Mars commits to improving female shea workers’ livelihoods

Confectionery giant Mars is collaborating with several organizations to improve the livelihoods of 13,000 women working in Ghana’s shea supply chain through a public-private partnership dubbed the Women in Shea (WISH).

The WISH initiative, which will run until 2030, will reach over 150 communities in northern Ghana.

Other than bringing economic and social benefits to the 13,000 program participants, the initiative also promoted improvements at shea tree parklands, while also meeting the growing demand for shea kernels.

In addition, the project will seek to reduce the time burden and labor intensity of the work associated with shea kernel collection and processing.

WISH aims to achieve these objectives through expanding women’s access to savings and financial credits and improving natural resource management techniques.

The partnership includes AAK, the US Agency for International Development (USAID), CARE International, Presbyterian Agricultural Services (PAS), and the Livelihoods Fund for Family Farming (L3F).

AAK, which supplies Mars with shea-based cocoa butter for its confectioneries,, specializes in plant-based oils that are the value-adding ingredients

Mars and AAK have committed to purchase shea kernels produced within the WISH for the initiative’s ten-year duration.