A newly-launched Self Help Africa project will improve the lives of nearly 2,800 women farmers and producers within the cashew nut sector in Burkina Faso.

The project, Women’s Economic Empowerment Through Entrepreneurship in the Cashew Value Chain (DEFI), will organise the participating women into five cooperatives, in the Comoé, Houet and Kénédougou provinces.

The women will receive training on entrepreneurship, management, business plan development, and on investment and funding opportunities in the cashew value chains.

In addition, the project will also support the creation of enterprises around other income-generating activities, such as beekeeping by-products processing and market gardening.

Self Help Africa’s Gender and Inclusion Advisor Mary Sweeney, speaking at the launch, said “I’m delighted to launch this vital work, which will really improve the lives of thousands of women in Burkina Faso. The training in business development, and organisation into cooperatives, will allow these women to improve their incomes – earning more money for the household, which will have a positive effect on the whole family. We’ll also be supporting women who don’t have their own orchards, but who are working alongside their husbands in our target communities.”

DEFI is funded by the Austrian Development Agency. The project will be implemented by Self Help Africa together with partners the National Union of Cashew Producers.

The new programme continues Self Help Africa’s work within the cashew value chain in West Africa. This began in 2012, and includes Burkina Faso, Benin and Ghana.