Waterloo, Ontario- From May 11th to May 15th, women philanthropists walked 132 km (82 miles) on a converted rail walkway from Guelph to Goderich. Over four days, they walked and shared great conversations for the Guelph to Goderich to Ghana walk (G2G2G) to raise funds for women farmers in Ghana for MEDA’s GROW2 project.
The walk was organized by a group of generous women volunteers to raise funds for MEDA’s work in the Global South. Women business leaders, philanthropists and women on MEDA’s senior leadership team all participated in the walk.
The participants raised awareness and support, and we are pleased to celebrate that the G2G2G walk exceeded its goal by raising $117,550 in donations for women entrepreneurs and farmers in Ghana. Thank you to everyone who supported. A special thank you to Kindred Credit Union for their generous financial support.
As Marcia Scheffler, MEDA’s Vice-President, People & Culture expressed, G2G2G was truly a group effort with many people contributing to its success.
“I’m grateful for Dorothy Nyambi challenging Lindsay Wallace, Wendy Clayson, and myself to join this trek. I’m incredibly thankful for the support from the Women Empowering Women group, supporting us with an inspirational letter every day,” Marcia said. “But what I’m most thankful for? The faithful team greeting us at rest stops with water, chocolate-covered almonds, homemade power bars, and more! Incredible planning and logistics from [Marion Good, Dale Shantz, and Dean Shoemaker]! Thanks, Tara Proper for walking with me a good part of today’s walk!”
Women play an essential role in the Ghanaian economy and support their household’s nutritional health and wellbeing. Despite women’s critical contributions to the Ghanaian agricultural sector, they have limited access to land, technology, training, and financial services. The situation is worse for women in rural areas of Northern Ghana. In these areas, women have limited agency to make decisions about their own lives.
MEDA’s work in Ghana aims to improve the economic and social empowerment of small-scale women farmers, entrepreneurs, and agribusinesses in Northern Ghana. MEDA’s GROW2 project works with 40,000 women farmers and 50 agri-businesses. The project also ensures farmers can earn more money for their crops by building markets for soy, groundnuts, and vegetables. The release of GROW2 follows the successful completion of its predecessor, the GROW project, which MEDA began implementing in northern Ghana ten years ago. Like its successor project, GROW supported small-scale farmers, particularly women to grow soy and linked women to financial services, like savings groups, institutions, and banks. Together with local partners, MEDA reached over 23,000 women and their families with the first GROW project.
of achievement, tilling their crops, and planting produce in their field
The success of the G2G2G walk shows what the power of community, generosity and goodwill can do. MEDA remains committed to providing hardworking entrepreneurs and farmers with the tools to build prosperous businesses and livelihoods.
Couldn’t attend our walk? No problem! You can still support Ghanaian women farmers by donating today.
If you’d like to read more about what MEDA is up to, check out more of our content.
