Ghana

BASELINE STUDY REPORT: AGRO-SOURCE: LAST-MILE AGRICULTURAL INPUT SUPPLY SYSTEMS

The Agro-Source project in Ghana is a two and half (2½) year project (July 2018 to December 2020). The overall goal of the Agro-Source project is to improve the productivity of 30,000 smallholder women farmers in five (5) districts i.e. Garu, Tempane, Bawku West, Lambussie-Karni and Nandom in the Upper East and West regions of Ghana through increased availability, access and use of good quality agricultural inputs by 2020.

The baseline study was to establish a benchmark against which to measure the progress and achievements of the project. It was to generate: information on the current status on the availability of quality agro-inputs in the target locations and information regarding smallholder women farmers’ access to and utilization of agro-inputs to improve their productivity.

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Ghana Social Accountability Mechanism (GSAM) Annual Report Year 4

The fourth year of implementation of the USAID-funded Ghana’s Strengthening Accountability Mechanisms (GSAM) project covered the period October 1, 2017 to September 30, 2018, during which the GSAM Consortium – CARE, OXFAM and ISODEC – continued with its activities in the 50 districts, known as the Social Accountability Districts. These activities were aimed primarily at strengthening the capacity of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and citizens to monitor and assess capital projects of their MMDAs, using scorecards, and to use the information generated to engage with the MMDAs to demand accountability and improved performance in capital project delivery. Read More...

Impact Assessment of Savings Groups

Researchers from IPA, along with CARE staff and their implementing partners, conducted a randomized evaluation of Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA) programs in Ghana, Malawi, and Uganda to examine two questions: Who joins savings groups? And, what is the impact on households from programs that promote savings groups? The evaluation used a randomized control trial (RCT) design, in which eligible communities were randomly divided into two sets: a set of villages with access to a VSLA program (the treatment group) and a set of villages where the program was not implemented during the study (the control group). The study started in Ghana in 2008 and in Malawi and Uganda in 2009, and the final data collection took place in 2011 in the three countries. Each site included a panel survey in which households were surveyed before the start of the program implementation and again two or three years later. Over 15,000 households in almost 950 communities were surveyed. The surveys covered a large variety of topics, including health, education, income-generating activities, asset holdings, food consumption, non-food expenditure, intra-household decision making and community involvement. At the time of the endline survey, after an average of two years of program implementation in the three sites, one third of respondents had joined a VSLA group. On average, members had been part of a group for 15 months and 61% of members had gone through a full savings cycle, normally lasting between 8 and 12 months. The evaluation should thus be thought of as assessing the relatively short-term impacts of the intervention. [62 pages] Read More...

Ghana’s Strengthening Accountability Mechanisms Project (GSAM) Baseline

Ghana’s Strengthening Accountability Mechanism (GSAM) project is a five (5) year USAID funded project which focuses on strengthening citizens’ oversight of capital development projects to improve local government transparency, accountability and performance in 100 districts of Ghana. GSAM is designed to strengthen social accountability by improving information to CSOs and the citizenry in the project districts to enhance their capacity to demand accountability. The project seeks to improve accountability by enhancing mechanisms of bottom-up social accountability in MMDAs through increasing the quality and quantity of information available to citizens about the effectiveness of capital projects through extensive CSO monitoring, the production of scorecards, and public information campaigns.
Prior to the rollout of the intervention, the GSAM team collected baseline data in 26 district assemblies in 8 regions of Ghana. The purpose of the baseline study was to establish the situation prior to the roll up of project interventions, document the first measurement of indicators to be used to determine progress, and which will serve as benchmarks for setting targets to be achieved at the completion of the project intervention. Read More...

Household Economic Security for Poor Women (HESP) Project Baseline

The Household Economic Security for Poor Women (HESP) project is an initiative of CARE InternationalinGhanawithfundingfromtheBigLotteryFund(BLF). Thethreeyearprojectseeksto improve the economic security of women smallholder farmers and their households in the Upper East and West regions of Ghana.The project intervenes in the soy and groundnut value chain by improving sustainable and climate smart farming practices, improving extension services accessible by women, improving access to agriculture inputs and financial services. The project also seeks to identify and engage with appropriate private sector players to improve market access by smallholder women farmers, engage with men and boys as change agents to challenge gender inequities dictated by traditional norm and customs and also; engage the support of traditional authorities to improve access and ownership of land and productive resources by women. HESPdirectly targets 3,000 women smallholder farmers and indirectly benefit a total of 18,000 household membersin the Garu-Tempane and Lambussie-Karni districts of the Upper East and Upper West regions of Ghana [43 pages] Read More...

PROMISE Baseline Survey Garu-Tempane and East Mamprusi Districts

Baseline study of the PROMISE project implemented in Ghana by CARE Canada and CARE Ghana as part of the LINKAGES program funded by Global Affairs Canada. [72 pages] Read More...

LINKAGES Final Evaluation Report – Advisem

Final evaluation conducted for the multi-country LINKAGES program (Bolivia, Ghana, Mali and Ethiopia) funded by Global Affairs Canada and implemented by CARE Canada and CARE offices in the 4 countries. Evaluation was conducted by external Canadian consultant firm Advisem. This report combines findings from the 4 independent final evaluations, which took place in-country as well as reports on findings from independent surveys and interviews conducted by the firm. [117 pages] Read More...

Pathways- Global Baseline Report

CARE’s Pathways program focuses on improving poor women farmers’ productivity by empowering them to more fully engage in equitable agriculture systems. The program is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and implemented in Bangladesh, Ghana, India, Malawi, Mali, and Tanzania. Aligned with other CARE initiatives, such as CARE Australia’s WE-RISE program, Pathways is designed to overcome the constraints to women’s productive and equitable engagement in agriculture. Utilizing a strong gender focus, the program’s Theory of Change posits that marginalized, poor women farmers will be more productive, and their families more food secure when:
 women have increased capacity (skills, knowledge, resources), capabilities (confidence, bargaining power, collective voice), and support
 local governance and institutions have/implement gender-sensitive policies and programming that are responsive to the rights and needs of poor women farmers
 agricultural service, value chain, and market environments of relevance to women are more competitive, gender-inclusive, and environmentally sustainable. [104 pages] Read More...

Household Economic Security for Poor Women’s Project (HESP) Final Report

From the perspective of a strong gender focus, CARE’s Household Economic Security for Poor Women’s Project (HESP) sought to improve the economic security of women smallholder farmers and their households in Northern Ghana by increasing their productivity and access to inputs and markets. Funded through the Big Lottery Fund of the UK, HESP is implemented in the Garu-Tempane (GTD) and Lambussie (LD) districts of the Upper East and West regions of Ghana, respectively.

The project’s objectives and ultimate outcomes are:
1. Increased agricultural productivity for smallholder women farmers through improved and sustainable farming methods and increased access to productive resources; and
2. Increased household income for smallholder women farmers and micro entrepreneurs through effective engagement in economic opportunities along the soy and groundnut value chain.
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Ghana’s Strengthening Accountability Mechanisms (GSAM) Project Third Quarterly Report

The Third Quarter of the USAID-funded Ghana’s Strengthening Accountability Mechanisms (GSAM) project spanned the period April-June, 2017. CARE, IBIS and ISODEC supported 26 CSO partners to complete a number of citizen monitoring and dissemination activities started in previous quarters in the 50 SA districts and to commence another round of citizen monitoring of capital projects. As at the end of June, 88 capital projects had been selected from the 2016/2017 Annual Action Plans (AAPs) in 43 of the 50 social accountability (SA) districts for citizen monitoring, majority of which are education (42%) and health-related (36%) projects. Below is a summary of the key activities implemented during the quarter and the results thereof.
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