At an event held on May 2nd, 2024, in Accra and attended by high-profile partners, stakeholders, and journalists, CAMFED announced the launch of its Agriculture Guide Program in Ghana.
The Program sees young women educated with CAMFED’s support and equipped with context-specific training, lead action to build community climate resilience, support women’s sustainable agribusiness, and improve food security.
In an address to guests, Kingsley Kwesi Agyemang, representing the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, welcomed the introduction of the program:
The Ministry recognizes CAMFED’s Agriculture Guide Program as one of the best innovative climate change programs in the country. The program is very much aligned with the Ministry’s ambition in combating climate change impacts especially among women and other vulnerable groups.
Kingsley Kwesi Agyemang, Principal Agricultural Officer, Crop Services Department, Ministry of Food and Agriculture
Ahead of the launch, CAMFED Ghana established a technical working group of experts in August 2023 to help to design and guide implementation of the program — including developing the Agricultural Guide handbook for the Ghanaian context. The working group comprised representatives from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, universities, research institutions, and the National Service Scheme as well as young women entrepreneurs supported by CAMFED.
This was followed, in March this year, by the training of 138 Agriculture Guides, who will support their communities in addressing climate and food insecurity challenges — while also positioning a core of young women to take up dignified and fulfilling careers in agriculture, agribusiness and agro-processing.
This program brings an opportunity for CAMFED Association farmers and agripreneurs to develop sound climate-smart practices, to make new connections, to access the equipment and inputs they need for agricultural success, and to grow their yields and philanthropy. Our Agriculture Guides serve as catalysts for this change by coaching and mentoring CAMFED Association agripreneurs, female smallholder farmers, and school children.Fairuza Safian, National Director, CAMFED Ghana
CAMFED’s Agriculture Guide Program launched in Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Malawi in 2020, formalizing a sustainable agriculture initiative that had been active since 2013. It has been awarded a UN Global Climate Action Award in recognition of its effective and scalable approach led by young African women.
Agriculture Guides volunteer their time and expertise to deliver a structured program of support to a group of around 10 female agripreneurs. Through regular meetings over a period of 6-12 months, the agripreneurs learn about climate-smart farming, food preservation and clean cooking techniques. Each Agriculture Guide and 10 agripreneurs then together reach 100+ members of their community each year.
By late 2023, Agriculture Guides in three countries had supported over 100,000 community members — smallholder farmers, school children, and CAMFED community champions — with skills and information for climate-smart techniques.
Read more about the reach of Agriculture GuidesAs Agriculture Guides our main focus is to educate people about climate-smart agriculture. Our climate is not how we’d want it to be or how it used to be — so we will work with communities to help prevent food shortages. We will also educate agripreneurs on how to store water for farming.Charity, newly-trained Agriculture Guide, Ghana
I’m passionate about agriculture and that passion led me to study Agricultural Engineering at tertiary level. Now, as an Agriculture Guide, I’m working to identify ten agripreneurs who are members of the CAMFED Association, so I can guide and mentor them in their businesses.Emmanuella, newly-trained Agriculture Guide, Ghana
Yaa Wodenya, herself a member of the CAMFED Association of women leaders educated with CAMFED support, attended and reported on the event.
Kingsley Kwesi Agyemang, Principal Agricultural Officer, Crop Services Department, Ministry of Food and Agriculture gave a short interview to Plus TV.
This report includes quotes from speeches given by the Women in Agriculture Development Directorate’s Paulina Addy and CAMFED’s Fairuza Safian.
What brings me fulfilment and happiness is helping the less privileged in society. Through my business I look forward to training many more people in mushroom production and encouraging youth in agriculture – so that they look upon it more positively. I hope to get at least 20 young women in a year into mushroom and agricultural production.
In this country there are so many unemployed young people, so when I started university I was already thinking of business ideas. I didn’t want to complete my studies and find myself without opportunities, and getting into entrepreneurship also meant I could pursue something I was really passionate about. I started my groundnut processing business in 2019.
I started an organic vegetable farm in 2018 in response to challenges I had noticed in my community. Many farms in northern Ghana do not harvest produce outside the rainy season, meaning that vegetables become more expensive. Using sustainable technologies, I am able to grow and harvest crops all year round.
Michelle Brown $16.1
Justin Coffey $474
Jenifer Fabian $10.9
Laurence Pearl $185
Nicole Duncan $209
The LockPhantoms $253
Rachel Epstein $180
Alexandra Ornston $500
Shanice Lodge $141
Deb Williams $10.9
Kendra Cullen $158
Maggie Cutkosky $106
David Pederson $79.2
Lauren Frankel $52.9
David Shilling $106
When she thrives, we all thrive
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