LINK GHANA PROJECTS

Increasing Youth and Women Resilience through Youth Village Savings & Loans Associations (YVSLA’s) in Northern Ghana

  • Project Duration: 24 Months (2024 – 2025)
  • Project: Location: Northern and Upper East Regions
  • Contact Person: Zuweira Yakubu (Project Coordinator)
  • Phone: +233 (0) 372 095 668 / 246 015 773

         Email: [email protected]

  • Background


Northern Ghana, faces a range of socio-economic challenges. With a growing youth population, unemployment and lack of access to formal financial services have contributed to poverty, migration, and social instability. Many young people in rural areas are excluded from formal banking systems due to factors such as lack of collateral, low income, and remote locations. This limits their ability to invest in income-generating activities, particularly in agriculture, trade, and small enterprises. The economy in Northern Ghana is heavily dependent on rain-fed agriculture, which is vulnerable to climate change and seasonal variations. This has exacerbated the economic vulnerability of young people, particularly those involved in subsistence farming. LINK Ghana acknowledges the important role of youth especially women in the agricultural sector particularly in the soybeans, groundnuts, maize, rice and cowpea value chain. In addition, women play a very important role in the shea value chain which provides income for most rural and urban women. In response to these challenges, establishing Youth Village Savings and Loan Associations (YVSLAs) offers a promising approach to improving financial inclusion, building resilience, and empowering young people to engage in sustainable livelihoods.

  • Project Approach


LINK Ghana in enhancing women and youth resilience adopts the Youth Village Savings and Loan Associations (YVSLAs) where persons within the ages of 15 – 35 years are facilitated to form VSLA. YVSLAs are community-based financial groups that enable members to save money, access small loans, and create a financial safety net. The youth-specific VSLAs (YVSLAs) target young people, allowing them to pool savings, invest in entrepreneurial ventures, and build a sense of financial independence.

  • Project Objectives


The project has the following objectives:

  1. Facilitate the formation of 300 YVSLAs in the Northern and Upper East Regions of Ghana
  2. Increased the economic resilience of youth and women for increased agricultural productivity and profitability within the soybeans, rice, maize, cowpea, groundnuts and shea value chains
  3. Increased access to business development and financial services among 10,500 women and youth in the agricultural value chains
  • Project Districts

Region

District

Northern Region

Gushiegu, Karaga, Mion, Yendi, Nanton and Sagnarigu

Upper East R

Bawku Municipal, Bawku West, Garu and Tempane

 

  • Project Activities

1. Profile and facilitate the formation of 300 Youth Village Savings and Loans Associations with a membership of 10,500 (90% women)

2. Train 10,500 youth and women from 500 YVSLAs on financial literacy and business skills

3. Facilitate 10,500 YVSLAs linkages and business relation with formal financial institutions and other business services providers (crop insurance companies, financial digital platforms and other key service providers)

4. Mentoring and coaching of 300 YVSLAs.

  • Achieved Results

Within the first year of the project, the project has achieved the following key results;

180 Youth VSLAs Formed: a total of 180 functional YVSLAs with a total of 6,300 (85% women) members have been formed.

 

  • 180 Youth VSLAs Formed: a total of 180 functional YVSLAs with a total of 6,300 (85% women) members have been formed.

 

180 Youth VSLAs Formed

a total of 180 functional YVSLAs with a total of 6,300 (85% women) members have been formed.

Increased Financial and Business Skills

6,300 (85% women) youth and women from 180 YVSLAs financial and business skills increased through mentoring and training on financial literacy and business skills.

Increased Business Linkages

6,300 (85% women) business relations and skills enhanced through formal financial institutional linkages.