WHOLE FOODS MARKET®

TEAM MEMBER VOLUNTEER PROGRAM2014 GHANA SUMMARY & IMPACT REPORT

Whole Planet Foundation® (WPF) funds microlending

programs in Ghana through Grameen Ghana in the

community where The Blessing Basket Project sources

baskets which are sold in Whole Foods Market®

(WFM) stores. WPF is a WFM non-profit whose

mission is to alleviate poverty by funding microlending

programs where WFM sources products as a way to

alleviate poverty and give back to our global

communities.

Through the WFMTeam Member Volunteer Program,

WFM gives Team Members the unique opportunity to

travel abroad with WPF to learn about WPF and meet

microcredit clients, see where and how WFM products

are grown, provide community service, experience and

learn from other cultures, and challenge themselves by

exploring exciting countries around the globe.

WHOLE FOODS MARKET®TEAM MEMBER VOLUNTEER PROGRAM

WFM TEAM MEMBER VOLUNTEER PROGRAM GHANA

Community service project and WFM supplier partner

The Blessing Basket Project in Nyariga

Arrival, departure, batik lessons and sightseeing

in Accra

11 WFM Team Member Volunteers traveled to Ghana to volunteer in Nyariga where The Blessing Basket Project sources baskets. The Team Members were truly immersed in the community, dancing, working,

eating and learning to weave and make shea butter with members of the community. They helped to build a KVIP (bathrooms with 6 toilets), mixing cement, hauling water, mortaring and painting. They also spent one night with a family in Nyariga and spent the next day tending their chores with them,

hoeing, grinding millet, helping vaccinate cows - whatever the family required. They visited with microcredit clients of Grameen Ghana in Nyariga, attending a center meeting and having clothes made by a client who is a tailor. Team Members learned about Ghanaian culture, food, traditions and dance.

TEAM - 2 WEEKS

June 7- 20, 2014

Amanda Whitmire (Global Office)

Bobby Covington (Global Office)

Mona Nafziger (Global Office)

Morgan Peretti (Global Office)

Jason Haack (Midwest, Hennepin store)

Patricia Turner-Massey (North-Atlantic, Bishop’s Corner store)

Sherri Elliott (Northern California, Folsom store)

Ed Zachary (Pacific Northwest, Bend store)

Mindy Jahn (Pacific Northwest, Lynnwood store)

Sarah Beecher (Rocky Mountain, Highlands Ranch store)

Nadia du Toit (United Kingdom, Piccadilly store)

2014 GHANA SUMMARY

GROUP COORDINATORS

Theresa Carrington

Jeremy Bookman

GHANA GUIDES

Abdulai Asuah

Ibrahim Salifu

Larmi Shafia

PROJECT COORDINATOR

Abdulai Asuah

WFM TEAM MEMBER

VOLUNTEER PROGRAM

MANAGER

Genie Bolduc

ITINERARY- 2 WEEKS

Saturday, June 7 - Depart home

Sunday, June 8 - Arrive in Accra

Monday, June 9 - Make beautiful batik at Aunty Grace's

Tuesday, June 10 - Fly to Tamale, village of Nyariga, lunch and learn - history of the Nyariga Chiefs, meet the chiefs - visit both Nyariga chiefs

Wednesday June 11 - Nyariga Doone Girl’s School, visit WPF microlending partner Grameen Ghana, lunch and learn - learn history of TBBP, meet program graduates, intro to KVIP (Kumasi Ventilated-Improved Pit)

Thursday, June 12 - Bolga Basket Market, Grameen client tailor visit, KVIP, Lunch and Learn - eat locally prepared dish under the dowa dowa tree at the school and learn history of the school from the Mothers Club, 1 Team Member to 4 students teach computer skills, welcome to Kofi's Bar (a TBBP graduate)

Friday, June 13 - Weaving class, KVIP, Lunch and Learn - Q&A with the three class prefects from the school, 1 Team Member to 4 students teach computer skills, spend night at homestay

Saturday, June 14 - Work with homestay family all day, lunch and learn- with family

Sunday, June 15 - Make shea butter, Lunch and Learn - history of the Tindana, weaving, La Nature tree tour: learn the food, health, and environmental uses of Boabab, Dowa Dowa, Kapock and Neem trees

Monday, June 16 - KVIP, lunch and learn - with the girls and teachers, local craft fair - handicraft from local artisans

Tuesday, June 17 - KVIP, lunch and play - with the girls, play soccer / sack race, egg race and KVIP, finish weaving baskets

Wednesday June 18 - Meet today’s graduates and visit their homes, KVIP dedication, graduation and closing ceremony

Thursday, June 19 - Leave for Tamale and Accra, visit craft store, pick up batik

Friday, June 20 - Tour National Museum and depart Accra for home

2014 GHANA ITINERARY JUNE 7 - JUNE 20

THE EXPERIENCEMicrocredit client center meeting

FarmingMorgan with microcredit client tailor Learning basket weaving

Mixing cement Helping build and paint sanitary facilities Making shea butter

A typical meal prepared by

locals for the Team

Members included

plantains, red-red, guinea

hen, rice and veggies and

bambara beans. They also

ate jollof rice and fufu with

palavi sauce. Picture on

the right is red-red with

plantains.

Ghanaians believe in a

grand welcome. At every

event, singing and

dancing ensued and

Team Members were

encouraged to

participate. The Team

Members also learned

how to make batik, the

beautiful fabric from

which clothes in Ghana

are made.Since the

volunteers were in

Ghana during the World

Cup, there was a friendly

match or two of soccer.

Team Members took

advantage of the lovely

local batik to have

clothes made by

microcredit clients.They

got to see Guy One, a

local traditional musician,

perform.

FOOD

LOCAL TRADITION

CULTURE

WHOLE PLANET FOUNDATION MICROCREDIT PARTNER

GRAMEEN GHANA

FEMALE CLIENTS

99% 100%

REPAYMENT RATE

5,193

WPF SUPPORTED CLIENTS AS OF 11/01/2014

History:

Grameen Ghana was created in 2001 as a not for profit to

provide trainings in business and entrepreneurial skills to

communities. Having worked with women groups and building

their capacities in business for two years, the need to

establish a loan product became evident. The local Ghanaian

founders decided to change the name to Grameen Ghana to

reflect its new status. Grameen Ghana started its

microfinance activities in March 2003 with grant support from

UNICEF and has followed the Grameen model of group loans

to rural community members, mostly women.

WPF Partnership:

Whole Planet Foundation began funding Grameen Ghana in

2010 with a grant of $300,000 to reach 1,500 new clients.

In 2012, WPF agreed to fund Grameen Ghana’s expansion

into further remote areas of Northern Ghana and authorized a

grant of $500,000 to reach a total of 6,093 new clients.

Grameen Ghana’s Approach:

Grameen Ghana forms Savings and Credit Association (SCA)

of 30 to 40 women organized into smaller groups.

Each small group has a group leader, and the SCA will have

an elected leadership consisting of a President, Secretary

and Treasurer. The SCA is led through a month long

orientation process explaining the loan process and

expectations of borrowers.

Nearly 95% of Grameen Ghana borrowers carry out activities

in small enterprise, agricultural processing and agricultural

marketing loans with an average first loan size of about $75.

Payments are broken into either weekly or bi-weekly

payments for each group, which are made to the Credit

Officer in the rural communities. Credit Officer will typically

manage 22 SCA groups of 30-40 members each, and will be

expected to attend all disbursement and payment collection

meetings.

During these meetings the Credit Officers will ensure proper

record keeping in a register maintained by the SCA group, fill

out individual borrower passbooks and fill-out Grameen

Ghana accounting forms to be taken back to the main office

for record keeping within Grameen Ghana. Borrowers will

sign with a signature or fingerprint for all funds received and

all payments made until completion of the loan.

Grameen Ghana

Microcredit client center meeting

Grameen Ghana staff collecting repayments of

microloans at center meeting under a tree

Grameen Ghana clients repaying their loans

Microcredit client Gladys

Microcredit client at her shop

THE BLESSING BASKET PROJECT HAS HOSTED

WFM TEAM MEMBER VOLUNTEERS SINCE 2013

Information from The Blessing Basket Project:

The Blessing Basket Project® is different. The

organization seeks to empower artisans to become

entrepreneurs and leave the organization’s program.

Using a unique Prosperity Wages® model, which the

organization developed, artisans are carefully selected

and remain in the program for approximately three

years. While in the program, participants are required to

start businesses. Once those businesses become

successful, the artisan then graduates out of the

organization’s program. The Blessing Basket Project’s

exclusive Artisan and You® program enables

purchasers to meet the very artisan who created their

hand crafted product. They can see a photo of their

artisan, learn about their family, write them a letter, and

be informed every time they are paid. The Blessing

Basket Project is an innovator and continues to set new

standards in global poverty reduction.

The Blessing Basket Project’s goal is to graduate its

artisans out of poverty in about three years’ time.

Artisans enter the program, accumulate sufficient

wealth, become entrepreneurs and leave the program

through a formal graduation process.

The Blessing Basket Project

Team Members learned weaving from

The Blessing Basket weavers in order

to understand the hard work and

artisanal talent it takes to make such

beautiful and useful products. The

weavers who taught them are the very

weavers who create the baskets that

are sold in Whole Foods Market stores.

Team Member volunteers helped to

haul water and mix cement for the new

bathrooms that they and community

members built together. They mortared,

painted and completed the construction

of a six stall bathroom for the Nyariga

Doone Girls’ School that was the first in

the entire village.

WFM Team Member volunteers stayed

overnight in the community of Nyariga

with families and the next day got up

with the sun and helped their homestay

family with daily chores including

farming, vaccinating cows, grinding

Guinea corn and hauling water.

WEAVING BUILDING HOMESTAY

The Whole Foods Market Team Member Volunteer Program in

Ghana was created with Theresa Carrington of The Blessing

Basket Project with total immersion in mind - immersion into the

culture, the handicraft and the people of Nyariga. Team Members

learned to weave baskets, helped the community build

bathrooms for the Nyariga Doone Girl’s School, had an overnight

homestay with community members and helped their hosts with

daily chores the next day. They danced, sang, played, hoed,

fetched water and were truly a part of the community.

IMMERSION

Volunteers were hosted by The Blessing Basket

Project in Nyariga where they:

Pumped and hauled water

Built a 6 stall bathroom

Mixed and poured cement

Mortared the walls

Sanded and painted the bathroom

Helped vaccinate cows

Ground Guinea corn into flour

Danced and danced and danced

Slept under the stars in the community

Taught school girls computer skills

Taught school girls how to play red rover

Wove baskets

Made shea butter

Hoed fields with homestay families

THE BLESSING BASKET PROJECTSleeping under the stars (and mosquito net) during homestay, weaving baskets, working in the field

Pumping and hauling water to build the KVIP

Mortaring, painting and grinding Guinea corn

BOLGA BASKET MARKET Volunteers visited the Bolga Basket Market to see the

difference between The Blessing Basket Project

sourcing and baskets sourced by other vendors.

TREE TOUR The volunteers went on a tree tour where they were

taught food, health and environmental uses of the

baobab, dowa dowa, kapock and neem trees.

MEDICINE MAN Team Members met the village Medicine Man.

THE NYARIGA MARKET Team Members learned what a market in a small village is like by visiting the Nyariga market.

SHEA BUTTER Shea butter is used for a lot of things in Ghana. It is

eaten, it is used for moisturizing skin and the waste

from it is used for fuel. Team Members got to make

shea butter with women in the community.

“I loved the homestay. I don't know when I would ever have a chance to

experience something like that again and get such an intimate look into the

lives of the people living in that community.”

ANONYMOUS

“Thank you so much for the opportunity, it opened my eyes, and I am so grateful I

got to go!”

MONA

“That trip changed my life and I am just

forever grateful to have been given

the opportunity to grow the way I did.”

LINDA

“Thank you Whole Foods Market for enabling Team Members to

experience relationships with our friends and partners around the globe.”

ANONYMOUS

ANONYMOUS

“Amazing experience, would love to

do it again.

Blessing Basket is so amazing and

informative, I enjoyed every minute

of the trip! My favorite part was

sleeping with the family in their

compound, such an inspiring night!”

“Longer trip would have been amazing!

My favorite part of the trip was the cultural immersion / overnight with the

families because it really opened my eyes to how the people of Ghana

live and what they do day to day.”

ANONYMOUS

BOBBY

“This was an incredible experience. I

met some of the most wonderful

people and created relationships that

will last a lifetime. I was in awe of the

spirit of empowerment and how it can

impact an entire community.”

SHERRI

SHERRI

“The people of Nyargia are

remarkably resourceful and grateful

for everything that they have. They

appreciate friends and family above

all else. They gave us a heart-

warming welcome and treated us as

special guests. Ever since returning

from Ghana, I wake each morning

and spend a moment being grateful

for at least one thing in my life. The

impact of the trip to Ghana will have

ripple effects for the rest of my life.”

PATRICIA

“The trip was incredibly meaning full to me. People keep saying to me,

‘life changing experience.’ Yes it was, but that does not truly capture how

I have changed and how connected I feel to the people of Nyariga and

all the people of Africa. Seeing first hand the amazing difference the BBP

has had on the village and meeting some of the people whose lives have

opened up because of the prosperity BBP has brought helped me truly

understand the great change WFM can make. Staying overnight with a

family and spending a day with them was wonderful. I got a small sense

of what their daily life is like and I feel very close to the women of the

family.

The trip has affected me greatly. I am strongly encouraging TMs to apply

to the program because seeing makes such a difference. I want to

volunteer again! Thank you for the incredible experience!”

2014 GHANA WFM TMVP IMPACT

11 TEAM MEMBERS

2 VILLAGE CHIEFS MET

1 BATHROOM BUILT FOR A

GIRL’S SCHOOL

6 LUNCH AND LEARNS WITH COMMUNITY

LEADERS

6 FAMILIES ASSISTED WITH DAILY CHORES

20 GIRLS TAUGHT

COMPUTER

44 MICROCREDIT CLIENTS MET

1 GRADUATION & 1 BATHROOM

DEDICATION