Nuru Ghana Builds Resilience in Upper East Region of Ghana

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 13, 2024

Contact: Steve Amodio | info@nuruinternational.org

Accra, Ghana – The Nuru Collective is pleased to announce the establishment of the newest collective member organization, Nuru Ghana. This is a significant milestone for the Nuru Collective, as this marks its fifth country of intervention. 

Nuru Ghana, a locally-owned and locally-led nonprofit organization, will begin working in the Upper East Region of Ghana, targeting smallholder farmers in vulnerable communities. Through farmer cooperatives, Nuru will support farmers with access to locally sourced and certified input suppliers, establish sustainable market linkages for farmers to maximize their yield value, and train farmers to adapt their farming practices to the changing climate. Through these efforts, farmers will increase production and create additional income through the sale of surplus crops. As incomes and crop yields increase, farmers are able to build their resilience, improve household nutrition, and begin to plan for unexpected financial shocks in the future. Nuru Ghana will focus its efforts on drought-tolerant, high-protein crops that will not only support household nutrition and be more likely to survive extreme weather events, but will also create previously unattainable economic opportunities for farmer members. 

Lydia, Nuru Ghana Cooperative Development Manager, facilitating a meeting with farmer cooperative leaders in the Upper East Region of Ghana

With localized expertise, Nuru Ghana will build on the lessons learned across the Nuru Collective over the last fifteen years. Nuru Ghana is led by local leaders with diverse backgrounds in agricultural development, health interventions, international program management, and women’s agricultural associations. With their combined expertise, they are currently registering the first 1,000 Nuru Ghana farmers with the ignitia weather service. Farmers in Ghana face many unknowns, and the unpredictability of climate change is making it increasingly difficult for farmers to anticipate what will happen in a season and make decisions accordingly. Ignitia offers hyper-local, highly accurate weather forecasts and agricultural advisories to farmers through mobile phone networks. This turns the weather from an unpredictable threat into an asset by supporting climate-smart decision making. 

“Setting up Nuru Ghana’s first office in the Upper East Region, one of the poorest regions in Ghana, speaks to Nuru’s vision of creating sustainable and impactful opportunities in the most vulnerable and marginalized communities in the world. The Nuru Ghana team is looking forward to engaging with and building lasting partnerships to champion resilience for the most vulnerable in the country.”  David, Nuru Ghana Project Coordinator

As the Nuru Collective scales to reach more people this year and in the years ahead, it has a vision to build resilience and unlock the economic potential of one million farmers in partnership with local communities in fragile regions, beginning in East Africa and West Africa. Launching efforts in Ghana is a critical next step in cultivating livelihoods, building resilience, and reinforcing social cohesion in marginalized and vulnerable communities that are at-risk for increasing threats due to climate change, political instability, and food insecurity. 

“Nuru Ghana is the first expansion of Nuru’s resilience corridor to include Littoral West Africa and will play an essential role in achieving regional stability.” -Aerie Changala, Nuru International CEO 

On March 19-20, 2024, Nuru Ghana will be attending the ICT4D conference in Accra, Ghana. This global convening explores how Information Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) combined with data innovations are impacting peoples’ lives. The conference will specifically celebrate the impact of ICT4D on humanitarian relief, development and conservation projects (ICT4D). ICT4D participants are encouraged to visit the Nuru Ghana exhibition table shared with ignitia to meet the Nuru Ghana team and explore possible partnership opportunities.

About Nuru International: 

Established in 2008, Nuru International is part of the Nuru Collective, a network of organizations working together to address extreme poverty and promote resilience through locally-led solutions across five countries in Africa: Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, and Ghana.

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