Women are often underrepresented in certain fields or face barriers that prevent them from advancing in their careers. In Ghana, lack of access to resources such as mentors, training programs, finance, lack of information and knowledge on technology, and the need for specific skills and inputs are among the key barriers to young women’s participation at various levels of the agricultural value chain. In addition, participation of women in agriculture is not evenly distributed along the entire agricultural value chain. It is against this background that Kosmos Innovation Center (KIC) introduced the Women’s Bootcamp project to mainstream gender participation for its programs. This creates an avenue to motivate young females in the agriculture sector by providing training in entrepreneurial skills. Through the program, young women are empowered economically, and are given the opportunity to connect with other women to compete equitably in the agribusiness ecosystem.
The KIC Women’s Bootcamp equips young women in tertiary educational institutions, as well as in the peri-urban and rural communities with the skills and knowledge needed to develop innovative agri-business ideas whiles receiving mentoring and coaching from business experts. Young tertiary students as well as women living with disabilities receive training and capacity building, with funding support to start their businesses. There is also support provided to women with children, in line with KIC’s safeguarding and child safety principles to ensure that young female parents benefit from the trainings.
Objectives: The Women’s Bootcamp seeks to;
- Create an enabling environment to facilitate women’s participation into KIC’s AgriTech Challenge programs (Classic and Pro) and encourage the creation of inclusive solutions across all its programs.
- Collaborate with women empowerment organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to improve the socio-economic well-being of marginalized women groups and smallholder farmers.
- Equip women with the right knowledge, necessary tools, support, and skills to kick start and build their own sustainable agribusiness that impact smallholder farmers and create jobs for youth and women.
Impact: The Women’s Bootcamp has impacted young women in both tertiary and community levels. Through the entrepreneurship training, many young students from both agricultural, agribusiness and non-agric backgrounds and young women in peri-urban communities have gained practical knowledge and skills for employment and employability. The community-based trainings have also provided alternative livelihoods for young female farmers and adolescents providing economic empowerment. Some of the livelihood activities include soapmaking, gari processing, processing of groundnuts, among others. Some of the women groups have also been supported to establish Village Savings and Loans through needs assessment and baseline studies conducted by KIC and its partner prior to the trainings. So far, more than 12,000 young women have been trained. KIC communicates the impact of the program through its channels and those of KIC’s partner organisations.
Partnership & Collaboration: KIC works together with other partner organisation to identify specific women groups within the criteria and scope and to implement the trainings and capacity building.