What is the name of your organization?
Cocoa360
What is the name of your solution?
Farm-For-Impact Digital System
Provide a one-line summary or tagline for your solution.
A digital platform linking farm participation to healthcare access for farmers and education access for their daughters via a credit-based system.
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
Tarkwa Breman, Ghana
In what country is your solution team headquartered?
GHA
What type of organization is your solution team?
Nonprofit
Film your elevator pitch.
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What specific problem are you solving?
Rural Ghanaian communities, particularly in Tarkwa Breman, face significant challenges in accessing healthcare and education, especially for girls. Farmers, despite contributing $2 billion to the economy through cocoa production, often earn less than $2 a day and lack access to affordable healthcare, leading to poor health and reduced productivity. This is reflected in the low clinic utilization rate of 30%. Additionally, 60% of girls drop out of school before completing primary education, perpetuating the cycle of poverty. These issues are further compounded by poor network connection, unreliable data connectivity and inadequate Monitoring and Evaluation systems to track data, ensure sustainable solutions and access to funding opportunities.
The Farm-for-Impact digital platform addresses these challenges by incentivizing farm participation with access to healthcare and education. Through this platform, farm visits will translate into credit scores for farmers, which can then be used to access healthcare and educational resources for their daughters. This not only improves healthcare accessibility but also promotes girls' education, breaking the cycle of poverty. Additionally, the platform's robust evidence generation system will enable rural communities to leverage their insights to secure funding from funders and researchers, ensuring the sustainability and scalability of this innovative solution.
What is your solution?
This solution transforms farm labor into tangible benefits, incentivizing positive behaviors and creating a sustainable cycle of development. It uses technology to enhance efficiency and transparency, overcoming poor connectivity and inadequate M&E.
The Farm-for-Impact digital platform tackles healthcare and education access barriers in rural Ghanaian cocoa-farming communities like Tarkwa Breman. Our core innovation is a credit-based system that directly links farm participation to access to essential services.
Here's how it works:
Phase 1: Farmers earn digital credit scores by engaging in farm activities (visits, maintenance). These credits are recorded and stored on individual Farm Cards. Farmers then use these credits to:
- Access Healthcare: Pay for services at the digitalized Tarkwa Breman Community Clinic.
- Support Girls' Education: A portion of the credits covers school fees, supplies, and related costs, incentivizing families to educate their daughters.
Phase 2: The platform utilizes a mobile app for credit tracking, a cloud platform for data management and credit allocation, and an Electronic Health Record (EHR) system at the clinic. It also generates robust evidence to track impact and support scaling.
This system transforms farm labor into tangible benefits, creating a sustainable cycle of development and addressing challenges of poor connectivity and inadequate monitoring.
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
Our solution directly benefits the 35000 cocoa farmers and their families residing in the Tarkwa Breman and 7 other communities of rural Ghana. These individuals, despite their vital contribution to Ghana's economy through cocoa production, often experience significant economic hardship and limited access to essential services.
Specifically, our solution impacts them in the following ways:
Improved Healthcare Access: The Farm Card system removes the financial barrier to healthcare. This enables farmers and their families to seek timely medical attention, leading to improved health outcomes, reduced incidence of preventable diseases, and increased productivity in their farming activities.
Empowerment of Girls: By allocating credits towards girls' education, we incentivize families to prioritize schooling. This directly addresses gender disparities, increases girls' enrollment and retention rates. Education empowers girls to make informed choices, enhances their economic opportunities, and contributes to their overall well-being.
Economic Empowerment: Healthier and more educated community members are more productive and better equipped to participate in the local economy. This contributes to increased household income and a stronger community.
Community Development: Our solution fosters a sense of community ownership and collective action. By linking farm work to community benefits, it promotes social cohesion and strengthens local institutions.