![\"\"](\"http:\/\/africawomenexperts.com\/lng\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/05\/0-1-300x200.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
In northern Ghana, a region severely affected by the impacts of climate change -drought, wildfires, soil degradation, and more – Aline Mwintome Naawa works with smallholder women farmers to help them adapt to or mitigate these effects. As a technical advisor at GIZ Ghana, this researcher in climate change and disaster risk management supports women farmers by introducing them to smart agricultural practices, raising their awareness of prevention, and training them in the management of climate-related disaster risks.<\/strong><\/p>\n Between her technical fieldwork, her research on climate change and disaster risk management, and her efforts to influence policy, Aline Mwintome Naawa is at the forefront of efforts to help women farmers in her native country adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change. She has been working for nearly a decade to address the challenges posed by climate change on the ground. In 2025, she earned a PhD in climate change and disaster risk management from the University of Lom\u00e9 in partnership with the United Nations University, as part of the WASCAL program, a fellowship fully funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. However, her interest in agriculture goes back to childhood. \u201cWildfires, which are my area of expertise, are part of daily life in northern Ghana, where they occur frequently, every season. Growing up in northern Ghana, I realized that climate change is not really an abstract concept. It manifests itself in many aspects of daily life, particularly in terms of production, harvests, and processing,\u201d<\/em> she told Africa Women Experts.<\/p>\n To address these challenges, she adopted a gender-sensitive approach, taking into account the marginalization women face in accessing land. \u201cWhen you see these women\u2014who are denied the right to own land by the traditional system\u2014striving so hard and yet unable to produce enough to buy food for the following year because of climate change, it is heartbreaking. That is why I told myself, \u2018I\u2019m going to get involved in this sector to see how I can help these women and make a difference,\u201d <\/em>she confided.<\/p>\n From WASH to agriculture<\/strong><\/p>\n She began her career in the WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) sector, holding positions as field operations supervisor at UN-Habitat in Ghana and System manager at the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CSWA), after earning a bachelor\u2019s and a master\u2019s in environmental and resource management from the University for Development Studies in Ghana. However, starting in 2017, she shifted to the environment, agriculture, and climate change. She then first joined GOPA AFC\/GIZ as a community mobilization expert, then the Tumu Deanery Rural Integrated Development Program (TUDRIDEP) in 2022 as a project coordinator, before joining GIZ Ghana in 2025 as a technical advisor. \u201cI spent part of my career working in the WASH sector (water, sanitation, and hygiene), and then I shifted entirely to agriculture. It wasn\u2019t intentional. I was simply looking to examine the impact from a broader perspective. WASH is great, but I think I turned to agriculture because I grew up in a farming community. I felt I could contribute more to this sector,\u201d<\/em> she explained.<\/p>\n As a specialist in disaster risk management, she helps communities adapt to the challenges posed by climate change or mitigate its effects, including issues with soil fertility, bushfires that reduce crop residues\u2014which are supposed to enrich the soil with nutrients\u2014to ashes, and the violent Harmattan winds that sweep everything in their path. \u201cWe talk about a disaster when there is a concrete impact on humanity or the ecosystem. If a fire destroys agricultural produce, people\u2019s livelihoods will be affected. It is therefore a disaster,\u201d<\/em> she said.<\/p>\n As part of her role as a technical advisor at GIZ Ghana, Aline and her team teach farmers climate smart agricultural practices and encourage them to abandon intensive tilling and soil disturbance practices by providing them with improved and certified seeds so they can increase their yields. They also organize bush-burning or forest fire management campaigns, raising awareness about safe burning practices. \u201cBushfires can also be a source of survival for savanna ecosystems, depending on how they are used or managed. We train these women to effectively minimize risks or control fires, so they don\u2019t spread and cause disasters,\u201d<\/em> she explained.<\/p>\n In addition, they set up weather information sessions to inform women about forecasted disasters, as well as the optimal time to sow their seeds to maximize their harvests. \u201cMany of the farmers delay their planting, and by the time they do, the season is already well underway and they lose everything. So we use all these discussions about the weather and try to figure out how we can help them,\u201d she said. <\/em>They also support farmers in their tree-planting efforts by teaching them effective soil management practices and dry-season farming techniques, so they can learn how to retain moisture and cope with the harsh weather.<\/p>\n Apart from fieldwork, her commitment also involves influencing policy by collaborating with district and municipal councils\u2014which serve as legislative bodies and act as representatives of the government\u2014to help them take steps to mitigate some of the tangible effects of climate change.<\/p>\n Impact on women farmers and communities<\/strong><\/p>\n In several communities, her efforts are beginning to bear fruit. Around fifteen vegetable gardens have already been set up in certain areas, she said. Each garden can accommodate 3 to 4 women\u2019s groups, with about 30 members per group, bringing the total number of beneficiaries to approximately 120 people. \u201cEven though space is limited, they are happy to cultivate it. They divide the land into small plots where they grow leafy vegetables, with access to water for irrigation. At the end of the day, they manage to earn a few Ghanaian cedi. They are very enthusiastic about this idea,\u201d<\/em> she explained.<\/p>\n Beyond production, women-led startups receive support and training on how to transform agricultural raw materials into market-ready products\u2014for example, by processing soybeans into food products for households, improving packaging, and creating added value for sales. \u00ab\u00a0We encourage them not only to cultivate continuously. From time to time, the land can be left fallow, while they engage in processing activities, earn income, and later return to farming\u00a0\u00bb<\/em>, she said.<\/p>\n Women are also connected with financial institutions, which helps address one of the sector\u2019s main obstacles: women\u2019s lack of access to financing. This enables many of them to obtain microloans to expand their businesses.<\/p>\n But the support also includes capacity building, the provision of supplies, and the establishment of community savings schemes, she adds. Women are encouraged to save regularly, using saving boxes and record books provided by the organization. These funds have enabled many of them to secure a stable income and purchase agricultural inputs such as improved seeds and fertilizers, she confided. \u00ab\u00a0What we are seeing in communities is encouraging. The women are happy. They are smiling. The little support they received may seem small, but it is making a real difference\u00a0\u00bb, <\/em>she added.<\/p>\n Beyond women farmers, Aline\u2019s work also targets young women who are embarking on careers in entrepreneurship and research in her field. She supports young female researchers and startup founders through mentoring. \u201cSometimes, within the community, you meet a brilliant young woman who just needs a little push. I may not have the financial means to help her, but I can offer my support through my modest knowledge,<\/em>\u201d she explained. Through a platform, she shares opportunities with them, encourages them to apply for grants, and helps them refine their project proposals.<\/p>\n Reach the decision-making level for a greater impact<\/strong><\/p>\n Despite the challenges she has faced\u2014such as a lack of funding and the failure to take her research findings into account at the policy level\u2014she has continued to navigate between fieldwork and research. She is currently conducting a study on climate change and health in Togo, where she is examining the impact of climate change on health in certain regions of the country.<\/p>\n She also hopes to pursue a postdoctoral fellowship that would allow her to study wildfire insurance. \u201cIf I am unable to develop a monitoring tool to prevent these wildfires, as I suggested to institutions in the conclusions of my research, I would like to explore how communities can benefit from the damage caused by these fires. This is what is known as wildfire insurance. It is not very widespread in Africa. It is used in some regions for landslides and tsunamis,<\/em>\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n But Aline\u2019s ultimate ambition today is to move from the implementation level to the decision-making level, where she could make her voice heard and put her ideas into practice in order to effectively and practically manage disaster risks on a larger scale and limit their impact on communities and the environment.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Danielle France Engolo<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In northern Ghana, a region severely affected by the impacts of climate change -drought, wildfires, soil degradation, and more – Aline Mwintome Naawa works with smallholder women farmers to help them adapt to or mitigate these effects. As a technical advisor at GIZ Ghana, this researcher in climate change and disaster risk management supports women […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/africawomenexperts.com\/lng\/en\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3422"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/africawomenexperts.com\/lng\/en\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/africawomenexperts.com\/lng\/en\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/africawomenexperts.com\/lng\/en\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/africawomenexperts.com\/lng\/en\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3422"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/africawomenexperts.com\/lng\/en\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3425,"href":"http:\/\/africawomenexperts.com\/lng\/en\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3422\/revisions\/3425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/africawomenexperts.com\/lng\/en\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/africawomenexperts.com\/lng\/en\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/africawomenexperts.com\/lng\/en\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}