The project under the 6,950,000 Canadian Dollar funding support from Global Affairs Canada, directly reached 14,123 women, trained 5,445 on agribusiness or green skills and provided 3,298 women with startup support for their new businesses.

The project implemented from 2021 to 2025 in the Northern, Bono, Bono-East, and Ahafo regions promoted businesses such as beekeeping and honey production, snail farming, mushroom farming, cereal, legume and vegetable crop farming among needy women between 19 and 55 years.

Mrs Theodora Asare, the Project Manager, WISE, said the project built 64 child-friendly and safe spaces and refurbished 28 other childcare centres to enable beneficiaries of the project to leave their children in the hands of competent caretakers to attend to their businesses and return for them when done for the day.

She gave the details at an official closing ceremony of the project and celebration of its success in Accra on the theme: "When Rights are Realised, Growth is Imminent: Lessons and Legacy of WISE."
As part of the project execution, she said four manuals and one research paper were developed to build the capacity of the women, three solar-powered kiosks were built for other participants of the project and five business advisory centres were strengthened.

Moreover, 52.9 per cent was achieved for targeted women who reported actively participating in household decision- making on economic matters.

The project, Mrs Asare explained also ensured the establishment of 560 savings groups with 14,123 members trained on gender-responsive savings with an average holding of GHS1,077 per member.
She said 870 women opened savings accounts and 210 received loans totalling GHS512,117, adding that 298 beneficiaries were also trained on marketing, packaging of materials and customer care.

Mr Constant Tchona, the Country Director, Plan International Ghana, said Plan International Ghana went beyond addressing the "symptoms" of the numerous challenges affecting girls, young women and women to explicitly tackling the root causes of gender inequality, particularly unequal power relations and discriminatory social norms.

The WISE Project, he said was one of the four projects under Global Affairs Canada's "Innovation for Women's Economic Empowerment in Ghana" Initiative.
He explained that the realisation of economic rights for women was a foundational key contributing to observed improvements in well-being, livelihoods and healthy family relationships among women.

Mr Tchona noted that women's equal access to land, affordable financial services and the realisation of their economic rights must be prioritized to achieve economic justice and equality for women.
He said the project among other things also sought to reduce female unpaid care and domestic work.

Mr Seth Twum-Akwaboah, the Chief Executive Officer, Association of Ghana Industries, said the WISE Project had been
a testament to the principle proving that women with access to opportunities, resources and an enabling environment could thrive for the benefit of the entire community.
He called on government to design and implement women-specific entrepreneurial policies to enhance productivity and competitiveness.

"To every woman here today, you are proof that when rights are realised, growth is imminent. The journey does not end here. Carry forward the knowledge, networks, and confidence you have gained and continue to make an impact...," he advised.

Madam Kathleen Flynn-Dapaah, Director and Head of Cooperation, High Commission of Canada to Ghana, said the WISE Project had been about women helping women, women employing other women, and women taking care of others' children for a small fee so they could go to work on their farms and agribusinesses knowing their children were being taken good care of within safe spaces.

"It always strikes me how with the right information support and tools, women will seize opportunities with both hands. Ghanaian women certainly will not wait. They will go ahead and show what they are capable of very quickly," she said.

The project's implementation was jointly supported by the Women's Integrated Development Organization and Urbanet Ghana.