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Ghana Fast Facts Header

The practice of giving girls, usually under the age of 10, to village fetish shrine priests as sexual/domestic slaves to compensate for family member's offenses continues despite a 1998 ban. Women's and human rights groups strive to end the practice (Trokosi) and have won the release of 2,190 Trokosi slaves.

Maternal mortality ranges from 210 to 800 depending on the region. Ghana's Minister of Health attributes high maternal mortality to delays in accessing safe motherhood services, e.g., poor roads, long distances, and ignorance of pregnancy problems. Others cite early marriage and female genital cutting as additional causes.

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Country Snapshot: Ghana and Economic Growth

Photo of a woman in a mangrove holding mangoes.
With USAID support, a food vendor, popularly known as "chop bar" keeper in Ghana, has become the main supplier of fresh mangoes and mango seedlings at Somanya in the country's Eastern Region.

Photo of women cooking.
The food security activities are closely linked to the health, education, and economic growth programs, and form an integral part of the USAID/Ghana strategy.

USAID promotes economic growth through enterprise development and capacity building for businesses and entrepreneurs, provides women with business management training and micro-credit for rural business start-ups to increase household income. Women artisans also have accessed technology to market their products globally.

Enterprise Development Program

Through USAID's enterprise development program, the volume of non-traditional horticultural export products, the average prices, yields and areas cultivated in 2002 increased by 10 percent over the previous year. Technoserve, a USAID partner, helped increase household incomes through the growth of rural businesses, many of which are women owned. An example is the assistance provided to women to develop small palm oil processing and shea butter production businesses.

Micro-entrepreneurs

The number of assisted micro-entrepreneurs, a third of them women, also increased in 2002. A micro-enterprise development and business management activity, led by OIC International, trained 1,698 women, a 113 percent achievement rate over the 1,500 target. The program's capacity building component included a Gender Audit Workshop.

Women Artisans

In collaboration and coordination with the Peace Corps, USAID established a computer training and support center where an association of women's artisans created a web site to market their products through PEOPLink.


Ghana's Program Objectives

Education
Economic Growth
Civil Society
Health

Selected Activities

Strategies for Advancing Girls' Education (SAGE)
Sara Clubs
Safe Schools
Enterprise Development Program
Micro-entrepreneurs
>Women Artisans
Male Involvement in Safe Motherhood
Queen Mothers
Reproductive Health Care
Capacity Building
Legal Equity and Political Empowerment for Women

Visit USAID/Ghana link to the mission
Global Snapshots: Ghana Homepage

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:09:19 -0500
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