Sunkpa Shea Women’s Cooperative

The Sunkpa Shea Women’s Cooperative is an Indigenous-women-led shea butter cooperative in the savannah region of Northern Ghana. This cooperative has been able to take a community-led approach to creating a sustainable and inclusive shea butter value chain that has provided economic opportunity to over 800 women within the cooperative.

The Sunkpa Shea Women's Cooperative, born out of the Community Resource Management Area (CREMA), have led local initiatives that contribute to ecosystem restoration with indigenous economic trees and traditional fire management practices. These interventions help mitigate wildlife risks in this drought prone region of Ghana. Practices such as collection of shea in the locally zoned areas of production, no-take zones, and limited use areas are contributing to the conservation of biodiversity and enhancing landscape characteristics.

In addition to their sustainable harvesting of shea nuts, the cooperative has substantially improved their value addition capacity by making high-quality, organic shea butter and selling it directly to International buyers through the cooperative.

Key Facts 

Equator Prize Winner: 2022

Year of establishment: 2013

Location: Murugu Community, Ghana

Ecosystem: Agricultural, Grasslands and drylands

 

Related resources

Equator Prize 2022

 

Sub-Saharan Africa

 

Ecoagriculture and Food Security

 


 

Contact Information

Memuna Braimah
Chairperson

 

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