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Millennium Development AuthorityQuarterly Newsletter | Eighth Edition June, 2011Sustainable Livelihood For Trained Women Rice Processors in the Northern Agricultural ZoneThrough rice processing this woman has improved her lifeSecond left, Gina Odartefio andsome of the women rice processorsWomen rice processors at workChallengeGina Odartefio, CEO of AMSIG Resources and TTSP in theNAZ provides a “win-win” situation by engaging her trainedwomen rice processors to parboil rice which is sold oncontract to the World Food Programme and the Ghana BufferStock Company.The primary responsibility of AMSIG Resources was to offertraining services to Farmer Based Organisations assigned toit in the Northern Zone. After the classroom training, it wasdifficult to provide any meaningful marketing opportunityfor the groups who have been taught to treat farming as abusiness endeavour. The processing groups just like theproduction ones do not have a structured marketingarrangement. At the same time, AMSIG was looking for anopportunity to use the women group to produce parboiledrice she could sell in structured markets.Initiative AMSIG diversified its activities from training serviceprovision into processing and marketing of cereals and grains.The organization set up a processing center for these activitiesafter winning a contract from World Food Program to supplyparboiled rice to the organization. Soon after, AMSIG hadanother contract to supply 136 tons of parboiled rice weeklyto the Ghana Buffer Stock Company. AMSIG is currentlyworking with the processing groups to meet these orders.About 150 women are working in the center. This centerprovides hands-on experience for the women and introducesthem to modern technology in rice processing. Newtechnologies such as the use of aluminum parboiling vesselsthat require less energy for processing, standardize water useper bag of paddy have been introduced at the center.ResultsThe women involved in this initiative now have anothersource of income and also an avenue to develop their skills.There is now ready market for the women even when theyprocess their paddy at home. AMSIG gives them theopportunity to sell their domestic produce as a group to thecenter. As a result of this the beneficiary women haveimproved livelihood and are able to cater for their domesticneeds even in the lean season. “Even if I don’t have moneyto buy paddy to process domestically, I can still go to thecenter to offer my services at a fee which could earn memore than what I make when I carry out my own processing”says one of the women beneficiaries. These women havebecome worthy ambassadors of the AMSIG processing center.The organization is making plans to establish more satelliteprocessing centers in the rice growing communities in theTamale and Tolon Kumbungu Districts. The first group ofwomen who have improved skills will serve as trainers forthese centers to transfer the acquired skills to their fellowprocessors. By this initiative, there has been livelihoodenhancement with no conflicts.Credit: International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC), Tamale, Ghana16
Quarterly Newsletter | Eighth Edition June, 2011Millennium Development AuthorityPrior to her appointmentas the Director forMonitoring andEvaluation at MiDA,Mrs. Abigail Abandoh-Sam was the Monitoringand Evaluation Officerat AdventistDevelopment and ReliefAgency (ADRA)-Ghana,where she had workedin various capacitiessuch as Monitoring &Evaluation Director,Development Officer,Gender Specialist, Project Supervisor, since 1990.Mrs. Abigail Abandoh-Sam,Monitoring and Evaluation DirectorAbigail holds a Bachelor’s degree in Geography, Economics andEducation from University of Cape Coast and a Master of Sciencein Administration degree (Development Studies option) fromAndrews University, USA. In addition she has qualifications invarious special areas of development studies such as Gender,Monitoring & Evaluation, Strategic Planning, Project Planningand Management, Community Development, NGO Management,Proposal Writing and Rural Extension Work,Management ProfilesShe has over twenty one (21) years extensive experience andskills at managerial level in various components of DevelopmentPractices such as Strategic Planning, Program Planning, Proposalwriting, Project Implementation especially of Food Security(including input-credit and agricultural production schemes) andSocial Infrastructural Development Programs. More than fifteenyears of this period has been spent doing Projects Supervision,Research, and Monitoring & Evaluation. She has also beeninvolved in the development and implementation of Genderprograms especially those involving Food security programs.A seasoned educationist, Abigail has excellent training skills andhas been involved in numerous programs as a trainer and trainerof trainers. She has also been a key personnel in developingproposals including those on education and food security.Mrs. Abandoh-Sam has attended and benefited from many localand international training programs, seminars and workshops.As a former school Guidance and Counseling coordinator, shestill enjoys voluntary social and community services to youthand children.Mrs. Dorothy DjokotoLegal CounselMrs. Dorothy Djokoto hasbeen MiDA’s Legal Counseland Board Secretary sinceFebruary, 2007. Dorothyholds a Bachelor of Lawsdegree from the Universityof Ghana and a PostGraduate Law Diploma fromthe Ghana School of Law.She also holds an M.A inInternational Relations fromthe Center for InternationalAffairs, University of Ghana,Legon, as well as a Certificatein Commercial Law andPractice from the Crown Agents Training Center, U.K.Prior to her appointment as Legal Counsel for MiDA, Dorothycame from a background rich with fifteen years post-qualificationexperience in cross border transactions spanning project finance,engineering construction, employment, aviation and gold mining.She began her career with the Ghana Airways Company Limited,and later joined Awoonor Law Consultancy as an AssociateBarrister and Solicitor. She then joined the mining industry asin-house counsel first for Ashanti Goldfields Company Limitednow AngloGold Ashanti Limited and then for Newmont GhanaGold Limited.Dorothy is a Member of the Ghana Bar Association, Federationof Women Lawyers and served as a Commissioner of the Securities& Exchange Commission, Ghana for 7 years.Mrs. Elsie BunyanInternal AuditorMrs. Elsie Bunyan is the InternalAudit Manager at MiDA. She isresponsible for the development andmaintenance of an effective InternalAudit System, auditing the financialand operating systems, and workprocedures of the Organization tosafeguard assets and ensure thejudicious use of MCC resources andeffectiveness of risk management,control and governance processes.Elsie has been working in thedevelopment field since 1999. Shehas worked as a Project Accountant for a Danida SponsoredProgram in the Water and Sanitation Sector; and as an InternalAuditor with Actionaid Ghana, an International NGO that supportsthe basic needs and rights of the poor and their access to servicesin order to eradicate poverty and injustice.Prior to her development-related work, Elsie was withPricewaterhouseCoopers where she conducted statutory andother audits for various clients in the Public, Financial,Manufacturing and Mining Sectors.A Chartered Accountant with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in SocialSciences, she also holds a Masters Degree in BusinessAdministration (Project Management Option). Professionally, sheis a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana,and the Institute of Internal Auditors.She is married with three children.17
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