Abstract
From 2016–2019, the West African Forest-Farm Interface (WAFFI) project engaged with smallholder farmers in northern Ghana to explore mechanisms to improve the influence of under-represented peoples, particularly women, in decision-making processes and platforms that affect their access to natural resources. Through a multi-phase process of participatory activities, including auto-appraisal, participatory action research (PAR) and facilitated knowledge exchange, villagers and researchers worked together to document and develop a better understanding of the challenges and changes facing women and men in the region to generate social learning. Among these challenges, the degradation of forest resources due to over exploitation, weak governance and conflict of use over shea trees (Vitellaria paradoxa) were particularly important for women. The WAFFI approach created a scaffold for social learning that strengthened the capacity of local stakeholders to share their perspectives and opinions more effectively in multi-stakeholder forums and dialogue related to resource use and land use change initiatives.
Highlights
In the rural savanna landscapes of northern Ghana, the agro-silvopastoral systems used by smallholder households integrate trees, crops and livestock, blurring the distinction between agricultural land uses and forest and tree uses within natural resource management systems
From 2016 to 2018, we implemented a series of participatory methods to involve local men and women in the assessment of opportunities and challenges faced by rural producers in northern Ghana and to facilitate their participation in Multi-stakeholder forums (MSFs) organized by the West African Forest-Farm Interface (WAFFI) project
The WAFFI participatory approach consisted of three nested activities to facilitate inclusion and build social learning processes: auto-appraisal, participatory action research (PAR) and exchange workshops held at the village and district level
Summary
In the rural savanna landscapes of northern Ghana, the agro-silvopastoral systems used by smallholder households integrate trees, crops and livestock, blurring the distinction between agricultural land uses and forest and tree uses within natural resource management systems. MSFs take the form of meetings, roundtables, workshops or other platforms where diverse stakeholders share information and opinions, consult, develop policy or make decisions collaboratively [6] Ensuring that such fora include the perspectives of both women and men is crucial, and creating conditions in which women can share their resource management knowledge and experience is a challenge [5,7]. Periodic guidance from the WAFFI team was crucial to support the facilitators; otherwise, results were sometimes incomplete, or completed in a rote manner, missing opportunities for learning and engagement This reminded us that “the learning way is easier said than done” [57]. This stage concluded with a village exchange workshop to share observations and a multi-stakeholder forum that allowed representatives from participating villages to share findings with local policy makers
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