West Africa 2025

Highlights

We reached over 122,559 cocoa farmers with climate-smart cocoa production practices, improving seedling varieties, access to services and community child labour remediation services. A coordinated multi-partner launch formalized the umbrella cocoa cooperative as a representative voice for Ghana’s cocoa sector. It now holds legal standing to participate in key decisions on pricing, input distribution and sector governance.

Our digital e-trading platform, Harvest Alert, connected 10,140 smallholder farmers with professional service providers. This improved farmers’ access to available services, ensured fairer pricing and reduced post-harvest losses. The platform’s farm mapping application, which captures farm profiles including sizes, enabled service providers to plan, deliver support more efficiently and commence traceability models in the sector.

Solidaridad supported 1,794 Sierra Leonean farmers to sell over 248,920 kg of food crops to formal markets, driving a remarkable 62% increase in income for 2,500 households. Furthermore, we successfully transformed Nigerian subsistence agriculture into profitable enterprises by training over 12,400 women and youth in vital value-addition skills.

The first-ever modern cashew mini-factory continues to empower over 300 women processors while directly connecting over 3,700 smallholder farmers to aggregators, thereby reducing transaction costs. Over 2,000 cashew farmers increased their yields from 125 kg/ha to 250 kg/ha after adopting good agricultural practices.

Across the region, we equipped over 7,700 miners and mine workers with vital training on due diligence, tailings management and sustainable practices. Eighteen young women from mining communities in Ghana were trained to operate heavy-duty mining machinery, including excavators and dump trucks, gaining practical skills and technical knowledge to access better-paying jobs while building long-term careers in the mining industry.

Results

MAKING SUPPLY CHAINS MORE SUSTAINABLE

In 2025, Solidaridad West Africa scaled sustainable practices, strengthened the agricultural services ecosystems, influenced inclusive policies and expanded market access. These efforts improved yields, incomes and responsible production among smallholder farmers and workers.

In 2025, we promoted the adoption of good practices, including ground cover management, pruning, mulching, appropriate fertilizer application, watershed management, soil conservation and good harvesting techniques. 113,658 hectares were placed under sustainable management. A total of 31,219 farmers recorded increased income, while 42,513 farmers improved their yields. The income gains were driven not only by higher productivity but also by income diversification through targeted support. The increased income is a result of improved yields from 20,694 farmers in Cote d’Ivoire, 14,896 in Ghana, 1,090 in Nigeria and 5,833 in Sierra Leone.

In Ghana, farmers reported income improvements from an average of 826.47 euros in 2024 to 4,322.2 euros in 2025. In Sierra Leone, cocoa, cashew and oil palm farmers recorded an income growth of about 60% following the adoption of sustainable farm management practices and diversification of income through channels like beekeeping and intercropped products. Additionally, farmers in Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria recorded improved incomes of 12.48% and 13%, respectively.

A case in point is the story of Caleb Sati from Plateau State in Nigeria. For decades, his potato harvests were repeatedly lost to pests and diseases despite years of hard work. After joining our Acting Now project and receiving 29 improved seed tubers, Caleb applied the new knowledge gained through his training. The improved seeds proved more resilient, increasing his harvest from about 150 kg to 500 kg. Currently, he produces more potatoes for sale and supplies surplus hybrid seeds to other farmers in his community, creating an additional source of income.

To help address the challenge of inadequate access to improved seedlings, a total of 273,992 cocoa, oil palm, cashew, food crop and economic tree seedlings were distributed to farmers in the various operating countries. For instance, 143,454 economic tree seedlings raised in five nurseries were distributed to 2,297 farmers for agroforestry, covering 83,874 hectares of land in Cote d’Ivoire. Additionally, in Nigeria, 94,528 improved oil palm seedlings were distributed to smallholders to replace senescent trees.

The outcomes above resulted from our capacity-building programmes delivered to a total of 108,982 farmers. The benefits of this training are reflected in the experience of farmers like Samuel Barnor in Ghana, whose maize yields increased by more than 100% (from four bags to eleven bags per acre) after the adoption of improved techniques and hybrid seed use. The knowledge he gained encouraged him to diversify into vegetable farming as an additional household income.

Our efforts on decent work, child protection and mass community awareness saw 356 remediation activities in Cote d’Ivoire. This includes vocational training and formal education, ensuring that companies produce sustainably through community-led compliance.

Our efforts and gains under good practices were scaled through strengthening financially viable service providers to support farmers with farm management, quality inputs and access to finance. Over the five-year strategic period, the region of West Africa has improved the capacities of over 140 service providers, benefitting 131,000 farmers.

In 2025, 45,233 farmers across the region obtained new or improved services, including quality inputs, farm maintenance, labour support, training and structured market connections from supported service providers. In Ghana, 18,389 cocoa farmers reported improved access to extension, inputs and farm management services. Joseph Bosea, a smallholder cocoa farmer from the Ahafo region of Ghana, benefited from the farm management services and shared his experience: “Before receiving the services, I was harvesting only five bags from my four-acre farm,” he recalls. “The farm was not properly managed, and yields were low. After the service provider took over the farm’s management, and introduced better management practices, such as proper weed management and pruning, my yield has increased to eight bags. The farm is now thriving, and I have also gained practical skills in good agricultural practices to help me sustain these improvements.”

In Nigeria, 17,150 food crop farmers obtained improved services from supported small and medium enterprises through the Farmers’ Inputs Delivery and Investment Scheme. The investment scheme operates a credit-based system that allows farmers to access high-quality seeds upfront and repay later. The farmers had access to a timely supply of seeds, extension services, fertilizers and other inputs needed for the farming season, supporting their yield improvements. Dauda Magaji, a tomato farmer in Nigeria, reported increased productivity after accessing hybrid seeds through the investment scheme. With support from the scheme, his harvest increased from 24 to 35 crates of tomatoes over two farming seasons.

In Ghana, under the National Initiative for Sustainable and Climate-Smart Oil Palm Smallholders (NISCOPS II) and the Pathways to Prosperity programme, service groups were equipped with farm tools, including small machinery, to support smallholder farmers. In Nigeria, 40 small and medium enterprises were supported to provide essential services to farmers and millers. A total of 23,158 farmers recommended these services to their peers, reflecting high satisfaction and trust in the farm service providers.

The Village Savings and Loans Associations remained a vital approach for financial inclusion in 2025. A total of 3,252 such organizations were established and or strengthened, with farmers saving 3,670,346 euros. With this money, they were able to lend to other members for farm investments in inputs, off-farm small businesses, children’s education and livelihood diversification.

In mining communities, 5,847 miners accessed improved services following training on due diligence and responsible mining practices. In Ghana, mercury-free production was promoted by supporting a local fabricator in designing and retrofitting a mercury-free smelting forge. Following successful pilot demonstrations, small-scale miners embraced the innovation, leading to the production and deployment of additional forges. This transition is contributing to reduced mercury use, improved occupational health and more environmentally responsible artisanal gold processing.

Under this pillar, we advocate for mandatory government sustainability frameworks, mobilize civil society organizations for participatory decision-making, deepen multi-stakeholder engagement, amplify farmer voices and institutionalize inclusive governance mechanisms across the cocoa, oil palm and cotton sectors.

Overall, 383 civil society groups were supported in 2025 to improve their involvement in decision-making processes, while three sustainability frameworks were influenced.

Together with the Tree Crops Development Authority, Oil Palm Development Association of Ghana and other partner organizations, we developed the Quality Oil Palm Seedling and Coconut Pricing Mechanism Policies. The policies have been approved by the Ghana Tree Crops Development Authority Board and are awaiting cabinet approval. Following the official presentation of the Coconut Pricing Mechanism, the Chief Executive Officer of Tree Crops Development Authority confirmed that the mechanism will promote value distribution across the coconut supply chain by addressing disparities related to location and market dynamics.

The implementation of a transparent oil palm pricing system continues to protect fair value distribution across the oil palm supply chain‌ in Ghana. This is expected to benefit over 400,000 smallholder oil palm farmers, artisanal processors and mills by improving negotiation power for producers.

Within the cocoa sector, Solidaridad and other partners supported the launch of the Ghana Cooperative Cocoa Farmers and Marketing Association, which has consolidated their role as a voice for the cocoa sector in Ghana. The association, consisting of more than 340,000 farmers across 75 unions, has been recognised by the Ghana Cocoa Board and given a seat on the cocoa monitor committee, which engages policymakers on sector reforms, farm-gate pricing and sustainability initiatives.

Also, 353 cocoa communities were supported to develop Community Action Plans to be integrated into the medium-term strategic plans of the Municipal and District Assemblies.

In Sierra Leone, Solidaridad supported and advocated for the review and modernization of the Native Agricultural Produce Act (Cap 185) and the Native Produce Inspection Rules of Sierra Leone, originally enacted in 1946. This legislation provides the legal framework for the inspection, regulation and conformity assurance of agricultural produce intended for export, covering quality standards related to storage, packaging, transportation marketing and exportation. Throughout 2025, stakeholders strengthened coordination to ensure the National Cocoa Policy in Sierra Leone reflects sustainability, farmer inclusion and improved sector governance. The policy reform process has enhanced transparency in cocoa regulation and created clearer pathways for farmer representation in decision-making bodies.

Additionally, we successfully facilitated the setup of community land committees and trained them on the provisions of simplified versions of the Customary Land Rights Act, the National Lands Commission Act and the Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Act. The capacity of 60 civil society groups in the cocoa and oil palm sectors was built to participate in decision-making and hold leaders accountable. We supported groups like Women in the Media Sierra Leone and various Farmer-Based Organizations to successfully advocate for gender-equitable land governance, leading to the enforcement of a 30% female leadership quota in community land committees.

Our work in Côte d’Ivoire strengthened the capacity of 28 civil society organizations to participate in national cocoa policy discussions and influence pricing regulations through the Plateforme Ivoirienne pour le Cacao Durable. The Plateforme continued to serve as a structured interface between civil society, cooperatives and national regulators on sustainable cocoa production and responsible governance.

Over the last five years, we improved market access for smallholder farmers and responsible producers. In Sierra Leone, 1,794 farmers sold over 248,920 kg of rice, cassava and groundnuts after being linked to markets. Additionally, we successfully worked with the Produce Marketing Board to adopt sustainable sourcing guidelines, creating formal market access for small-scale farmers who were previously excluded from fair pricing.

The first ever modern cashew mini factory was set up in Sierra Leone. The factory ensures efficient processing of cashew nuts and brings farmers and aggregators together for marketing purposes. This reduces the drudgery for processors, marketers and exporters who have, until now, had to deal with several middlemen in the marketing chain, and associated high transaction costs.

In Ghana, small-scale mines were supported to meet the CRAFT Code requirements, enabling responsible gold sourcing, including the export of fully traceable gold. Digital traceability and e-trading platforms (Harvest Alert) were introduced to connect oil palm producers to marketers.

To secure market access, we improved stakeholder readiness for compliance by enhancing their knowledge of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) through mass radio sensitization and district-level training, equipping over 500 value chain actors.

Change that Matters Stories

For decades, Caleb Sati’s potatoes succumbed to pests and disease despite his tireless work. After joining the Acting Now project and receiving 29 improved tubers, he applied new techniques that transformed his harvest. Today, Caleb not only supports his family with stronger harvests but also shares improved seed with fellow farmers.

Can a farmer in his 60s learn new techniques and transform his harvest? Retired teacher James Yaw Asare Awuku’s story shows that lifelong learning is possible with the right training at the right time. Though he once struggled with low yields, James joined the Acting Now Programme and has seen his harvest triple, boosting his household income.

For years, Rahinatu Lawal watched as heaps of fresh tomatoes harvested in her community went to waste due to inadequate storage facilities and a lack of processing options. Determined to tackle the problem, she began processing and preserving unsold tomatoes instead of letting them rot. She credits the Farmers Field and Business School under the Acting Now project in Nigeria for equipping her with the skills to do so.

SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR INCLUSIVE AND SCALABLE IMPACT

In 2025, Solidaridad West Africa continued to advance practical, sustainable solutions that addressed gender and social inclusion, digital innovation, and equitable economic participation across supply chains. Through the promotion of gender-responsive approaches, thousands of women have transitioned from subsistence labour into leadership roles. By leveraging technology to strengthen service delivery, we reached 36,205 smallholder oil palm and cocoa farmers with best practices.

In 2025, Solidaridad adapted the Gender Model Family (GMF) approach to strengthen equitable decision-making and women’s empowerment within producer households, groups and communities in Ghana, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. By addressing both household and group-level power dynamics and financial barriers, the interventions ensured that women not only generated income but also retained the agency to reinvest it into family well-being and income-generating activities. This integrated approach successfully transitioned thousands of women from subsistence labour into leadership roles within sustainable supply chains, including cooperative executives and agribusiness managers.

We identified and supported community gender champions who model equitable decision-making and shared financial control. Through economic empowerment and technical skills training, Solidaridad strengthened women’s capabilities and agency. As a result, in Sierra Leone, 81% of the 4,300 women supported gained greater financial control, and 600 women became co-owners of agro-service businesses. In Ghana, more than 41% women, out of the over 21,000 producers reached, participated in and benefited from project interventions, resulting in improved income and access to services, surpassing the 30% target. In Nigeria, 1,000 households experienced improved shared management and increased women’s participation in key family decisions.

Improving Service Delivery to Farmers Through the Harvest Alert Platform

In 2025, the Harvest Alert platform was upgraded to improve digital service delivery to smallholder farmers. The upgrade introduced a farm mapping application, an online marketplace and enhanced service request and voice messaging features.

To test the platform’s functionality under operational conditions, it was piloted with three farm service providers in the oil palm and cocoa sectors. The platform was used to disseminate extension messages on best management practices to over 9,110 smallholder oil palm farmers and processors, including 2,739 women, via SMS channels aligned with seasonal farming activities. Interactive Voice Response messages on best management practices were also extended to cocoa-farming communities, reaching 27,095 cocoa farmers, 8,765 of whom are women.

Organization & governance

Organization and Governance

Restructuring for growth

Our results were achieved with the support of key underlying drivers, including strategic storytelling, intentional digital promotion to reach wider stakeholders, adaptive outcome-led interventions, optimized talent restructuring and inclusive organizational management.

Staff in West Africa	Female	Male	Total
Chad	0	1	1
Cote d’Ivoire	17	29	46
Ghana	25	40	65
Nigeria	13	13	26
Sierra Leone	14	6	20
Togo	0	1	1
Total staff count	61	98	159

Employees of Solidaridad in West Africa at the end of 2024 per country and gender

An innovative HR restructuring plan was implemented to strategically align talent to projects and tailor contractual arrangements. This enhanced clarity for staff on employment status, strengthened transparency, improved HR planning and supported career progression.

The total number of staff who worked at any time in 2025 was 108 (see table below), and the total Annual FTE equivalent was 95. We promoted gender inclusion through the internal promotion of female staff into higher-responsibility roles and the recruitment of a woman into a programme managerial position. However, the overall number of female employees remains low compared to males.

In 2025, the communications function focused on strengthening Solidaridad West Africa’s visibility, credibility and influence through strategic storytelling, campaigns and stronger internal collaboration with programme teams. Communications activities moved beyond routine visibility outputs to a more strategic role supporting partnerships, influencing fundraising and positioning Solidaridad as a credible voice on sustainable supply chains, inclusivity, climate action and food and nutrition security.

We prioritized content that highlights Solidaridad’s impact, sharing news articles, success stories and engaging social media posts that amplify the voices of farmers, women and rural communities. These efforts strengthened the region’s digital presence, with LinkedIn followers increasing from 7,283 to 11,392 and Facebook reaching 11,197, ensuring project results and farmer stories reach wider audiences and reinforcing Solidaridad’s influence on sustainable agriculture and inclusive development.

Campaigns also played an important role in amplifying key themes and engaging broader audiences. The International Women’s Day campaign in March aimed at positioning the region within the gender and inclusivity space. The campaign culminated in a regional webinar organized in partnership with institutions such as the Netherlands Enterprise Agency, SEND West Africa, Women in Media Sierra Leone and Chachavivi in Nigeria. The campaign reached more than 21,500 people across digital platforms and helped strengthen engagement with stakeholders interested in women’s empowerment and inclusive development.

Communications efforts also supported policy engagement by localizing global reports, such as the Cocoa and Oil Palm Barometers, to reflect regional realities. By highlighting issues affecting farmers and supply chains in West Africa, these localized communications helped position the region more strongly within global discussions on sustainability and equitable value distribution. Efforts also led to the development and finalization of a coconut pricing mechanism, which was submitted to relevant stakeholders to promote equitable value distribution across the coconut supply chain in Ghana.

The year also witnessed a number of high-profile launches and events across the region, including the Enhancing Access to Benefits while Lowering Emissions (EnABLE) project and the Deforestation-Free Cocoa project in Ghana, the AgriRise project in Côte d’Ivoire and the Ghana Cooperative Cocoa Farmers and Marketing Association. Our collaboration with Proforest to organize the 9th Africa Sustainable Commodities Initiative (ASCI) in Ghana, and our participation in the Mining in Motion Summit, further strengthened our corporate visibility and reinforced our commitment to promoting sustainability across commodity supply chains. These events brought together diverse stakeholders and reached thousands of audience through our social media platforms.

We received an Award for Excellence in Service from the Sierra Leone Association of Non-Governmental Organizations (SLANGO), recognizing the organization’s contributions to food security, smallholder farmer support, gender inclusion and rural livelihoods.

Our Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (PMEL) efforts focused on strengthening evidence-based programming and institutionalizing a more integrated approach to monitoring, research and learning. The PMEL teams worked to harmonize monitoring systems, improve data quality and enhance the use of evidence in decision-making. We enhanced outcome monitoring and the deployment of reporting dashboards to support project management. Additionally, we expanded the use of digital data collection tools and reinforced quality-control processes for field-level monitoring. These efforts were complemented by structured data verification mechanisms such as Data Quality Assessments and Results Quality Audits, which reinforced organizational accountability and ensured that programme reporting remained aligned with international quality standards.

The PMEL function across the region generated a substantial body of research and evaluative evidence to inform programme design and strategic adjustments. A total of 8 studies and evaluations were conducted across projects, including baseline studies, mid-term reviews, final evaluations, outcome assessments and sector analyses. These assessments produced valuable insights into farmer livelihoods, cooperative governance and value chain dynamics. It highlighted persistent structural challenges, such as low productivity, limited digital adoption among farmer organizations, gender inequalities within value chains and the continued vulnerability of smallholder households to climate and market shocks. The findings have already begun to shape programme strategies across the region, encouraging the adoption of more integrated intervention models that combine digital innovation, technical support and improved access to resources. Through regular country reviews, planning sessions and portfolio learning events, programme teams increasingly engaged with monitoring data to guide operational adjustments, contributing to a stronger learning-oriented culture.

Finance

Despite a challenging external environment marked by shifting donor priorities, rising operational costs, global economic uncertainty, and increasing competition for development financing, Solidaridad West Africa remained financially resilient in 2025. The region generated €11.9 million in income in 2025. Through strengthened resource mobilization efforts, strategic partnerships, prudent financial management, and a continued focus on efficiency, the region sustained programme delivery and maintained stable financial performance.

Income
Income from individuals	€ 0
Income from companies	€ 3,232,960
Income from lottery organizations	€ 0
Income from government grants	€ 1,635,725
Income from non-profit organizations	€ 0
Income from other organizations	€ 2,076,757
Other income	€ 15,423
Total direct income	€ 6,960,864
Income from related (Solidaridad) organizations	€ 5,029,513
TOTAL INCOME	€ 11,990,377

In 2025, Solidaridad West Africa generated a total income of 11.9 million euros, meeting the expected target of 11.9 million euros, and representing a 2% increase from the 11.5 million euros generated in 2024.

Of this amount, 6.9 million euros (58%) was mobilized through own fundraising efforts, while 42% was secured through the network organization, mainly Solidaridad Europe. Income generated from private partnerships remained strong, increasing from 3.1 million euros in 2024 to 3.2 million euros in 2025 (2% growth). This reflects the continued commitment from corporate partners in addressing supply chain challenges while improving the livelihoods of producers.

Funding from other organizations also increased from 3.2 million euros in 2024 to 3.7 million euros in 2025, representing a 14% rise. The World Bank, the European Union, Danida and other international donors continue to invest in our programmes, particularly in Ghana, Sierra Leone and Côte d’Ivoire, supporting sustainable development and community resilience.

Expenses
Activity costs	€ 5,652,860
Other costs	€ 703,664
Partners and consultants	€ 2,323,816
Employee expenses	€ 2,927,144
Balance to be paid
Total direct expenses	€ 11,607,484
Expenditure to Solidaridad entities	€ 275,417
Total expenditures	€ 11,882,901

Total expenditure for the year stood at 11.9 million euros. Of this, 70% was directly invested in programme implementation, demonstrating a strong focus on delivering impact. Staff costs amounted to 2.9 million euros(24%) while 0.7 million euros (6%) was spent on administrative costs. The combined 30% spent on staff and administrative expenses demonstrates efficient and effective resource utilisation to maximise impact for targeted beneficiaries.

West Africa continued to work with the Solidaridad Network Foundation in improving systems and governance. A total of 0.275 million euros was paid in 2025 as settlement of the agreed 2% overhead fee to the Solidaridad Network Foundation. The year ended with a surplus of 0.015 million euros.

West Africa audited
financial statements 2024

2025 ANNUAL REPORT

Global Annual Report 2025

Asia 2025

East & Central Africa 2025

Europe 2025

Latin America 2025

Southern Africa 2025

West Africa 2025

Highlights