INTRODUCTION
Self Help Africa’s Programme for Poverty Reduction (PPR) is being undertaken in several districts in Northern Togo, in collaboration with local partners TRAX Togo.
LOCATION
Work is being undertaken amongst rural poor communities in the Tune, Tanjoare and Kpendja districts of the Savannah Region of Northern Togo, close to the border with neighbouring Burkina Faso. The regional capital is Dapaong.
ECONOMY
Subsistence agriculture is the main economic activity in Northern Togo. Togo's economy is heavily dependent on both commercial and subsistence agriculture, which provides employment for 65% of the labour force. Cotton, coffee and cocoa together generate about 40% of export earnings, although the depressed global price for cocoa has impacted significantly on the earnings of rural producers.
PROJECT OBJECTIVE
The project is targeting 2,500 households (approx. 15,000 people) classed as poor and very poor in a region where upwards of 65% of the population live below the poverty line. 50% of participants are women.
PROJECT ACTIVITIES
Self Help Africa’s Programme for Poverty Reduction in Togo is working with TRAX Togo to enable 2,500 farm households to increase food production.
Several boreholes have been drilled to improve local access to clean drinking water, and support is being provided, specifically to women, to enable them to develop alternate income generating activities.
The project is also working to raise awareness and provide education on HIV/AIDS and on tuberculosis in 60 communities in the locality, and is supporting the strengthening of local community organisations.
50% of those involved are women, who are specifically being assisted with on and off farm income generating activities. Elsewhere, more than 100 cotton workers are being trained in low cost sustainable cotton production. It is proposed that these cotton workers will ultimately be trainers or more than 60,000 cotton farmers across the region.
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