[ 2021-03-08 ]

Village Savings and Loans scheme empowering rural women in Adansi north

By Florence Afriyie Mensah

Agogooso (Ash), March 08, “Nyame Akwan” a
Village Savings and Loans scheme is making strikes
in the socio-economic lives of women in Agogooso,
a farming community in the Adansi South District.

The scheme, which was introduced in the community
by Nature Aid Ghana, an NGO, as part of efforts to
improve the livelihoods of women in cocoa farming,
is actually shaping the lives of the women in the
community and gradually lifting them out of abject
poverty.

According to the women, the introduction of the
local scheme for the women who formed the Village
Savings and Loan Association (VSLA), which
although was not regulated by any identifiable
body in the financial sector, had not only brought
peace in their homes but also changed their lives
economically.

Per the scheme, the women make weekly
contributions as savings to the group’s
executives, and they are able to secure loans from
their contributions on monthly basis.

Madam Christiana Frimpong, Chairperson of the
“Nyame Akwan” group, told journalists during a
tour of the community ahead of this year’s
International Women’s Day Celebration, that, at
first the women were reluctant to join the group,
but they had now realized its importance in their
socio-economic lives.

She said through determination, she in particular,
had started petty trading aside her farming and
she was now able to support her husband and the
family.

Madam Frimpong hinted that the group had been able
to mobilize and disburse not less than
GH?40,000.00 to members for their various business
activities.

The group had also been able to provide financial
support for the reconstruction of a stalled
two-unit kindergarten block project in the
community.

Again, Madam Frimpong said since the inception of
the scheme, more men were at peace with their
families (wives), since the women did not have to
demand so much but rather, assisting their
husbands in the upkeep of their homes.

She however, appealed to the government to assist
the community to complete the stalled KG block to
provide convenient environment for their children
to attend school.

Madam Adwoa Buyaa, a cocoa farmer, said through
the VSLA she was now able to manage her four-acre
cocoa farm well.

She indicated that the loans secured had assisted
her to hire workers to work on her farm, purchase
farm implements and thereby reducing her workload
on the farm.

Crop yields from her farm had also increase in the
last two years, and thus, making it possible to
cater for her two children in school.

Mr. Sampson Adu, a 38-year old farmer, indicated
that his wife who belonged to the group secured a
loan for them to expand their farms and added
that, they were making so much profit from their
farms lately.

Nana Nti Aboagye, Odikro of Agogoose, expressed
his appreciation to Nature Aid Ghana for
introducing the community led savings and loans
scheme, saying it had help the women in the
community who used to secure loans from micro
finance companies at an exorbitant rates and which
repayment sometimes, became a huge problem.

The introduction of the flexible local loan
scheme, according to the Odikro, had made the
women able to focus without having to go for
monies from micro finances companies.

Again, the scheme had helped the women to be
pivotal in their family welfare and also reduced
petty fights among community members and
families.

Nana Aboagye used the occasion to appeal to the
government for a Community-Based Health Planning
and Services (CHPS) compound to cater for the
health needs of the people.

Mr. Joseph Baradoe, Executive Director of Nature
Aid Ghana, explaining the concept to newsmen, said
the aim of the NGO was to ensure that every woman
in the cocoa sector was financially inclusive, and
that was why, the VSLA was introduced at Agogooso,
one of the Organization’s operating
communities.

With this women are able to get credit to support
petty trading, and purchase of implements for
farming.

The NGO had also trained some of the women in soap
and pastries making to enable them earn additional
income outside the main farming seasons.

Nature Aid Ghana started the project in the
community in 2018, with focus on primary education
improvement, child labour eradication and women
empowerment.

Aside the financial scheme, Mr. Baradoe said the
organization was assisting the community to
complete a KG block for the people.

He appealed to COCOBOD to support the community in
basic infrastructure development.

Source - GNA

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