Overview
The Women and Girls Empowered (WAGE) program's Women Entrepreneurs in Northern Ghana Gain Access to Integrated Services via Agent Networks (WE GAIN) was a 24-month initiative implemented by Grameen Foundation USA in close partnership with the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) and local civil society organizations RISE Ghana, Ghana Developing Communities Association (GDCA) and Healthkeepers Network (HKN). The initiative sought to promote women’s economic empowerment (WEE) in Northern Ghana through RISE Ghana, GDCA, and HKN’s network of community agents and Mobile Telecommunications Network Ghana’s (MTN Ghana) mobile money platform. Through training and coaching on a range of topics including digital literacy and gender-based violence (GBV) prevention, WE GAIN sought to build the capacity of RISE Ghana, GDCA, and HKN to deliver an integrated, market-based, high impact package of financial and non-financial information, product, services, and referrals (Digital Financial Services plus (DFS+) to women entrepreneurs. Grameen will also work with MTN to identify and onboard local private sector companies onto digital payments in order to increase women’s access to productive goods and services they require for business.
Three of the program's goals were:
- Identify the multifaceted barriers that prevent women in northern Ghana from starting and growing successful businesses, and opportunities to address these barriers through an integrated package of DFS+ services delivered by female agents.
- Support female community agents to launch their own DFS+ microbusinesses providing financial services to women entrepreneurs in Northern Ghana.
- Increase women entrepreneurs’ access to a greater range of non-financial, business, health, and GBV services that enable them to start and grow successful businesses and live resilient lives.