Monday, March 22, 2010

UNDP- AMSCO Assists Northern Communities of Ghana

The African Management Services Company (AMSCO) a project of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) executed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), has brought a ray of hope to communities in the Northern Region of Ghana through the delivery of a timely training programme which reached 2,313 women shea nut pickers.

This was done as part of AMSCO’s capacity development services offered to its client - The Pure Company (TPC).

AMSCO, a pioneer of capacity and skills development in the African SME sector, is also currently offering management and training services through the support of 24 AMSCO Managers seconded to 15 companies in Ghana.

The Pure Company, a shea processing firm situated in Benkrom in the northern part of Brong Ahafo, started purchasing shea nuts from the northern part of Ghana in 2006 through women contractors who have been organized into groups and co-operatives.

As a development partner, committed to ensuring successful operations for its client and also to contributing to improving in the standards of living for the people in the community, AMSCO collaborated with TPC to bring this much needed training to the women shea-nut pickers in the Central Gonja, West Gonja and North Kintampo Districts in the Northern and Brong Ahafo regions of Ghana.

As a rule, shea butter produced by traditional methods is generally of poor quality and this is attributable to poor kernel quality and the crude method of extraction. The objective of this training was to educate these women on preferred methods of harvesting.

The women were taken through the necessary steps in producing quality nut and kernel using standard operation procedures (SOPs) while highlighting the critical control points (CCP) to attain quality.

Through pictorial illustrations and practical demonstrations, the women understood that the quality of nuts depended to a large extent, on the method used in harvesting and storing.

At the end of each demonstration, the participants were amazed at the differences achieved in quality when the preferred method was used.

The participants were very satisfied with the training, and impressed with the quality of nuts and kernels produced. As a result, they resolved to adopt these new techniques in treating nuts.

This is expected to improve the market value of shea nuts produced and make the product more competitive on the global market.

This will translate into new job opportunities, improved livelihood, poverty reduction and enhanced socio-economic well being of the communities in the northern sector of Ghana.

The theme adopted for the training was “Sustainable harvesting and processing of Shea Nuts – Towards Organic and Fair Trade Certification’.

The training package also included modules to sensitize the women on other social and topical issues such as HIV/AIDS Awareness and Personal Hygiene. The total package had a singular aim of contributing towards improving income levels and livelihoods in the region.

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