Strengthening women’s land and tree rights

The Savannah Women Farmers Association (SWFA) was established in 2013 and was officially registered in 2021 with its main office in Tamale in Northern Ghana. 
The association unites more than 6,000 women farmers across Northern Ghana’s savannah landscape, mobilising smallholders producing cereals, legumes, vegetables and trees in mixed agroforestry systems that sustain household food security and climate resilience.

SWFA’s mandate includes engaging district and traditional authorities to shape local policies, secure women’s land rights and ensure that public investments in agriculture benefit smallholders equitably.

With support from the Forest and Farm Facility (FFF), SWFA has grown into a credible voice for women’s rights in a region where land access has long been structurally unequal.

Forest and Farm Facility activities

From 2021-24, FFF provided financial and technical support to SWFA, helping to strengthen its governance systems, create gender-responsive policies and build trained advocacy teams at the community and district levels.

FFF resources funded community consultations and evidence gathering that documented women’s challenges in land access, input allocation and tree tenure. Armed with this evidence, SWFA leaders engaged district assemblies through zonal dialogues, medium-term development plan (MTDP) hearings and multistakeholder forums.

FFF supported the preparation of policy briefs, leadership training for members and media sensitisation efforts in partnership with traditional councils. FFF has also supported SWFA members through the financing of a solar powered borehole, enabling year round irrigation and the continuous cultivation of their farms.

Significance of impact

This targeted advocacy produced a series of major governance gains: 

• The formal integration of women’s priorities into MTDPs in four districts (Mion, Nanton, Savelugu and Tolon)
• District-level commitments to provide subsidised inputs, extension services and agribusiness support to women farmers, and 
• Collaboration with traditional authorities that secured usufruct land rights (the right to use and make a living from land you don’t own) for more than 1,000 women cultivating food and tree crops. 

These reforms are transformative because they expand women’s control over land and productive resources for the first time in many communities – unlocking opportunities to plant trees, diversify farm incomes and strengthen resilience to climate shocks.

More than 2,200 women have directly benefited from these changes since 2021.

Conclusion

FFF support has enabled SWFA to shape district-level planning and governance systems that expand women’s access to land, inputs and agroforestry opportunities. This has directly improved the livelihood prospects and strengthened the climate-resilient farming systems for thousands of women across Northern Ghana. 
This model demonstrates that when farmer organisations are equipped with evidence, skills and institutional backing, they can shift the balance of local governance in ways that endure long after project support ends.