In partnership with Latter-day Saints Charities, we are working to end chronic hunger, malnutrition and poverty in Ghana through the Food Security and Improved Nutrition Project at the Akpo-Akpamu Epicenter in the Eastern Region and Tokome Epicenter in the Volta Region. The project will reach 31 villages and approximately 16,674 people.
This project is enhancing the communities’ knowledge in nutrition to strengthen local food systems and to support communities to reach self reliance. Guided by the community-led Vision, Commitment and Action (VCA) process, the communities design a path for their own development and self-reliant action through our Epicenter Strategy. This holistic strategy builds a path to sustainable self-reliance through synergistic programs in health (including HIV/AIDS prevention), education, adult literacy, nutrition, improved farming and food security, microfinance, water and sanitation, and building community spirit.
Despite tremendous advancements over the past few decades, one in three people worldwide suffer from malnutrition and conflicts and natural catastrophes are making the issue worse. In 2021, an estimated 29.3 percent of the global population – 2.3 billion people – were moderately or severely food insecure and 11.7 percent (923.7 million people) faced severe food insecurity.
Facts and Figures
- The Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Analysis (CFSVA) conducted in December 2020 revealed that about 12 percent of the population in Ghana was food insecure.
- According to the World Food Programme, four out of ten women of reproductive age and six out of ten children under 5 in Ghana are anemic.
- In 2016, chronic malnutrition and stunting affects 19 percent of Ghana’s population and is responsible for 24 percent of all child mortality cases.
- In 2020, 21,712 people faced severe hunger in Ghana and 24.2% of people live below the national poverty line.
Through the project, the community will participate in training to promote healthy eating and education on the importance of nutrition in a child’s first 1,000 days, breastfeeding and the signs of nutrition disorders common in children. The training includes cooking demonstrations for community members to show them how to create nutritionally-balanced meals for themselves and their families.
As part of the partnership, the community is celebrating the official opening of the Akpo-Akpamu Epicenter Food Processing unit and agricultural input shop. Community members now have access to and training on a corn milling machine, a cassava grater, a flour mill, a dough mixer and a bread oven.
It is my vision that our bread will be the most preferred on the market. My life has been transformed by the VCA education and other programs, especially the Women Empowerment Project and Health and Nutrition education.
We now have a regular source of income for our self-initiated projects and the administrative running of the epicenter, all to the benefit of our various Social Enterprise Projects, which we have established through the help of the Latter-day Saints Charities project.
We are surprised by the income we are generating now as an epicenter. Previously we could not generate an income of 500 Ghana Cedis in a quarter but now, we are able to generate an income of not less than 8000 Ghana Cedis in a quarter. We are very grateful to the project.
We have established 45 epicenters in five regions of Ghana — reaching 450 communities and a population of 350,000 people. To date, 18 of those 45 epicenters have reached self-reliance. We hope that through this partnership Akpo-Akpamu Epicenter and Tokome Epicenter communities will lead healthy lifestyles and also reach self-reliance.
Image above: Ghana 2022, Photo for The Hunger Project
