A major stakeholder forum that will tackle longstanding barriers faced by Ghana’s informal sector, particularly market women and smallholder farmers, will take place next week in Kumasi.

The event, to be held at Golden Bean Hotel, No. 19 Harper Road, Nhyiaeso on Thursday, August 7, will be hosted by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) in partnership with STAR Ghana Foundation.

The forum will convene a wide range of stakeholders, including representatives from financial and insurance institutions, the National Insurance Commission, trader associations, women in agriculture, civil society organizations, policymakers, and the media.

Participants will explore innovative models for extending credit, improving financial literacy, and creating more inclusive insurance products.

According to recent baseline research conducted in the Ashanti and Northern Regions, many informal workers still face significant barriers to accessing credit, financial literacy training, and basic insurance. The research revealed that women in agriculture and market trading—who make up a significant portion of the informal workforce—are among the most underserved.

“This event is an opportunity for stakeholders to respond directly to the lived realities of informal workers,” said Prisca Ansah, Project Lead at CSJ. “We want financial institutions and policymakers to rethink how they engage with this vital segment of our economy.”

The event, part of CSJ’s ongoing AVID II initiative titled “Bridging the Gap: Financial Accessibility and Social Protection for Informal Sector Traders and Farmers in Ghana”, is backed by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and aims to drive actionable change in how financial and social protection services reach the informal economy.

Organizers are encouraging financial and insurance providers, credit unions, and development organizations in and around Kumasi to attend.

This Kumasi event on August 7, is the first of three strategic dialogues. A second Dialogue will be held in Tamale, followed by a national Grand Policy Dialogue in Accra, where insights from both regional events will be presented to policymakers, regulators, and national-level institutions. These aim to shape forward-looking, people-centered reforms in Ghana’s financial and social protection landscape.