Protect the Women of Lingnung

Abiba, or a woman from the Lingnung cooperative, or the project site.

Protect the Women of Lingnung

Lingnung, Tolon District, Ghana

Fear of snakebite is keeping Abiba from her own farm

Abiba loves her country. She loves her farm. Since her baby was born, she hasn’t been able to go back to harvest shea nuts — she’s too afraid of snakes to risk it now that she has a child depending on her. A pair of snake gaiters could change that. Your gift gets protective gear to women like Abiba in Lingnung, ahead of construction on a shea butter processing centre their cooperative will own and run.

Give $35 – Give a Woman Back to Her Field

Who This is For

She hasn’t set foot in her fields since her baby was born

Shea harvesting has always been part of Abiba’s life — walking into the bush at dawn with the other women of Lingnung, gathering the fruit that’s fed her family for years. It’s work she’s proud of, in a place she loves.

But since her baby arrived, she hasn’t been back. The bush around Lingnung has always carried the risk of snakebite, and that risk became too much to carry once she had a child depending on her. So she’s stayed home. It isn’t only the harvest she’s missing — it’s the friends she used to walk out to the fields with. And it’s the days since, spent worrying how she’ll feed her children and herself without the income shea has always provided.

“I love my country. I love my farm. But I’m afraid of the snakes now that I have my baby.”

— Abiba, Lingnung

A pair of snake gaiters is a small thing to give. For Abiba, it’s the difference between staying home afraid and going back to the work — and the community — she loves.

The Reality

Ghana’s shea economy runs on women’s labor — and rarely rewards it

Across northern Ghana, shea has always belonged to women. It’s collected, processed, and sold almost entirely by their hands — and for many families, it’s not supplemental income, it’s the only income. But the work is physically demanding and often dangerous, and where it isn’t enough, some women turn to small-scale mining instead: faster money, far more risk.

~50%

of Ghana’s artisanal and small-scale mining workforce is women

Source: McQuilken & Hilson, 2016, cited in RGS-IBG Geo, 2023

11.93

injuries per 100 person-years for women at small-scale gold mining sites in Ghana — higher than for experienced male miners. Workers cite protective equipment as the leading fix.

Source: NCBI/PMC, Tarkwa mining injury profiles

$234

average yearly income for the rural women doing the most physically demanding labor in a $2.6B global shea market — the lowest-earning link in the chain

Source: The Conversation, 2024

The women of Lingnung aren’t waiting for someone to solve this for them. They’re building the solution themselves — a cooperative-owned processing centre that keeps more of the value of their work in their own hands, on safer ground. Abiba is one of the women who will work there. Right now, she just needs to be able to get to the fields safely.

Your Impact

Here’s exactly what your gift protects

This is the most immediate, most fundable need on the ground right now: getting the women of Lingnung equipped so they can work safely, before ground is even broken on the centre.

$35

Snake gaiters for one woman — the single item standing between Abiba and her fields

$75

A full PPE set — gaiters, boots, and gloves — for one woman

$150

Full protection for one woman through the entire pre-construction phase, including a heat-resistant apron for early processing work

$500

Equips a five-woman work team with full protective gear for the season

PPE is the first step toward something bigger. When women in northern Ghana get better processing infrastructure, the results are dramatic: one SNV-supported project cut processing time for an 85-kilogram bag of shea nuts from 22 hours to 8, raised participating women’s incomes by 45%, and lifted school enrollment among their children from 37% to 97%. That’s the kind of change this centre is built to deliver — and it starts with getting women like Abiba back into the fields safely.

Source: Give to Africa, “Empowering Ghana’s Women: The Heart of the Shea Value Chain,” May 2026

How It Works

Simple. Transparent. Effective.

Choose your gift

$35 covers snake gaiters for one woman. $150 fully outfits her for the season ahead.

Funds go straight to the Lingnung site

Give to Africa works directly with the women’s cooperative and Ghana’s Minerals Development Fund to get equipment where it’s needed.

Gear reaches women before harvest and construction resume

PPE is being procured and delivered now, ahead of groundbreaking on the processing centre.

You’ll see the progress

Photo updates from the site as women return to the fields and the centre goes up.

Start Here

Get Abiba — and women like her — back to their fields

Right now, fear is keeping women in Lingnung out of the fields that feed their families. Your gift today goes directly toward the protective gear that changes that — before construction on the processing centre even begins.

Give $35 – Give a Woman Back to Her Field