Stephanie S. Sullivan at the new shea butter processing facility at Sorogu
United States Ambassador Stephanie S. Sullivan has inaugurated a shea butter processing facility at Sorogu, a community in the Sagnarigu Municipality in the Northern Region.
The beneficiary women group ? Tiyumtaba Women’s Shea Cooperative ? would also benefit from a warehouse from the US government as a component of the processing facility.
The facility is part of a US government’s effort to partner with communities, companies, and non-profit organisations in West Africa to expand economic opportunities for women.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) developed the facility in partnership with the Burt’s Bees brand, owned by American manufacturer The Clorox Company, and the Ghanaian firm Savannah Fruits Company.
The facility is expected to increase incomes for 600 women who collect and process shea nuts.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Madam Sullivan said the opening of the shea processing and warehouse facility is an accomplishment that demonstrates “what is possible to achieve when we all work together.”
She said shea is a primary source of livelihood of women living in northern Ghana and that the project affirms the US government’s commitment to promote women’s economic empowerment through partnership that connect Ghanaian women producers with US buyers.
“USAID is working with the Global Shea Alliance, communities, non-profit organisations and responsible companies, who together since 2016, have provided 250 warehouses, generating increased incomes for more than 137,000 women across West Africa,” she said.
The ambassador urged the beneficiary communities to continue the partnership to protect the shea trees and parklands to sustain the shea industry.
The Global Shea Alliance’s ‘Sustainable Shea Initiative’ was launched in 2016 in partnership with USAID. The $18 million, a five-year programme, promotes the sustainable expansion of the shea industry in Ghana, Benin, Ivory Coast, Togo, Mali, Nigeria and Burkina Faso.
The Managing Director of Global Shea Alliance, Aaron Adu, said as part of efforts to protect the parklands, the GSA has designated July as the shea month and would mobilise about one million stakeholders in eight countries to plant about 10 million trees on July 16, this year.
The leader of the Tiyumtaba Sorogu Women’s Group, Mary Naab Alhassan, commended the US government highly for the effort to empower women economically.
FROM Eric Kombat, Sorogu