Vodafone Ghana Foundation supports women in the Upper East Region

Vodafone Ghana Foundation has supported women in the cottage industry in the Upper East Region with GH¢20,000 to enable them expand their shea-butter businesses.

The Foundation made the donation, which is the largest the business has received through AfriKids Ghana, a child rights NGO dedicated to helping the most vulnerable children in northern Ghana.

A statement copied to the Ghana News Agency on Wednesday said AfriKids recognised the need to engage and support the women in order to help sustain the support they give to the children.

AfriKids has been helping women with their business activities by providing them with micro-finance loans and other business support services.

A group of 150 women in Sirigu, a deprived area in the Kassena Nankana West district of the Upper East Region, approached AfriKids Ghana to help them expand their businesses as they found the traditional methods of extracting the shea butter laborious and restrictive to the growth of their businesses.

AfriKids has been helping them through micro-finance loans and investing in equipment to help them expand production.

"Vodafone Ghana Foundation’s donation has given the women the ability to further invest in equipment which will fully mechanise their shea butter production, increasing not only the quantity but the quality of shea butter produced," the statement said.

Patrick Boateng, Director of External Affairs at Vodafone Ghana, said the Foundation’s believes "women are the bedrock of our society; their prosperity will reflect in the welfare of their children and will ultimately lead to the social and economic development of our society."

"These women have shown a determination to grow their business so that they can take care of their children and get them good education; the Foundation is proud to be able to give them that opportunity," he added.

Increasingly, women in the Sirigu community are responsible for paying the costs associated with educating their children; and the success of their businesses has a direct correlation to the welfare of their children.

The donation has also contributed to the growth of the cottage industry in the Upper East region.

Nicholas Kumah, Director of AfriKids Ghana, stated that Vodafone Ghana Foundation’s donation had come at a time when there were calls for investment into the cottage industries.

"We are truly grateful for the contribution the Foundation has made to the lives of these women and the economic growth of the Northern Ghana." **