Ghana Agricultural Workers Union

Ghana’s (rural) farmers are generally self-employed and live in rural and sometimes remote areas of the country. The Ghana Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU) of Trade Union Congress represents the interest of all unionized agricultural workers in Ghana, and in certain instances, extends such representation to include the interest of the self-employed rural worker (SERW) which includes rural farmers.

The sorry plight of the rural farmer has attracted international concern in recent times and in Ghana, GAWU has been able to use the tool of advocacy and funding from BUSAC to raise a cadre of 75 SERW from three regions in Ghana- Greater Accra, Ashanti and Brong Ahafo regions to support the representation of the views of the SERW at policy formulating forums both locally and internationally. Through the advocacy initiative of GAWU, with funding from BUSAC, the wide spasm between the realms of decision makers involved in policy making and technical trade issues; and the SERW concerns of everyday rural production routine and compensation/remuneration has now been linked.

Through capacity enhancing training and education on policy and technical trade issues, these 75 cadres are now serving as functional lifelines of information dissemination from the grassroots of SERW to the policy level of both local and international institutions.

Some of these cadres have joined GAWU and made representations for SERW at meetings and dialogue sessions with senior public officials including ministers of state, which discussed national agriculture and trade issues like the president’s special initiative on cassava. Again, this initiative allowed some SERW and GAWU officials to participate and represent SERW from West Africa at the last WTO talks held in Hong Kong. As a consequence, GAWU now has a certified accreditation for WTO plenary sessions. They also have created an advocacy and policy reform directorate within their own national headquarters.