A total of 123 farmers benefitted from sustainable environmentally-friendly livelihood adaptation (SELA) trainings organized by the Coalition for Change (C4C) in the Vundema Community in the Builsa South District of the Upper East Region in partnership with Christian African Relief trust (CART).
The farmers were trained on bee keeping and goat rearing from September to October, 2017 for increased household income and food security as alternative to environmental degradation practices currently engaged by them especially women in the community.
They were also trained on how to manage the skills acquired to establish thriving businesses. The training is in line with the C4C’s attempt at mitigating practices injurious to the environment especially in the dry season when farmers hustle for survival and to create alternative livelihoods for people to adapt in the medium to long term.
Practices like bush burning for hunting, charcoal burning and unsustainable agricultural practices are widely practiced in most communities of the region with both men and women engaging in them, hence necessitating the training. C4C hopes that whilst they implement campaigns against these, they also find alternative means to empower people to move away from such practices.
C4C expressed their gratitude to CART for the continued support in uplifting the lives of the marginalized.
After a thorough deliberation of the profiled beneficiaries, ten groups of six members were formed; 5 women and one man each. Each group had received four goats (three nanny and one billy goat). They are to rear the goats to boost their meager earnings; the improved goats are also to crossbreed with the local goats to beget improved crossbreed (because of their huge bodies sales of them will be high).
For the bee keeping beneficiaries, a total of 63 beneficiaries were given each a honey box.
About Coalition for Change (C4C): it is a non-governmental organization which aims to raise secured families using ecologically sustainable local farm base strategies, adaptable income generating activities and available forms of educations as means of closing poverty gap in Ghana. Thus the C4C team up with poor households within deprived communities to eliminate identified forms of obstruction to the full attainment of basic human stateliness through participatory approaches to reduce poverty using gender mainstreaming, self-help communal spirit and promoting quality education.
About Christian African Relief Trust (CART): It is a Christian charity organization based in the UK with a mantra of “Caring for People, Resourcing Development”. They are into humanitarian relief, water and sanitation, environmental protection and livelihood.