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Understanding Gender and Empowerment in Cocoa Farming Communities in the Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana: Baseline Qualitative and Quantitative Assessment

This report outlines the findings of quantitative and qualitative baseline assessments on gender and empowerment conducted among cocoa farmers who are part of the Satellite for Farming (Sat4Farming) project in the Brong Ahafo region of Ghana. Leveraging the project-level women’s empowerment in agriculture index (Pro-WEAI), the results find that men and women were similarly disempowered even though women (67%) were slightly more disempowered than men (61%) across the indicators. Sixty percent of households achieved gender parity. The main indicators contributing to disempowerment for both women and men were work balance, membership in influential groups and respect among household members. Self-efficacy, access to and decisions on financial services, control over use of income were greater contributors of disempowerment for women whereas autonomy in income and self-efficacy were greater contributors of disempowerment for men.