As the year draws to a close, the Board of URBANET is visiting our communities to engage beneficiaries of our interventions. The visits also afford them the opportunity to engage other key stakeholders including the District Assemblies and their decentralized departments. It is expected that members will gather relevant information to support oversight role.
The Hub shall serve as a ‘one-stop shop’ for women to access gender-responsive Business Development Services (BDS) to start and grow small enterprises, would be operated out of existing district-level Business Advisory Centers (BACs) operated by the Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA). The Rural Solar Hub established in Voggu in the Kumbungu District in Northern Region Ghana will serve women in both Tolon and the Kumbungu district by providing them information relevant to their businesses.
The Hub will support businesswomen in five main service areas; Entrepreneurship and Business Management, Green Value Chain Development, Green Business, Buyers, Marketing and Outreach, and Financial Inclusion. It is the intention of the Project to facilitate the feminization of services under these identified areas as well as improving linkages between service providers and project beneficiaries.
URBANET Ghana in partnership with Plan International Ghana under the WISE PROJECT has facilitated training for 97 women on green skills from Tolon and Kumbungu districts; Snail rearing, Beekeeping and Mushroom cultivation were the livelihood areas targeted. These activities offer a lot of business potentials but are often neglected. The WISE project therefore seeks to create opportunity for women in the project areas to venture into these green businesses.
URBANET Ghana in Partnership with Plan International Ghana under the Women’s Innovations for Sustainable Enterprises (WISE) Project has supported 600 women farmers in 60 Communities in the Tolon and Kumbungu districts in the Northern Region of Ghana. This 600 beneficiaries form part of the 2500 women initially trained on soybean production and post-harvest handling and management. Each beneficiary had a maximum of one acre of land ploughed, 15kg of Soybeans seed, 150ml of inoculant and one tarpaulin. It is expected that this support will become a morale booster for the women to work hard to increase their incomes and improve the quality of life. The WISE project is funded by Global Affairs Canada.
URBANET in partnership with Plan International Ghana through the WISE project has organized a one day learning and sharing event in Tamale. The event brought together all the project critical stakeholders who contribute to the project implementation. URBANET shared updates on progress of implementation, lessons learned over the year of implementation and some challenges encountered during the period. Relevant feedback was taken from stakeholders to improve project implementation.
With the ultimate goal to enhance economic empowerment, well-being and inclusive economic growth for women in Ghana, URBANET and Plan International Ghana under the WISE PROJECT have started supporting smallholder women farmers along the soybean value chain to take advantage of the cropping season which has just set in. Working with the department of agriculture in both Tolon and Kumbungu, over 2,500 smallholder women farmers received training on soybean production and post-harvest practices. Aside the training, the women will be supported with improved seeds and link to sustainable market.
It’s been an exciting day of knowledge and experience sharing by EMpower West Africa grantee partners at the Mensvic grand hotel, Accra. The three-day programme designed to build capacities of partners in programme design and implementation as well as the new focus of EMpower in Non-traditional livelihoods opportunities for young people also has selected young women attending to contribute views and recommendations for EMpower’s future priorities and plans.
The dry season is almost here and URBANET through the adaptation fund project supported Tampion and Zeing communities with logistics and inputs to undertake dry season vegetable cultivation as an income generating opportunity.
URBANET received a certificate of appreciation from the World Universities Service of Canada. This was to express WUSC’s profound gratitude for URBANET’s valuable contribution and support to the success of the Uniterra Programme in Ghana from 2015-2020. Uniterra is a leading Canadian international development program that is jointly operated by CECI and WUSC. Each year, 600 volunteers contribute their time and experience to positive and lasting change towards a more equitable world by dedicating a few weeks to two years of their lives to international volunteer work. Three volunteers on different occasions volunteered at URBANET.
URBANET has rolled out activities of the Northern Ghana Integrated Development Project. Initial activities involved stakeholders’ engagement at the four districts (Mion, Gushegu, Kpandai and Central Gonja) the project is being implemented.