

The expected intermediate outcomes for this project include: (1) increased diverse agricultural productivity of food crops for small holder farming families, particularly women, in the Upper West of Ghana; (2) increased marketing of agricultural products by small holder farmers, particularly women, in the Upper West Region of Ghana; and (3) improved nutrition practices for small holder farming families (women, men, girls and boys) in the Upper West Region of Ghana.

Results achieved as of March 2019 include: (1) GROW women farmers' soybean yields increased by 200% (from 0.73 metric tonnes per hectare in 2012 to 1.11 metric tonnes per hectare in 2017), resulting in an annual income increase of 105% to 1,104 GHS (CAD $278); (2) access to production inputs and extension services by women farmers increased from 14.1% and 26% respectively in 2013 to 62.7% and 85.2% in 2018 respectively; (3) during the 2017 harvest season, GROW supported 21,500 farmers to harvest 13,643 hectares of soybean, producing a yield of 14,632 metric tons; (4) GROW farmers sold 11,169 tons of soya at an average price of GHS 200 per 100kg, earning a total of over GHS 22.3 million, or approximately CAD 5.6 million. (2017 harvest figures); (5) the nutritional status of both women and children improved significantly over the period of the project. By 2018, approximately 88.7% of women had a Body Mass Index (BMI) in the normal range and only 18.4%, 2.3% and 11.4% of the children were stunted, wasted and underweight according to the anthropometric results (results from final evaluation). That compares very favourably to 2014 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS) results for the Upper West Region which found that 72.3% of women had normal BMI and 22.2% of children were stunted, 4.4% were wasted, and 13.5% were underweight; (6) the Technology Fund facilitated women’s access to labour-saving equipment through local private sector providers. In total, 5,196 women purchased 7,376 technologies. The most popular item was Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), with 3,854 purchased, and the highest value item was the motorized tricycle, with 753 supplied; and (7) strong, ongoing engagement with government bodies and local partners enhanced prospects for sustainability. GROW worked closely with the District Directorates of Agriculture, Women in Agricultural Development (WIAD), Gender and the Ghana Health Service (GHS). By linking these important state agencies as well as NGOs, KFPs and financial institutions with women, GROW helped build linkages and working relationships to promote food security and poverty reduction.

• Proactive disclosure