Ghana: promoting decent work opportunities along the cassava value chain
On 28-29 November 2013, FAO hosted a sensitization workshop on decent rural employment issues in the cassava value chain in Ghana’s West Gonja District.Representatives of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) and Northern Regional Coordinating Council, as well as local cassava producers, processors and traders were brought together in Tamale to learn about, discuss and deliberate over the working conditions in the local cassava value chain.
The workshop was held as part of FAO’s Programmatic Regional Initiative (SO3PRI), which is implementing FAO’s integrated approach to rural poverty reduction in Northern Ghana. Through this integrated approach, FAO is providing comprehensive support to the rural poor by improving the enabling environment for poverty reduction. This involves policy-level technical support, capacity development activities at the national, regional and district levels, as well as targeted interventions to directly empower poor farmers and rural workers.
To help improve the enabling environment for rural poverty reduction in Northern Ghana, this sensitization workshop brought together public and private sector stakeholders operating along the cassava value chain in pursuit of three interrelated goals. First, it sought to raise participants’ awareness of the importance of decent working conditions in reducing rural poverty. Second, participants jointly identified key constraints and opportunities with respect to the development of the value chain, and the creation of decent employment opportunities within it. Finally, they were encouraged to reach consensus on a series of concrete actions to help overcome these constraints and seize these opportunities.
The workshop was a success on all accounts. Participants completed the workshop with a stronger understanding of the importance of decent work, and with greater insight into where and when these standards are currently not being met. Through a deliberative process, participants also identified constraints and opportunities to promoting decent work in the cassava value chain, and proposed numerous follow-up actions.
FAO will now use the insights gained from this workshop to help guide the implementation of the SO3PRI in 2014. The findings of this workshop will inform numerous activities at local, district and regional level, including policy support and capacity development activities, as well as trainings in agricultural, business and entrepreneurial skills for rural youths in West Gonja District. In so doing, FAO will capitalize on stakeholders’ insights to promote decent rural employment opportunities for effective and efficient rural poverty reduction in Northern Ghana.