Public Agenda (Accra)
19 September 2008
The President of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Margaret Biggs, has stated that the work of Christian Children's Fund of Canada (CCFC) in the north work shows what can be achieved when Canada collaborates with Ghana.
The CIDA President made the comments when a team from CIDA accompanied by the Canadian High Commissioner to Ghana, Darren Schmmer, paid a visit to a women's shea butter pressing project in Kanvilli. The project was co-funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and CCFC Canada and implemented by Markaz Al Bishara, a partner organization of CCFC.
Margaret Biggs stated that the project shows what women can do when they take charge of their lives and it also showed what they can do when they group together as partners on behalf of their families. She wished the women success in their endeavors and in the marketing of their products.
The CIDA team also comprised Christine Hogan, Vice President for CIDA, Barbara Brown, Head of Programs for West and Central Africa of CIDA, Michael Gort, Director of Development Co-operation of CIDA Ghana, Janice McDonald, Deputy Director of Development Co-operation of CIDA Ghana and Vida Assum-Buti, Senior development Officer of CIDA Ghana.
The Canadian High Commissioner, Darren Schemmer on his part lauded the spirit of hard work exhibited by the over thirty women working under the Kanvilli shea butter processing project. He expressed his happiness at the site of professionalism shown by the women in processing the shea nuts from the early stages to the end product.
Briefing the visiting Canadian team, the Country Director of CCFC Ghana, Mrs. Nantogmah Sanatu, said that the establishment of the Micro Enterprise Development (MED) project under CCFC sought to minimize money wastage by avoiding exorbitant interest rates in the villages, provide better access to credit, revitalize indigenous mutual support systems and set up a common fund to provide better access to credit. She stated that it was also intended to improve the health and living conditions of families and provide a regular source of income for women.
The Kanvilli Shea Butter Processing Project, a branch of the MED program under Markaz Al-Bishara, was set up at a cost of about 1,400 Ghana cedis in 2006. It is made up of over thirty women under the name Suglo Nboru Buni Shea Butter Processing Group. Through the initiative of the shea butter proeject, the women have not only improved upon their shea butter making business, but they have also been trained in loan management, records keeping, personal hygiene as well as soap and pomade making
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