The Country Director of Oxfam in Ghana, Mohammed Anwar-Sadat Adam, says communities, particularly women, are increasingly engaging with Ghana’s extractive and agricultural sectors following the successful completion of a five-year project dubbed the ‘Fair for All’ project.
He described the initiative as a movement that has shifted power back to the people by placing community members at the centre of decisions concerning land, livelihoods, and natural resources.
Speaking at the project’s close-out and learning event in Accra, Mr Adam said the programme had demonstrated the transformative power of collaboration, innovation and collective advocacy in tackling long-standing challenges, including weak community participation, human rights violations, environmental degradation and limited civic engagement in extractive governance.
“Despite the economic contributions of cocoa, gold and petroleum, which together account for over 80 per cent of Ghana’s exports, their value chains have long been associated with exclusion, environmental harm and discrimination, particularly against women and artisanal miners.
“Communities are often displaced, farmers lose fertile land, and citizens lack access to information to demand fairness,” he said, adding that the Fair for All initiative was designed to break these systemic barriers.
Implemented from 2021 to 2025, the Dutch-funded project was led by Oxfam in Ghana, in collaboration with six national partners.
