THE PROGRAMME
A system, not just honey production
The Hives of Hope installs modern hives with rural women's associations in Gontougo's cashew-growing areas, and supports them with training, technical guidance, and collective structuring all the way to the commercialisation of honey and its by-products.
The programme turns a supplementary activity, beekeeping, into a complete economic system, while providing a pollination service to the region's cashew orchards.
Produce
Empower
Structure
Process
Production
Modern hives, technical support, and collective organisation of the beneficiaries.
Financing
Support for the associations in financing their activities.
Development
Income management, economic empowerment, gradual expansion of activities.
IN THE FIELD
A programme built together with the associations
Each apiary is set up in consultation with the association hosting it: choosing the site, training the association's representatives, and planning a follow-up schedule. This close involvement is what ensures the quality of the technical support described above.
THE CHALLENGE
A question at the foundation of the programme
"How can the natural and agricultural resources already present in the region be turned into lasting income, while strengthening biodiversity and women's economic independence?"
Low income for rural women, often seasonal and dependent on selling raw agricultural produce.
Lack of access to equipment needed to develop new activities.
No local processing of agricultural products, so little added value is captured locally.
High rural unemployment, with few opportunities for stable supplementary income.
OPPORTUNITY IN THE REGION
The cashew tree and the bee
The Gontougo region offers an especially favourable environment for beekeeping thanks to its vast cashew plantations. The project builds a productive relationship between cashew trees, bees, pollination, honey, women, processing, and income.
Implementing the project in the Tanda region can help improve pollination of cashew orchards, with a positive impact that, under favourable conditions, could reach an estimated 30% to 40% increase in cashew production. This figure remains a conditional estimate, never a guaranteed result.
Conditional estimate, not guaranteed
PHASE 1 TARGETS
The key figures
10,000
modern hives
2026
launch of the pilot phase
5,000 to 10,000
women trained in beekeeping trades
Role of the associations
Providing land, community labour, day-to-day management, hive monitoring, harvesting, and participation in commercialisation, as the communities' in-kind contribution.
Role of Fondation Douassoh
Training, technical support, coordination, monitoring, programme structuring, partnership development, and support for scaling up.
INTERVENTION MODEL
Equipment, training, support
Modern equipment
Providing modern hives to women organised into associations and cooperatives.
Technical training
A complete training programme covering the essential techniques of beekeeping.
Ongoing support
Regular operational monitoring to ensure sustainability, effectiveness, and the growing skills of the beneficiaries.
The project is designed as a supplementary activity suited to rural realities: it introduces an additional source of income without disrupting the main farming activities, particularly those linked to cashew.
WOMEN AND COMMUNITIES
A collaborative ecosystem
The programme relies on a collaborative ecosystem: Fondation Douassoh, the women's associations, local communities, technical partners, funders, and public institutions.
Producers
Managers
Rural entrepreneurs
Decision-makers
Co-managers of local development
BEEKEEPING AND BIODIVERSITY
Essential players in agricultural ecosystems
The programme aims to strengthen pollinator populations, preserve pollination services, promote biodiversity, raise community awareness, encourage farming practices more compatible with pollinators, and build the resilience of agricultural landscapes.
ON VIDEO
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Video to be added
See the programme in action
A video showing the hive installations, association training, and the first harvests will be added here.
OFFICIAL ROADMAP
2026 -> 2030
2026
Launched — pilot phase
10,000 hives
Setting up hives, structuring the first cooperatives, testing the operating model, and refining the training programmes.
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Phase target
Gradual expansion
Gradual scale-up, with continuous adjustments.
2030
5-year projection
400,000 hives
Target capacity by 2030, with a structured regional beekeeping ecosystem.
See the expected impact of this model
Discover how these targets translate into economic, social, environmental, and territorial impact.