The Gushiegu-Karaga District of the Northern Region of Ghana is of guinea savannah vegetation and suffers severe bushfires that affect biodiversity in the protected areas of the district. The NGO was piloting the reduction of bushfires by addressing some of the major problems/activities that lead to communities starting the fires. The identified problems are: (i) extensive burning of dry grass and foliage at the onset of the dry season to force early sprouting of fresh green foliage for livestock. (The underlying assumption is that ruminants will not eat dry foliage); (ii) hunting of wild honey using fire in the dry season that accidentally lead to bushfires; (iii) Free-grazing of livestock in the dry season. (The assumption is that communities cannot provide feed for their livestock and such animals can only obtain food by wide area foraging; (iv) Women need to gather large stock of fuelwood which can only be easily collected from an extensively burnt field.
The NGO used participatory learning and discussion as well as dance and theatre-for-development to educate 10 communities on the effects of bush burning on their natural resources, climate change and their own survival. Each community instituted local by-laws to protect 2.5 Ha of land from bushfires and surprisingly these served as sources of dried fodder for their animals and roofing thatch material for the communities and others who were not part of the project. Community members successfully stored crop residue such as cassava peals, groundnut vine, pigeon pea shrubs, and cereal stalks and also bailed rice straw for feeding their livestock. They reported that for the first time, their animals looked fatter and healthier through the dry season. An added bonus was reported: for the first time, because their animals stayed near their compounds to receive the stored fodder, no animal got lost. Women also found they did not have to repeatedly go into the wild in search of fuelwood because the Fuel Efficient Woodsaving Stoves (FEWS) consumed 30 -40 % less fuelwood. The beekeeping component was shelved because of low interest but the community members who benefited from a revolving fund or micro-credit scheme to support alternative livelihood have shown over 95% payback. The project needs to be replicated in large scale.