Overview of Ghana

Ghana is a beautiful West African country along the Gulf of Guinea bordered by Burkina Faso (North), Côte d’Ivoire (East), and Togo (West). With a growing population of about 30 million as at 2018, this beautiful nation is multicultural. In as much as there is a multiplicity of different ethnic groups, the culture is overall unified and as such, Ghana has enjoyed political stability in the region even after the post-Colonial era. Generally, Ghanaian culture lays more emphasis on being hospitable to everyone in the society, practicing good manners in every setting as well as respect for everyone.

According to the CGAP 2016, Ghana's financial landscape has evolved from approximately 44% (2010) excluded from financial access to approximately 25% (2015). Though access to financial services has increased in the country, there is still a fraction of the population who are still financially excluded due to but not limited to lack of access to formal financial services.

Our vision

In West Africa, Sparkassenstiftung works to strengthen the local Credit Unions in Ghana, The Gambia and Sierra Leone. Equipping and strengthening the institutions in this sector is a key priority to German Sparkassenstiftung.

This is because the financial industry in the selected countries faces challenges which makes access to finance difficult especially those at the bottom of the pyramid. The project, thus, aims to develop the capacity of credit unions in all four countries, with a view to enabling them to provide their members with target group-oriented and customised services. In this way, as yet unbanked and disadvantaged population groups can gain access to financial services and are able to participate in economic life.

Project activities

Since its first cooperation and project activities in 2010, German Sparkassenstiftung has implemented a number of projects in Ghana.

Current Projects

Sustainable transformation of the financial sector by strengthening the credit union sector and promoting equal representation of women and youth in West Africa (regional project) 

The project aims to ensure the organizational development of the CUA  and their members with the objective to provide needs based financial services to Credit Union members with special focus on: (i) Micro-, Small and Medium Entreprises, (ii) Women, and (iii) Youth”.

• Establishing strong Regional Networks (between the associations)
• Human resource development / training of CU through the training academie
• Financial and entrepreneurial training for MSMEs, including sustainable agriculture and climate change resiliance

Private and Financial Sector Development Ghana (PSD)

German Sparkassenstiftung (DSIK) and ICON’s joint interventions on this consultancy contract aims to contribute to the improvement of the employment situation in the MSME sector in the selected regions in Ghana.

The PSD project which is being implemented by GIZ, aims to ease access to finance for MSMEs, strengthen their competitiveness, promote the use of employment opportunities, and develop the traction of the green economy to ultimately contribute to the central concern of improved job creation in the MSME sector. With their many years of experience in the areas of private sector development (PSD), financial sector development (FSD), entrepreneurship, employment, and economic promotion.

Completed Projects

Strenghtening the Credit Union Associations in Ghana, The Gambia, Sierra Leone and Liberia in their organisational capacities                                                                       
The West-African Regional Project in collaboration with a partner institution, the Ghana Co-operative Credit Union Association (CUA),  aims to strengthen the Credit Unions and other microfinance institutions and associations in Ghana by developing their capacity. 
   
The Economic Inculsion of Returnees and Potential Migrants in Ghana and the Gambia
German Sparkassenstiftung in The Gambia implemented the “Economic Inclusion of Returnees and Potential Migrants in Ghana and The Gambia” project from 2021-2023 on behalf of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. The project aimed to offer support to returnees and potential migrants to explore existing opportunities by enhancing their relevant business education and financial literacy through business training and coaching. This will improve their access fo financial services and aid in their reintegration in Ghana.

The project objectives were to:

• To equip returnees with basic entrepreneurial skills.
• Offer business coaching to enable them to design their own business proposals.
• Provide access to Credit Unions                                                                                                                      

The Access to Finance (A2F) for SMEs 
This project provides trainings and coaching to Ghanaian growth-oriented Small and Medium-sized Enterprises’ (SME) to enable them gain access to innovative, needs based financial services. Through the tainings, the  participating SMEs acquire a set of skills they need in their current business environment to better interact with their respective financial service providers (FSPs) to increase their bankability. The project is implemented  through a combined approach of business games, training/lecture, and business coaching model:

• 3-days Interactive Micro Business Game for SMEs (group session);
• 3-days Lecture and interactive sessions, peer learning (SME, demand side);
• Business Coaching.

The Training Program                                                                                                                                              
The Training Program (Management Certification and Board of Directors training)in partnership with the Ghana Microfinance Institutions Network (GHAMFIN), in which a certification training programme for board members and managers of Credit Unions and Microfinance Institutions has been developed. The aim is to build capacity through demand-driven, affordable and attractive training courses.

The Migration Project

From 2018-2020, German Sparkassenstiftung in Ghana implemented a project called “Perspektive Heimat” by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), which was executed via GIZ. The aim of the project was to support potential refugees and migrants in Ghana. The project is targeted at two groups: people willing to return or already   returned to Ghana from Germany and people in Ghana who are keen to go to Germany.  The objectives were to:

• Equip potential migrants and returnees with basic entrepreneurial skills, 
•  Provide access to Credit Unions and their financial products and services by sponsoring the membership,
• Offer business coaching to enable them to design their own business proposals, and
• Provide easy access to micro loans from the Credit Unions to make their business ideas a reality