West Africa

For women and girls in the developing world, COVID-19 is exacerbating existing inequities and creating new challenges. In Benin, women cashew farmers like Elisabeth Atchade must juggle many responsibilities, including earning money for the household while also taking on the majority of child care responsibilities. Learn how a TechnoServe program is helping women address these challenges and emerge from the crisis even stronger.

In Nigeria, nearly half the tomato harvest is lost before ever reaching consumers. Promoting the domestic cottage processing sector has the potential to significantly decrease post-harvest loss while also improving farmer livelihoods and increasing food security for vulnerable communities.

In Benin, cashew farmers are facing many challenges as they try to adapt to rapidly changing conditions due to COVID-19. We talked to Nicholas Mancus, TechnoServe’s chief of party for the BeninCajù program, to learn about the challenges these farmers are facing, how the pandemic is impacting women and men differently, and what TechnoServe is doing to help.

The BeninCajù program is working to make Benin’s cashew sector more productive, competitive, sustainable, and inclusive. Today, we’re sharing a behind-the-scenes look at the daily activities of a TechnoServe gender and access to finance specialist who works on this program.

Mariam Abdulafeez is a young businesswoman who is using the skills she learned through a TechnoServe business accelerator program to empower others to transform their businesses and their lives.

Chocolate is one of the world’s most popular foods, but who actually grows the cocoa that serves as the base for this delicious treat? Meet a few of the farmers who are changing their lives using income from cocoa.

In Benin, TechnoServe is working to provide young entrepreneurs with the skills they need to build prosperous and food-secure communities.

The BeninCajù program, a partnership between TechnoServe and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is working with 48,000 smallholder cashew farmers to increase yields, boost revenue, and encourage domestic processing.

On December 16, Nigerian food processors and other public and private sector leaders gathered for the second annual Nigerian Food Processing and Nutrition Leadership Forum in Lagos, Nigeria.

Earlier this month, women leaders in northern Nigeria gathered in Jigawa state for the first annual Rural Women Leadership Forum hosted by TechnoServe and the ExxonMobil Foundation.