From One to Many: The Power of the “Pass-On” Model

International Women’s Day Feature — CHANGE Project, Ghana

If you’ve ever tried to grow a garden, you know how essential water is. In northern Ghana, drought and unpredictable rainfall make that simple truth a daily challenge. For families who rely on small-scale farming, feeding their children is a constant struggle as dry seasons lengthen and crops fail.

For Murijana, a mother of five in Gawagu, Ghana, nutritious food wasn’t just expensive – some days, it simply wasn’t available. Markets were far, prices were high, and droughts made vegetables nearly impossible to find

“Some days, I spent all night thinking about what to feed my family,” she says.

Across Ghana and Ethiopia, women often shoulder much of the responsibility for feeding their families but lack the tools, training, and resources to grow food sustainably in a changing climate.

That’s why the Championing Nutrition and Gender Equality (CHANGE) Project, funded by Global Affairs Canada and implemented by Children Believe and partners, focuses on equipping women with the skills and support needed to sustain both nutrition and income.

A Garden That Sparked Change

Everything shifted for Murijana when she joined the CHANGE project. She received seeds, basic tools, and hands-on training to grow a climate‑smart home garden in her backyard. She also received a small starter flock of chickens. With steady effort, her backyard transformed into a vibrant nutri‑garden filled with nutrient‑rich leafy vegetables — and her poultry flock began to multiply.

“Before, my children hardly ate vegetables. Now they eat greens daily. They are healthier and fall sick less,” Says Murijana.

Soon, she was harvesting more vegetables than her family needed. Instead of selling the surplus immediately, she shared it with other women facing the same struggles she once had.

Women Helping Women: The Heart of Change

When her hens began to multiply, Murijana faced another choice. She could keep the growing flock to strengthen her own income — or she could extend the opportunity beyond her household.

Through the project’s pass‑on model, she chose to give. She gave four hens to two other women in her community — Barikisu and Khadija — extending nourishment, income potential and hope.

These women will pass hens on again when their flocks grow, creating a chain of food security and economic independence that will continue long after the project ends.

“I wanted other women to feel the same hope I felt.”

This is the spirit of International Women’s Day — women lifting women, creating ripples of change across households, communities and generations. And it mirrors this year’s theme: #GiveToGain, the powerful idea that when women share resources and opportunity, everyone grows stronger.

The pass‑on model is built on a simple economic principle: when resources circulate, communities thrive. So far, 400 women in Ghana have passed on poultry, and 300 women in Ethiopia have passed on sheep and goats.

Resilience in a Changing Climate

As rainfall becomes more unpredictable in northern Ghana, the CHANGE Project equips families with practical skills to keep gardens thriving during dry periods by teaching:

• smart water-use techniques
• drought‑resilient gardening methods
• diversified planting and seed preservation
• poultry management for year-round protein and income

These tools allow mothers like Murijana to nourish their families through all seasons.

Looking Forward: Nourishing Her Family, Building Their Future

Now, Murijana hopes to grow her garden into a small business. She dreams of using the income to support her children’s education through senior high school, an investment that could transform their futures.

Poverty is complex. Helping isn’t.

Child hunger—whether in Ghana or closer to home—often has deep, interconnected roots: distance, drought, cost, limited access. But sometimes, the most powerful solutions start small, a handful of seeds, a few hens, practical skills, a chance.

This International Women’s Day, and as we mark Nutrition Month in Canada, we honour women like Murijana- women who, with the right support and the spirit of #GiveToGain, transform not just their families but their communities.

Children Believe comes alongside communities — and women like Murijana — to ensure nothing stands in the way of children fulfilling their potential.

When opportunity is shared, hope multiplies — from one, to many.

Learn more about Children Believe and the CHANGE Project here.