Beekeeping for food and income is becoming popular among rural women in Ghana. Whiles beekeeping is a high source of food and viable business to boost rural women income and employability; there is a clear gap of supply and demand and therefore a huge potential for a successful intervention. The honey is either gathered from wild honey bee colonies or is produced by local beekeepers; typically sold through local markets.
Unemployment is one of the major problems at the Tanyigbe community due to lack of employable skills. Underprivileged women and girls in the community are living in critical economic condition because of poverty. Often, due to socio norms and financial crisis, they are unable to undertake vocational and skill trainings. There are also lack of vocational training facilities and awareness, so women and girls are unable to be offered with techniques to create their micro enterprises in a profitable manner. As a result a large part of the population is clustered around the poverty line, thus not being able to access basic needs.
As part of our effort to promote the beekeeping sector, and improve the livelihoods of the poor especially women; a 3 month intensive training program will be organized for 50 women in the Ho Municipality of the Volta region of Ghana. This is to generate employment, create wealth and to provide pollination services for crops and natural environments.
Dream Africa Beekeeping Skills Training projectaims to economically empower 50 rural women with beekeeping skills and capacity as way of addressing rural poverty and general health issues. Beneficiaries will be empowered to become self-reliant and contribute to improvement in their economic conditions. Beekeeping is emerging in Ghana as a successful agricultural practice for local people in rural areas. The practice of beekeeping has intrinsic health benefits through the provision of food of great nutritional value.
The beneficiaries will be selected from project community in consultation with women groups and community stakeholders. The major aspect of the project entails training beneficiaries in beekeeping, processing and marketing techniques, entrepreneurship skills and environmental conservation for 3months. The training package will be harnessed with simple materials and guide books showing case studies, behaviour of bees in colony, steps and procedures to meet quality standards of produce to be marketed.
Beneficiaries will receive consignments of modern beekeeping supplies such as beehives, set of beekeeping suits, storage pots, packaging materials etc. The project will establish honey collection or sales centres at Tanyigbe as well as Ho the capital city of the region where buyers can easily access markets. It will create a favourable environment for the beneficiaries to their products to be collected, refined and then linked to markets.
Project staff and beneficiaries will quarterly meet to discuss progress of the project. Furthermore, they will participate in data collection to inform them of the progress of the project. In sustaining the project, beneficiaries will be encouraged to save part of the money or profit made from sale of honey to maintain beehives and expand their business by buying extra to sustain the project. The cost of training per PARTICIPANT is $600 including start-Up equipment/tools. The project is expected to run from November 2020 to March 2025.