There are 125 women in the Ojoba Shea Butter Cooperative. These women live under difficult circumstances as subsistence farmers in the arid Northern region of Ghana, West Africa. They must cope with poor, rocky soil, unreliable rains, and little public infrastructure such as affordable transportation, communications, health care or education. In addition, about 80% of the women we work with are also widows; the most vulnerable segment of society.

Before coming together to form the shea butter cooperative; many of the women were engaged in a daily struggle just to get by. Their subsistence crops of millet and groundnuts did not produce enough food to feed them and their children for the whole year, let alone allow them to save seeds for the following year, or sell any surplus at the market. In order to earn additional money to feed their families, and pay for school fees, many of the women resorted to back-breaking work such as firewood collection. Others were forced to leave their children with relatives while they searched for any type of menial work in the big cities far to the south. Still others were so poor that they had no choice but to give their children away to work as maids and servants just to ensure their children's survival.

Now, with the income produced by the purchase of Ojoba Collective Shea butter; these women are finally beginning to see some improvement in their lives. Not only can they feed themselves and their children, but nearly all the children are now enrolled in school. There are intangible benefits as well. As one of the women said, "before [forming a cooperative] we didn't do things in common. But now we can come together as women and share ideas. Now we have confidence to work together and not be shy." For the first time, these women can dare to dream about a better future for themselves and their children.