The Department of Nutrition and Food Science and the McGill University, Canada, have held a dissemination workshop, to wrap up of The Linking-Up: Women’s Agripreneurship Sustainability and Scale-Up Initiative project.
The project which has been running for the past four years, was funded by the International Research Development Centre, Canada, to enhance agricultural livelihoods, nutrition and health of rural women farmers and their households in sustainable ways.
Dr. Esi Colecraft, Principal Investigator (PI), University of Ghana, said the purpose of the dissemination workshop was to engage with stakeholders on the outcomes of the initiative and identify lessons learned in the process of working toward improving the lives of rural women. She expressed gratitude to participating institutions and communities in the Upper Manya Krobo, Lower Manya Krobo and Yilo Krobo Municipalities, for supporting the Linking-Up Initiative.
Hon. Simeon Kweku Tetteh, Municipal Chief Executive of the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality who spoke at the event, lauded organisers of the Project for partnering with the local institutions and Municipal Assemblies to support women’s agricultural livelihood for improved nutrition and household wellbeing. Hon. Tetteh indicated the willingness of the Municipal Assemblies to act on the recommendations of the workshop to empower women and reduce poverty.
Prof. Grace Marquis,PI, McGill University, presented an elaborate background to the projects preceding the initiative. She explained that food insecurity and maternal health can be linked to high stress among women; thus, the primary motive of the Project was to improve the quality of life of rural Ghanaian women entrepreneurs and their families. Prof. Marquis lauded the efforts of the University of Ghana for increasing its visibility in these projects over the years.
Ms. Comfort Pinto, Field Manager, took participants through the implementation process and project outcomes. She mentioned that the project team collaborated extensively with institutions such as the Ghana Health Service, Ghana Education Service and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
In sum, the Linking Up Initiative supported 165 women to establish enterprises in Poultry and Garden Egg production. Three of the beneficiaries shared their experiences and commended the Project team for the good work. They expressed happiness at being able to repay their loans and reinvest the incomes to sustain their agricultural businesses.
Present at the workshop were Prof. Anna Lartey and Dr. Agartha Ohemeng, both from the Department of Nutrition and Food Science, as well as representatives from sister universities and partner institutions.
