Shea Butter Producers - Economic Empowerment

Sekaf Shea Butter Village is a pilot scheme to process premium quality Shea Butter in a collaborative commercial project with the village women of Kasalgu and Sekaf Ghana Ltd in the Northern Region of Ghana.

Today the Shea Butter village comprises of 2000 women from 5 different villages (Shigu, Nangbagu, Kasalgu, Yepola and Jisonayili) formed into a cooperative called Sekaf Shea Butter Village Women Cooperative (SSWC). Membership to the village cooperative is limited to one member from each household so incomes can be distributed to every household in four communities.

The major aims of the Sekaf Shea Butter Village Women Cooperative (SSWC) are to:
• Process high quality unrefined Shea butter
• Contribute towards regional economic development in the 5 villages of Shigu, Nangbagu, Kasalgu, Yepola and Jisonayili
• Help women earn an improved income from the sale of premium quality Shea Butter
• Provide information, education and training to member group women
• Promote sustainable conservation methods and harvesting of the Shea trees. By help of USAID (West Africa Trade Hub), the Shea Butter Village has trained all the women in quality control standards. About 500 women have been trained throughout the 5 communities to collect nuts and process premium quality Shea Butter for export. At the Shea Butter Village, the women have created their own quality control standards, policies and procedures, have designed their own production manual and have drafted their own policy to promote sustainable conservation methods of the Shea trees.
SSWC are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. Women of the SSWC believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others.

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Tags:

• bulk
• shea
• butter
• 100%
• wholesale
• organic