Rikolto Ghana LBG

Rikolto Ghana was founded in August 2022. It was established as an independent organisation with it own Board (executive council members), but based on previous activities by Rikolto International in Ghana ensuring the foundations were in place for an independent organisation to be formalised. Rikolto Ghana is thus an independent member of Rikolto International, a network organisation headquartered in Belgium, and may draw on advice from the network's HQ, but is not obliged to. Rikolto International decided to become a network organisation in 2019, and in 2020 began a process of regional decentralisation for all country offices, which will ultimately lead to local (national) organisations independent from network headquarters. The latter decision was formally made in 2022, but is being implemented at different pace in different regions/countries, and in consultation with existing structures there. Rikolto Ghana is thus still in a transition period. Describe the history, purpose and primary activities of the organisation (max 2000 characters): The primary purpose of Rikolto Ghana is partnering with farmer organisations and food chain stakeholders to ensure that food is produced with respect for people and planet, and that future generations have access to affordable quality food. Rikolto works to empower small scale farmers (who produce 70% of food worldwide) to overcome the hurdles of production including climate changeand low prices, to become fairly included in food markets and, in doing so, improve their social and economic position, to achieve global change. As a new organisation intial focus is on cocoa due to its importance in Ghana for land use and smallholders. Rikolto Ghana strives to find concrete solutions “in the field” and translate them into policies that bring changes at the sectoral level. To this end, we are involved in a wide range of CSO networks & commodity platforms in Ghana, e.g. Ghana Civil Society Cocoa Platform and the VOICE Network.