Promoting Sustainable Agricultural and Environmental Practices among Women of the Wa District: A Case Study of the Suntaa-Nuntaa’s Project in the Upper West Region.

Abstract

This study explored how “Suntaa-Nuntaa” a local Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) in the Upper West Region of Ghana was able to provide disadvantaged rural women with income-generating activities that took into account environmental practices. The main elements of the Suntaa-Nuntaa programmed laid emphasis on the organization, sensitization and education o f women through women groups that it formed in Wa District of the Upper West Region. The study was conducted in eighteen (18) of fifty-three (53) women groups established by Suntaa-Nuntaa in the Wa District, using simple random sampling. Again a simple random sampling procedure was used to pick 30% of individual respondents from each of the eighteen (18) groups giving a sample size of 107 individual respondents. Individual interview schedules and focus group discussions were employed to elicit responses from the respondents. In general, the findings showed that Suntaa-Nuntaa was able to lead women o f the Wa District to identify the factors which are responsible for degrading the environment, for example, bushfire, tree felling, and bad farming practices. Through its methods of education and sensitization, Suntaa-Nuntaa was able to make beneficiaries of the programme appreciate the harmful effects of land degradation. By using drama, workshops and field demonstration, Suntaa-Nuntaa was also able to equip beneficiaries with skills of tree planting, animal rearing, honey production and simple accounting procedures. Ultimately, Suntaa-Nuntaa was able to empower women and thus made them capable of freeing themselves from poverty, ignorance and suffering which significantly improve their living conditions.