Agriculture Governance, Resilience and Economic Empowerment (AGREE)

PURPOSE OF ACTIVITY

The AGREE Activity works with agriculture stakeholder groups in northern Ghana, including women smallholder farmers, the government and local assembly, private sector, and traditional leaders to improve agricultural productivity and governance. To create a peaceful and conducive environment for agribusiness and subsistence farming, AGREE also collaborates with Regional Peace Councils, traditional authorities, leaders of farmer groups, and early warning monitors to identify and manage conflicts.

OBJECTIVES

• Build community resilience to preventing violent conflict and extremism.
• Increase women's voices and access to key resources, including land and farm inputs, and tools for greater productivity and economic empowerment.
• Improve local and national government responsiveness to the needs of agriculture stakeholders.
• Encourage private sector participation in the agricultural sector.

KEY INTERVENTIONS

Agricultural Governance AGREE collaborates with local and national government agencies to improve their responsiveness to citizens’ needs and demands. Through local-level civil society organizations (CSOs), and private sector actors, the activity trains and mentors influential farmer association leaders, with emphasis on women’s groups, to advocate for improved service delivery in the agriculture sector. Training topics include “farming as a business”, entrepreneurship, good agronomic practices, improved technology, and advocacy. With the assumption that conflicts can derail all investments in agriculture, the activity, through WANEP-Ghana, works with the National Peace Council, a mandated independent state institution, to identify, manage, prevent and resolve conflicts to promote sustainable peacebuilding.

Women in Shea (WISH)

Operating solely in the East Gonja Municipal area of the Savannah Region, the WISH initiative applies market-based approaches to advance the economic development of women within the shea nut value chain. WISH also works to increase income for women in the shea industry, empower them at individual and group levels, and address systemic barriers and equity concerns in local natural resources allocation, ownership, and management.

GEOGRAPHICAL FOCUS

The USAID/Ghana AGREE Activity programs in all five regions of northern Ghana including:

• Upper East Region - Bawku, Bawku West, Talensi, Kassena/Nankana East, Kassena/Nankana West, Bolgatanga, Nabdam
• Upper West Region - Sissala East, Sissala West, Wa East, Jirapa, Lawra, Nandom, Wa Municipal
• Northern Region - Yendi, Mion, Gushegu, Tatale-Sanguli, Karaga, Nanumba South, Nanumba North,Kpandai
• Savannah Region - Sawla/Tuna/Kalba, Bole, West Gonja, East Gonja, North Gonja, Central Gonja, West Gonja
• North East Region - Bunkpurugu/Nakpanduri, East Mamprusi, Chereponi