Women Sales Agent Case Study (EN/FR)

This case study examines GROW’s Women Sales Agent (WSA) model as one of several methodologies to achieve project goals of increased market linkages and sustainability for women farmers in the Upper West Region of Ghana. With a vested interest in the growth and empowerment of women farmers, WSAs provide women farmers with information and embedded services in order to better integrate farmers into markets. This woman-to-woman model addresses the unique skills required to be a successful woman-centric intermediary in the soy value chain and is proving to be empowering for women, generating evidence of increased agency and access for WSAs, and to some degree for women farmers themselves. WSAs have been able to improve their role within the market system, earn more money for their services, increase their status within their household and community, and achieve a greater role in decision making while also increasing access to vital services and products for women farmers. Challenges and lessons learned are discussed in this case study, which also features four profiles of WSAs.