Project Report

Beekeeping project In Bimbilla, in the Northern region of Ghana

Phase one (August 2008 to July 2009)

July 2009

CPYWD

Community Partnership for Youth and Woman Development

P.O. Box TL 749 Tamale, Northern Region

Ghana

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Project Information Project Title: CPYWD Beekeeping Project Location: Bimbilla, Northern Region of Ghana

Project period: August 2008 till July 2010

Reporting period: Phase one (August 2008 to July 2009)

Funding Organizations: Impulsis, the Netherlands, Stichting Ghana Haarlem, the Netherlands

Implementing Organization: Community Partnership for Youth and Women Development

Reporting Organization: Community Partnership for Youth and Women Development

Contact Address: Yakubu Iddrisu

Executive Director

CPYWD, Ghana

P.O. Box TL 749

Tamale

E-mail: yakubunasung@yahoo.com OR com_part4ywd@yahoo.com

Contacts in the Netherlands: Maartje Bos, Stichting Ghana Haarlem E-mail: maartje_bos@hotmail.com

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Introduction We have ended the phase one, of the beekeeping project of CPYWD, it is time to give a report about how everything went the last eleven months. This is supported by Stichting Ghana Haarlem. The main, structural sponsor in this project is Impulsis. The report covers activities of the project from the month of August 2008 till July 2009. The project is a livelihood improvement project, targeting women and girls with thirty percent male inclusive supposed to be implemented in two phases within two years. The content of this report covers the activities that have taken place, the achievements so far, the challenges of the project the way forward and a financial report (receipts and expenditure). A total amount of GH¢16.499, 70 an equivalent of euros 9.939,58 out of GH¢ 16.849,58 received has been spent on phase one. The phase two of this project is proposed to commence in August 2009 to end July 2010

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Table of Contents Project Information page 2 1. Introduction page 3 2. Table of contents page 4 3. Activities and Information page 5 - 11

3.1 Participation and Contributions page 5 3.2 Animation and Selection page 5 – 6 3.3 Planned Activities page 7 3.4 Approach used page 7 -8 3.5 Demonstration sites and Equipment page 8 3.6 Construction of resource center page 8 - 9 3.7 Finances page 10 3.8 Challenges page 11 3.9 Way forward page 11

4. Planned activities and Recommendation page 12

4.1. Planned activities page 12 4.2. Recommendation page 12

5. Epilogue page 13

5.1 Building already in use 5.2. Appreciation

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3. Activities and Information 3.1 Participation and Contributions The project targeted 150 people (beneficiaries) from 9 communities in the Nanumba North and South districts of the northern region of Ghana. Meetings were held at the communities’ level to ensure attendance and participation in project activities. In each of the 9 communities a t Mfgber committee was selected to lead mobilization of groups for meetings and execution of project (procuring of materials, land negotiation and provision of security and monitoring of activities). The participation and engagement of beneficiaries in the project process was very high. They have been very much committed to the activities and working hard to achieve set targets.

The beneficiaries saw by themselves the need to add an additional local hut built with mud and roofed with thatch (long dry grass) to serve as a common rest room for workers who would be engaged in honey harvesting at night. This adds to their contribution of communal labour.

With the support of a resource person from the CYRUSEP1 bee consult, the beneficiaries identified the possible lands sides for resource center and demonstration farms. 3.2 Animation and Selection Communities were assessed and selected based on the fact that they are among the most deprived communities in the North of Ghana. The animations were done at community level, thereby gave the participants the opportunity to feel at home. The table below gives the break down of beneficiaries selected according to community and districts2: The selection was preceded with the administration of questionnaire3 to determine person who will meet the outlined criteria and have determination and hope in the project.

1 Center for Rural and Urban youth Self Help Project 2 See Appendix 1 and Table 1 in page 6 for detail animation reports and list of beneficiaries respectively 3 See appendix for sample of questionnaire used for the survey

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Figure 1

Population distribution

02468

101214

Pusuga

Demong.

Kpabi

Gangu

yili

Chirifoyili

Gilsiya

Nakpayili

Binda

Nasamba

Others

Communities

Num

ber

in A

ge c

ateg

ry

Male AdultMale YouthFemale AdultFemale Youth

Male Female District Community Adult Youth Total Adult Youth Total

Community Total

Pusuga 8 2 10 12 4 16 26 Demong. 6 4 10 12 4 16 26 Kpabi 4 2 6 2 4 6 12 Ganguyili 4 2 6 7 3 10 16 Chirifoyili 4 2 6 5 3 8 14

Nanumba North

Gilsiya 4 2 6 7 3 10 16 Nakpayili 4 2 6 3 3 6 12 Binda 3 2 5 2 3 5 10 Nasamba 4 2 6 3 3 6 12

Nanumba south

Others 0 0 0 3 3 6 6 Total 41 20 61 56 33 89 150 Table 1 : Beneficiary population distribution by district and community

At Binda community Pusuga community Demongnaayili community

Photographs showing participants to the animation and sensitization meetings at community level

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3.3 Planned activities The activities planned for phase one of which is being reported on included the following:

1. Acquisition of land for beekeeping demonstration sites 2. Acquiring of equipment and tools for Practice at demonstration site 3. Training of 150 farmers on hive construction and maintenance 4. Training of 150 farmers on appropriate beekeeping and apiary management 5. Construction of an 80 sitter capacity beekeeping training/ resource structure

(room) 3.4 Approach used

The very specific approach used for the implementation of the beekeeping project is awareness creation, training, communities taking the lead, leveraging donor funds and beneficiaries taking ownership of the project. The trust/confidence selection approach has been adopted for the community level selection of beneficiaries. CPYWD selected one person each from the communities, who in turn selected two trusted, motivated but needy persons from their communities. These two persons were then commissioned to also nominate two people each but not from their family. In their selection, priority was given to women. These approaches facilitated the formation of a more enthusiastic team of beneficiaries from the nine communities. They are very much connected with regards to the beekeeping project and the development of their communities. Achievements The project has achieved over 95 percent of the set objectives and targets of the phase one within the eleventh month of project take of. This has been possible due to the high level of enthusiasm of the beneficiaries especially women and youth. Within the period under report the following were chalked towards the full project goal: Apart from the knowledge and skills gained from the trainings, beneficiaries have also developed the feeling of togetherness, sharing and working towards a common goal. Working together of both male and female has become common which was rare. The women have developed confidence to the extent that they feel ease to express themselves towards male counterparts. Training: Most of the major trainings were facilitated by the CYRUSEP team led by Jacob Abukari who is also an employee of the Horticulture department of the University for Development Studies, Tamale. All beneficiaries participated actively in the training program. They have been trained in various topic areas of appropriate modern beekeeping. Four different session trainings were organized, 146 participants attended and participated in all 4 training levels. Topics discussed and treated include: Beekeeping as an alternative income venture, Traditional beekeeping and honey hunting, Modern beekeeping, Ecology of bees and Bee behavior, Beekeeping equipment and use.

The training methodology used was group discussions, demonstrations, used of visual aids, site visits and plenary session presentations and workshops.

Abukari Jacob (facilitator) Participants in group discussion Demonstrating

Scenes of training times at community levels:

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Other topics discussed during the training included the following:

1. Relationship between traditional honey harvesting and modern beekeeping for honey 2. Apiary site selection and Bee hive installation and management 3. Challenges of bee keeping 4. Role of Bees in agriculture sector development. 5. Bee hive (Kenyan Top Bar)-components and construction 6. Apiary and demonstration site management 7. Solidarity and confidence group formation 8. Bee keeping concept

3.5 Demonstration sites and Equipment During the training the participants were taken through the identification and selection of an appropriate site for apiary. After the discussion in details the purpose of the demonstration sites of the project were identified. One new demonstration site was identified and selected at Pusuga and an existing farm upgraded at Kpabi near Bimbilla town. In each of these sites 10 Kenyan Top Bar hives, one transparent and one swarm catcher have been positioned. Pusuga demonstration site is about 12km away from resource center while the Kpabi demonstration site is a little above 4km from the resource center. These two demonstration sites are accessible by road using motor bikes but not good for cars. These sites are selected due to the fact that they are central point to beneficiary communities. 3.6 Construction of resource center The traditional leaders of the community and the owners of the land, gave 4 acres of land as a support for the beekeeping resource center and other future development projects that will benefit women and youth in the area. The project only had to pay for the official documentation /registration and leasing process with the district administration (see appendix for the site plan and letter of allocation).

The beneficiaries provided communal labour for project site clearing and leveling. They also supported the construction process with labour for collection and supply of blocks, mixing and carrying of concrete and mortar. CPYWD out of the project support from Impulsis provided all building materials and hiring of skilled/technical labour. The structure construction has been completed and ready for furnishing in phase two. The training area provides a space of 52m², an extraction room of 11.15m² and store room of 11.15m². See pictures attached. It was temporarily handed over to the beneficiaries via the district

Interim handing over ceremony 1

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Director of Agriculture. Scenes of handing over in pictures above

1. Views of structure at various construction levels

2. Left and right end views

During the construction, the farmers showed their enthusiasm and ownership of the project by the contributing communal labour. In the pictures posted in 4.1 and 4.2 above, beneficiaries are actively engaged in the construction processes and participating and meeting and trainings. Group formation and leadership: Participants to the project have been educated to form solidarity and confidence groups in their respective communities. They have selected their own leaders who are yet to be given training in Group dynamics, setting of group rule and norms and in leadership. So far 11 groups have been formed. They will be supported to draw their own constitutions and to operate group savings account with the commercial bank (the only financial banking institution in Bimbilla).

Completed round hat Resource center compound Completed resource center

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3.7 Finances A total amount of Gh¢ 16.499,70 an equivalent of euros 9.939,58 out of Gh¢16.849, 58 received has been spent on phase one. The funds were provided by Impulsis, Stichting Ghana and Community Partnership for Youth and Women Development.4 Figure 2: Partner contribution Figure 3: Amount spent on each activity area

Amount-GH¢

-

2,000.00

4,000.00

6,000.00

8,000.00

10,000.00

12,000.00

Btm B

tf

Bts

Bld

Bcm

Bcl

Bcl

Bcl

Bcl

Bdse

Bm

n

Amount-GH¢

4 See Appendix 3 for details on finances-receipts and expenditure

Acronym Meaning

Btm Beekeeping training materials Btf Beekeeping training fee

Bts Beekeeping training snack

Bld Beekeeping land development

Bcm Beekeeping construction materials

Bcl Beekeeping construction labour

Bdse Beekeeping demonstration site equipment

Bmn Beekeeping-Monitoring

CPYWD Community Partnership for Youth and Women Development

Fund sources and dateSTG Haarlem Jun-08

STG Haarlem Oct-08

STG Haarlem Jan-09

STG Haarlem Mar-09

STG Haarlem Jun-09

CPYWD Feb-09

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3.8 Challenges Even though the project has gained some greater successes, it has also experienced some challenges during the period under report. Some of the challenges are short lived while others will be long-term lived/experienced. Some of the challenges encountered include but not limited to the following:

Increased in prices of goods and services in Ghana over 45 percent and high inflation of 17.3 percent. This in the effect made the cost of project activities higher than expected. Political transition in the country and the corresponding change in political leadership

figures. This resulted in our inability to raise additional funds from the District assemblies.

Perennial water shortage in Bimbilla Township affecting mortar and concrete work. 3.9 Way forward Despite all the challenges, the project must move forward as proposed. Some of these challenges we were able to deal with by reducing the proposed quantities too much with the budget amount. We continued to negotiate with the traditional leaders and district Assemblies for their full support. The way forward is to raise enough funds for the take off of phase two, which is proposed to begin in August 2009.

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4 Planned Activities and Recommendation 4.1 Planned Activities The planned activities for phase two are Further trainings in topics/themes such as Honey harvesting and processing, Honey

quality control and marketing, Domestic and commercial use of honey, Value chain of bee honey and wax, Financial/Business management and credit payment strategies

Equipping the resource center with furniture, tools, Instruction and learning materials, extraction plant/equipment

Hiring the services of Resource center manager and one Field beekeeping monitoring officer

Give credit input (Hives and protective clothing) support to 150 trainees Acquire reliable means of transport (Yamaha AG 100) motor bike for field worker Monitor farmers field operations and offer on the field advice and coaching Make a 45 to 60 minutes video documentary film beekeeping project and also create

community based still picture Album Emphasis would be made among communities to frequently visit and utilize the demonstration sites for practice to enable them develop the skills and habits of effective Bee hive management, bee behavior and reduce fear and anxiety of the dangers of bee to the communities and the society. 4.2 Recommendation The project management in consultation with the farmers wishes to recommend that:

Phase two activity plan and budget be prepared and used to raise fund for take off of phase two CPYWD and beneficiaries continue to negotiate with the local government for fund and

material support The resource center be modeled into a beekeeping school in the future to enable training

of more people in beekeeping as an alternative income source Develop a business plan for the Beekeeping project

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5. Epilogue 5.1 Building in use

5.2 Appreciation: The management of CPYWD and beneficiaries of the beekeeping project wish to express our sincere gratitude to all stakeholders to this project especially Impulsis and Stichting Ghana Haarlem for contributing to the implementation of the phase one. We also want to appreciate the working efforts of Maartje Bos our official Representative in the Netherlands for all her motivation. It is our hope and desire that you will continue to support the take off of the phase two. Thanks

Sign: Yakubu Iddrisu Tutor Kwebena

(Executive Director) (Board Secretary)

Beneficiaries are using the structure. This was one of their usual daily reflection meetings to discuss how the days work went and

plan for the activities in the next days.

The group had the benefit of the structure already before completion.

This was when the staff of CPYWD including volunteers from the Netherlands visited Bimbilla. Meeting

was held in the room even before completion.