The Shawnigan Lake- based NGO, Partners for Prosperity, is coordinating an exciting project in the Ghanaian village of Tapko. Aptly named the “Canada Ghana Partnership Program”, the project is a prime example of how business can partner with organizations and individuals to create an international community of mutual learning.

When entrepreneur Gifty Serbeh Dunn moved from her native Ghana to Canada, she saw a great deal of opportunity and decided about six years ago to share these opportunities with the women in her community in Ghana,. She launched Shea Butter Market three years ago, with the aim of providing a livelihood for 45 widows back in the village of Tapko. The widows who belonged to a collective became the suppliers of raw shea butter to SHEA BUTTER MARKET, which processes it into luscious skin care products for sale in Canada.

After the triple crises of a drought, a flood and a famine, Gifty saw that her initiative would not be enough to alleviate the desperate situation the women found themselves in. Enter Partners for Prosperity. Founded in 2001 by Mark Granfar, a BC businessman who maintains that for-profit enterprise is fertile ground from which to grow sustainable development projects, the NGO spearheads multiple programs worldwide through their “Global Connections” program founded by their coordinator Barb Kruger in 2003. This program regularly features speakers and consultants that have served internationally and links them to projects in the Valley around issues such as food security, human rights, and education.

From there this story started to unfold as people jumped on board. A friend of Partners, Sunwilla Awuli Sori, AND Robert Loggah and his wholly Ghanaian NGO Suntaa-Nuntaa(established since 1990 and provides training in agriculture practices to women’s groups in the Upper West Region of Ghana) joined forces with Partners for Prosperity to assist the widows of Takpo Village. With $25 per widow raised by Partners for Prosperity and presented on Christmas Eve, 2007, the original 45 widows plus five of their friends used the funds for their immediate relief. In return they worked as consultants to Suntaa-Nuntaa, creating a baseline study of their needs which has led to other initiatives.

Loggah recommended the widows begin farming the Moringa tree. An ideal crop for the area, the Moringa grows well in poor soil and needs very little water. The edible leaves of the Moringa contain more protein than either beef or soy, and its abundant gifts don’t stop there. It can be a source ingredient for bio fuel and livestock feed, and it even has the ability to purify water.

With a direction indicated, Partners stepped up to coordinate another fundraising effort and put a framework into place. Community groups including African Villages Society, One Human Family, Westwood Community Gardens and Jubilee Gardens in the Cowichan Valley were ready to pitch in. Individuals in Canada partnered with widows in Ghana, to each of whom they sent $25 for the purchase of Moringa trees. Serbeh Dunn presented the funds to Suntaa Nuntaa, and last spring, the trees were planted with the help of interns from Damango Agricultural College. What does this mean for the widows of Tapko? Hope for much- needed food-security for themselves and their families, a crop to sell at regional markets, and with any luck, enough seeds from this year to start 100 new trees next year! Already, the project has become a conduit for a two-way flow of information about food security, resulting in mutual enrichment.

Partners for Prosperity warmly invites you to discover more about this project at a special event. Be sure to pick up some luscious skin care products from Shea Butter Market while you are there for Christmas presents!