Introduction to TRAX Ghana

TRAX Africa was founded in Ghana in 1989 by two students volunteers from Silsoe University, United Kingdom.

The organization was originally to be called TRACKS (as in “Foot prints”) Program Support, but eventually ended up being called TRAX as there existed at the time of legalization an Agency bearing the name TRACKS. To maintain the sound of the name the suffix “X” was used.

TRAX Africa started off in Accra with Literacy programmes but finally ended up in Bunkpurugu, East Mamprusi District in the Northern Region.

The Organization transformed along the years implementing different activities from Appropriate Technology and Adult Literacy Programme, Water Management Initiatives, Soil and Water Conservation to the current Sustainable Livelihoods Programme.

TRAX Africa promotes community led Sustainable Agriculture in areas threatened by erosion and desertification. The programme responds to community needs rather than imposing ideas from the outside. The policy is demand driven and encourages participation of the poor at every stage of the development process.

The techniques applied are low cost and accessible to all with a focus on what is called Low External to Sustainable Agriculture (LEISA).

The programme places particular emphasis on the role of women has the following areas:

• Sustainable Livelihood (Agriculture & Income Generation Activities)
• Training of Trainers – dissemination of sustainable Livelihood experiences
• Community Empowerment (Awareness creation, bridging the IT gap between the North and South).
• Institutional Capacity Building (Building the institutional capacity to render it independent).

The Ghana organizational structure is made up of a Local Board of Patrons and Directors, Management Team with a total 29 staff members (including administrative support staff). The country programme is headed by an Operations Manager and assisted by a Sustainable Livelihood Project Coordinator.

Father Edwin Abanga, Chairman of the Board of Patrons, TRAX Ghana