Letter of Support from Sarah Grant; Team Leader of AgriBusiness Ghana
Re: Josephine’s contribution with Engineers Without Borders in Northern Ghana
To the Selection Committee,
I am writing this letter as part of Josephine Tsui’s candidacy for the Sauve Scholars.
I am employed by Engineers Without Borders (EWB) as the Director of EWB’s Ghana Agriculture Team. I had the privileged of working with Ms. Tsui on this team from September 2007 – August 2008. During this time, Josephine and I worked with the Ghanaian Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA).
Jospephine began the relationship with the Upper West Region of the MoFA while I the Northern Region. Our mandate was to a) begin a relationship b) develop a program to work with MoFA c) scale up the program.
Josephine’s contribution to this work is quite significant. In beginning our work, we had a lot of room to define our contribution. Josephine used her time to develop tools to promote agriculture as a business in the Wa West District. The tool helps farmer groups move from the first stage of being internally strong to the second stage of understanding their business through analysis of profit and opportunities. These tools were compiled and are now being tested in the three regions in Northern Ghana. By the end of year, 60 MoFA field staff will have tested these tools.
The main purpose of these tools is around helping MoFA field staff with the development of farmer groups. Farmers groups have a lot of potential as a poverty alleviation technique. For example, if farmer groups are organized and producing for the market, they can access markets that will bring them better prices than if they are producing individually and selling on the local market. Strong farmer groups can also access financial services that will allow farmers to invest in their farm and turn greater profit. The tools are helping MoFA field staff brings groups to a level where they are able to take advantage of these market opportunities and financial services.
Josephine’s contribution was successful because she took a participatory approach with MoFA field staff and farmers. Through her dedication and her strong ability to network and facilitate analysis, the tool she developed is innovative and highly useful to MoFA.
If you have any questions regarding Josephine’s work and contribution to farmers, MoFA and EWB I would be more than happy to answer them..
Regards,
______________________
Sarah Grant
Director of Agriculture Ghana
Engineers Without Borders Canada
Sarah Grant congratulating an extension officer on participating in the Agriculture as a Business program
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