Tamale: A review and planning workshop has been held as part of the Affordable Financing for Resilient Rural Development (AAFORD) project to assess the implementation progress and address emerging challenges. The two-day workshop was attended by a team from CARE Ghana and the AAFORD Project Coordinating Unit from Sunyani.
According to Ghana News Agency, Mr. Zakaria Yakubu, Head of Programmes and Humanitarian at CARE Ghana, stated that the workshop, which concluded in Tamale, aimed to jointly review the progress of the implementation so far, identify challenges, and revise strategies and action plans necessary to accelerate the pace and quality of project delivery. The AAFORD project, spearheaded by the Ministry of Finance and funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), is a comprehensive initiative designed to enhance food security, agricultural productivity, and the livelihoods of smallholder farmers, with a focus on women and youth.
The project is being executed across 12 districts in six regions, including Bono, Bono East, Ahafo, Northern, Savannah, and North East. CARE Ghana plays a crucial role as an implementing partner and co-financier, providing technical leadership over components related to farmer capacity building, gender integration, financial inclusion, and climate-resilient agricultural practices. Collaborating with Municipal/District Departments of Agriculture, the Ghana Health Service, and a network of Community Based Extension Agents (CBEAs), CARE Ghana aims to achieve significant outcomes.
CARE Ghana's interventions are focused on enhancing resilience and productive capacity for 40,000 smallholder farmer households, as well as improving the nutritional status of young mothers, adolescent girls, and their families from 10,000 households. To date, 26,239 farmers from 1,065 farmer groups have participated in the project and have learned about Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) for crops such as soybean, rice, maize, and groundnut through group-level trainings and crop demonstration plots.
In addition to agricultural training, the project emphasizes nutrition. Regional and district-level training sessions on maternal nutrition have been organized in collaboration with the Ghana Health Service, and bi-weekly nutrition dialogues are being conducted with 5,100 women from 175 nutrition groups. Moreover, over 2,000 households have established kitchen gardens to support the cultivation and consumption of vegetables.
Mr. Zakaria highlighted that as part of the project, rural smallholder farmers are being assisted in building their capacity to effectively manage farming as a sustainable business. They are encouraged to form stronger groups or cooperatives and gain access to financial services, including low-interest loans. The Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA) strategy is being promoted among the beneficiaries to enable them to manage their savings and loans schemes independently.
He further emphasized the project's focus on addressing gender issues, particularly social norms that limit women's access to land, finances, and other productive resources. Gender dialogues are being integrated to promote peaceful coexistence, workload sharing within families, and empowerment for both girls and boys, along with improved nutritional status and living conditions.
The project has also rolled out nutrition support for over 10,000 young mothers and adolescent girls, including cooking demonstrations that encourage both men and women to participate. Mr. Zakaria reassured smallholder farmers in the beneficiary districts of the project's ongoing support to strengthen their groups and urged them to seek additional assistance from other sources.
Mr. Godwin Anku, the overall Coordinator of the AAFORD project, praised CARE Ghana's efforts, noting, "CARE Ghana has been super. Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, they came on with already made tools, which has quickened the pace of our implementation. So far, we are working hard to reach over 50,000 beneficiaries." He stated that following the workshop, efforts would be intensified to ensure swift delivery on the project's mandate.
