Sirigu Craft Village / SWOPA

SWOPA — the Sirigu Women's Organisation for Pottery and Art — is a women's craft cooperative and community tourism centre in Sirigu, a farming town in the Kassena Nankana West District of Ghana's Upper East Region. It sits about 36 km north of Bolgatanga, the regional capital, and roughly 800 km from Accra. The district capital is Paga.

The organisation was founded in 1997 by the educationist Melanie Kasise to revive and market the traditional arts of Sirigu women, at a time when many young women were leaving the community for work. It began with 54 women and has grown to more than 350–400 trained women working across basketry, pottery, mat weaving, canvas painting, batik and tie-dye, and wall design.

For a visitor, the appeal is the chance to see those traditions as living work rather than display pieces. Sirigu is known for decorated mud architecture and geometric wall paintings in red, black and white strokes, with motifs that carry meaning — a bird with a human head, a cow for wealth, a fish for a happy home, and a basket for mutual care.

The complex includes a visitor centre, a gallery, a workshop and a guesthouse or ecolodge, where visitors can see and buy functional pottery and baskets, join workshops, and stay overnight. A restaurant is listed under the SWOPA ecolodge name, and eco-friendly lodges with Ghanaian meals have been noted. Contact is listed for Madame Bridget, with the email [email protected], the website swopa.org, and phone numbers +233 202436446 and +233 205880712.

SWOPA was adjudged the best tourist site in the Upper East Region by the Ghana Tourism Authority in 2019, received an EU communications award in 2015, and hosted then-UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2002/2004. Opening hours, admission fees and precise coordinates are not confirmed in the available sources, so visitors should check ahead.