BonkuwART

Expanding the business of a Ghanian pottery and arts organization.BonkuwART mission

Sirigu is a village situated in Northern Ghana, one of the poorest regions in the country. Traditionally, the women in this village paint their houses with earthly colors. When these women discovered their style of painting was unique, they came together in 1997 to form an association to start painting on canvas and pottery instead of on walls. Since then, many organizations have worked together with the Sirigu Women Organization of Pottery and Art (SWOPA), and the women have been selling their paintings and pottery to those lucky tourists that pay a visit to the village. For all the success that SWOPA had; however, the women are still not exporting any pottery whatsoever. The wood oven they use does not produce enough heat for the pottery to be strong enough for the export, and there is no distribution channel in place.

The BonkuwART project aims to develop this distribution channel and give SWOPA the opportunity to buy a kiln that produces pottery ready-for-export. We are working together with SWOPA to ensure that they can export their pottery to Europe and retail it in several stores. Through workshops and lessons we also want to help the women in Sirigu to design pottery that suits the needs of European clients. Finally, we aim to give workshops in the neighboring villages to help them find economic opportunities and start up projects based on their expertise. The result of the project should be a more sustainable and stable source of income for the women in Sirigu, which could be spent on the education of the children in the village.