Sufficient income – thanks to shea butter

The Vontobel Foundation is supporting the project "Karité – More Income Thanks to Shea Butter" managed by the association Brücke Le Pont, with the aim of reinforcing the role of women in northern Benin along the entire value chain of the African shea tree. 

 

For almost 70 years, the association Brücke Le Pont has worked toward the goal of ensuring that all people can earn a dignified livelihood of their own choice.

In northern Benin, producing shea butter (known locally as karité) is an important source of income for women, who are often the primary providers for their families. Karité products are in high demand on local markets, and shea butter is the country’s third-most important export product. The market potential is high: only one third of the nuts it is made from are currently harvested and processed.

To help women boost their income from collecting and processing shea nuts, improvements are needed at several levels: work processes, access to appropriate tools and equipment, and product quality. Through the project "Karité – More Income Thanks to Shea Butter," Brücke Le Pont supports local women’s cooperatives in increasing their production and productivity by means of improving their access to relevant infrastructure, financing options, and adapted equipment.

The association assists women producing karité and their municipalities by building or renovating production facilities, including areas for storage and administrative offices. It also installs equipment and machines and provides training for the women who will use them. This way, the shift toward mechanized production is being accelerated.

To improve access to financial services, savings groups are being set up and accompanied within the cooperatives. These savings deposits can then serve as collateral for larger loans from financial institutions.

Training sessions provide participants with important knowledge about sustainable production, handling waste products, meeting hygiene and quality standards, as well as how to actually manage a cooperative. Internal quality-control models are being developed and the necessary equipment procured.

The project also promotes planting new shea trees and ensuring that they are protected. In the wild, many of these trees unfortunately fall victim to slash-and-burn clearing. Brücke Le Pont supports local authorities in their reforestation efforts by planting and maintaining new trees. At the same time, it is also sensitizing the relevant communities to the trees’ economic and ecological importance.

The Vontobel Foundation is providing support to the project "Karité – More Income Thanks to Shea Butter" from 2025 to 2027.