Women of Amanga, a farming community in the Bongo District have acquired some basic necessities of life such as cooking pots, bowls and other containers through support from the Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA).
Women and other vulnerable persons in the area no longer travel to southern Ghana precisely Accra and Kumasi to do menial jobs to earn a living.
The VSLA is an initiative that offers women in the rural communities to purchase shares and bestow to themselves at an agreed interest rate. This enterprise in Amanga has given birth to soap production made out of shea butter with about 254 women engaged.
The initiative dubbed “Women’s Livelihood Support” hopes to augment a support known as Bongo river trees restoration project which was initiated by Community Self-Reliance Center (COSEREC) with support from Tree Aid Ghana. At a colorful ceremony to inaugurate the groups and to distribute shares generated out of the savings, project officer for this initiative Jambeidu Khan said the soap production came to being in order to get value for money due to unavailability of ready market of the shea butter produced by the women. According to him, the VSLA which started two years ago comprised of 9 women groups in the areas of loan fund and social fund.
Program coordinator of COSEREC Mark Akparibo stated that it is the responsibility of his outfit to support communities to mobilize their own resources to engage in income generating activities to better their lives. According to him a major, a challenge in the village savings and loans initiative is the security of the money. A reason the organization is partnering rural banks for the safety of monies generated by the women.
Project officer of the “Bongo River Trees Restoration”, a project of Tree Aid Ghana Naaba Anecham Jonathan said through the appeal of Naba Baba Salifu Lemyaarum Paramount chief of Bongo, his outfit has helped restore some degraded lands in Bongo through the planting of trees and grass.
He added that 4 water harvesting structures to conserve water have been constructed.
By: Joshua Asaah | A1RADIOONLINE.com | Ghana
