in West Africa

SHA offers economic opportunities to young people and women, with a focus on reducing gender inequality and the effects of climate change. This project will contribute to the socio-economic stability of the Northern region of Burkina Faso by creating economic opportunities for 240 women and young people. The project will support the young people and women in the region in the development of small businesses in the agricultural and livestock sectors.

• 240 women and young people (120 young people aged 16-33, 50% male, 50% female and 120 women aged 34+)

SHA and the National Union of Cashew Producers, the implementing partner, are targeting 2,790 women, in particular cashew producers and processors from Comoé, Houet and Kénédougou provinces, who are organised into 5 cooperatives of cashew producers. The project will also target formal and informal groups of artisanal processors, as well as women who do not own orchards but are working alongside their husbands in the targeted communities. The economic capacities of the women targeted by the project will be strengthened through theoretical and practical trainings on entrepreneurship, on the cooperative management of processing units, the development of business plans and on investment and funding scoping.

• 2790 households

T his research project will apply multi- and transdisciplinary, participatory, and multi-actor approaches in order to ensure maximum applicability and replicability of the project beyond its duration. SHA and its consortium participants will also cluster with various relevant ongoing projects, sharing knowledge, expertise, approaches, methodologies, and results in a bidirectional manner, both contributing to and receiving from collaborators working on related challenges. Considering interactions between ecosystems, agronomic practices, societal drivers and the welfare of smallholder farmers and communities is a crucial aspect of this project.

A multi-actor approach is therefore central to the successful planning, design, development and implementation of new approaches and technologies. This participatory approach will ensure inclusiveness, which will help to empower particularly smallholder farmers, especially women and youths, as well as SMEs. It will also help to link smallholders to SMEs and establish networks with other relevant actors (e.g. soil associations, farmers’ unions) and strengthen the preparation of policy recommendations for informing policymakers on best practices

SHA is helping to build ownership within the communities by forming development committees and WASH associations, as well as training a local project management team in maintenance and management in order to assure the sustainability of the action.