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Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) operations have surged in Ghana in recent years causing many environmental and social problems. The government has employed the military to eradicate illegal mining operations. However, despite the military's countless efforts to clamp down on these illegal miners, it appears their involvement is not yielding the expected outcome. Several forms of collaboration and collusion are reported in the literature to have taken place between the illegal miners and the local stakeholders. However, little attention is given to how the interaction between the various stakeholders in the ASM sector can help remedy the galamsey menace. Drawing on the collaborative stakeholder participation perspective in natural resource governance and a qualitative research approach, this paper looks at the small-scale mining sector conundrum and how collaborative stakeholder engagement can contribute to transcending the problem. Results show that the collaboration between the stakeholders seldom involved key community actors like the chiefs and landlords in granting small-scale mining licences. We call for strong collaboration between the stakeholders as a good step to fighting illegal mining activities in Ghana. The study contributes to knowledge on enhancing collaborative mineral resource governance in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is a global shortage of midwives, whose services are essential to meet the healthcare needs of pregnant women and newborns. Evidence suggests that if enough midwives, trained and regulated to global standards, were deployed worldwide, maternal, and perinatal mortality would decline significantly. Health workforce planning estimates the number of midwives needed to achieve population coverage of midwifery interventions. However, to provide a valid measure of midwifery care coverage, an indicator must consider not only the raw number of midwives, but also their scope and competency. The tasks midwives are authorized to deliver and their competency to perform essential skills and behaviors provide crucial information for understanding the availability of safe, high-quality midwifery services. Without reliable estimates for an adequate midwifery workforce, progress toward ending preventable maternal and perinatal mortality will continue to be uneven. The International Labor Organization (ILO) and the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) suggest standards for midwifery scope of practice and competencies. This paper compares national midwifery regulations, scope, and competencies in three countries to the ILO and ICM standards to validate measures of midwife density. We also assess midwives' self-reported skills/behaviors from the ICM competencies and their acquisition. Methods and findings: We compared midwives' scope of practice in Argentina, Ghana, and India to the ILO Tasks and ICM Essential Competencies for Midwifery Practice. We compared midwives self-reported skills/behaviors with the ICM Competencies. Univariate and bivariate analysis was conducted to describe the association between midwives' skills and selected characteristics. National scopes of practice matched two ILO tasks in Argentina, four in India, and all in Ghana. National standards partially reflected ICM skills in Categories 2, 3, and 4 (pre-pregnancy and antenatal care; care during labor and birth; and ongoing care of women and newborns, respectively) in Argentina (range 11% to 67%), mostly in India (range 74% to 100%) and completely in Ghana (100% match). 1,266 midwives surveyed reported considerable variation in competency for skills and behaviors across ICM Category 2, 3, and 4. Most midwives reported matching skills and behaviors around labor and childbirth (Category 2). Higher proportions of midwives reported gaining basic skills through in-service training and on-job-experience than in pre-service training. Conclusion: Estimating the density of midwives needed for an adequate midwifery workforce capable of providing effective population coverage is predicated on a valid numerator. A reliable and valid count of midwives to meet population needs assumes that each midwife counted has the authority to exercise the same behaviors and reflects the ability to perform them with comparable competency. Our results demonstrate variation in midwifery scopes of practice and self-reported competencies in comparison to global standards that pose a threat to the reliability and validity of the numerator in measures of midwife density, and suggest the potential for expanded authorization and improved education and training to meet global reference standards for midwifery practice has not been fully realized. Although the universally recognized standard, this study demonstrates that the complex, composite descriptions of skills and behaviors in the ICM competencies make them difficult to use as benchmark measures with any precision, as they are not defined or structured to serve as valid measures for assessing workforce competency. A simplified, content-validated measurement system is needed to facilitate evaluation of the competency of the midwifery workforce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) have both an educational and professional function. Although employer engagement is necessary to execute the latter function effectively, employer engagement remains a problem for most TVET institutions. This research investigates employer engagement in upper secondary TVET schools in Ghana. The analysis of this paper is based on existing employer engagement literature and empirical data collected through semi-structured interviews with three employers, two headmasters and two policymakers. The analysis reveals two key themes: 'Not engaging with Upper Secondary TVET Schools', which discusses how some multinational food and consumer products manufacturing industries did not engage with upper secondary TVET schools, and 'Engaging with Upper Secondary TVET Schools', which discusses seven identified employer engagement activities. Overall, the findings are worrying and, if not rectified, will render upper secondary TVET school learners disadvantaged in advanced technical, technological and employability skills desirable in the labour market. To rectify these concerns, the Government of Ghana should establish and implement a robust national employer engagement-oriented education framework. Second, there is an urgent need for further empirical qualitative and quantitative research in Ghana to inform the design and implementation of a national employer engagement in education framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To explore the experiences of health professionals and families concerning supporting low‐birth weight (LBW) infants along the continuum of care (CoC) in Ghana with the goal to unveil new strategies to improve the quality of neonatal care. Design: A constructivist grounded theory. Method: Simultaneous data collection and analysis among health professionals alongside families with LBW infants from September 2020 to April 2021. The study used constructivist grounded theory strategies for data collection and analysis. Results: The analysis of 25 interviews resulted in a theoretical model describing 10 themes along the CoC for LBW infants, categorized into health and family systems drivers. In this paper, we focus on the latter. Early bonding and family involvement were empowering. Mothers needed assistance in balancing hope and confidence which enabled them to render special care to their LBW infants. Providing mothers with financial and domestic support as well as creating awareness on newborn health in communities were important. Conclusion: To achieve family involvement, a coordinated CoC must entail key players and be culturally inclusive. It must be applied at all levels in the CoC process in a non‐linear faction. This can help LBW infants to thrive and to reach their full developmental potential. Impact The theoretical model developed shows the importance of family involvement through family systems care for a comprehensive response in addressing needs of health professionals and families with LBW infants and bridging the fragmentations in the neonatal CoC in Ghana. Context‐tailored research on family systems care in the neonatal period is necessary to achieve a quality CoC for LBW infants and their families. Patient or Public Contribution: Caregivers and providers participated by granting in‐depth interviews. Care providers further contributed through their feedback on preliminary findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an interface between health and education, comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) offers a potent tool among other interventions to accelerate healthy transition of adolescents into adulthood. With increasing interest in in-school CSE provision/delivery, young people in out-of-school contexts may be left behind. This study forms part of implementation research to understand if the activities used to train and support the facilitators are feasible, appropriate, acceptable, and effective in enabling them to engage a defined group of young people, deliver CSE to them in the out-of-school context, and assist them in obtaining relevant services. This paper presents findings of mapping of out-of-school CSE interventions in Ghana, ongoing or completed between 2015 and 2020, and then discusses a needs assessment of two purposively selected groups of vulnerable out-of-school youth: young people living with HIV and AIDS (YPLHIV) and those living in detention (YPiD). We conducted 10 interviews with YPLHIV and three focus group discussions with YPiD in November 2020. Qualitative data were analysed thematically using both deductive and inductive approaches. The mapping yielded 29 interventions (18/62% were ongoing) focused extensively on the delivery of CSE-related knowledge and information; none were aimed at building facilitators' capacity and most targeted the northern regions. Among YPLHIV, living positively after diagnosis, disclosure skills and use of HIV/AIDS health services were critical. YpID sought clarification on personal hygiene, consent in sexual relationships, medium/channel to deliver CSE, and issues around same-sex sexual intercourse. Both groups sought skills in dealing with stigmatisation and discrimination. Implications of the findings for our own and other interventions are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mother tongue-based education has been central to the promotion of early literacy skills in many multilingual contexts of the Global South. However, learners in such environments may face significant linguistic challenges when changing language of instruction during schooling. In particular, the linguistic distance between mother tongue and official language may be a significant barrier to learners. This paper provides an empirical approach to this issue by employing language matching based on linguistic distance between languages to explore changes in literacy scores for learners who change language of instruction. Findings show that the greater the linguistic distance between two languages, the larger the loss in foundational literacy. We conclude that language matching could be introduced as a tool to identify at-risk learners during transitions and, if possible, as a tool for linguistic allocation of students who have the possibility of selecting between schools with different languages for instruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although Ghana is lauded for its National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), concerns exist about the scheme's functioning and sustainability. An often-cited issue—contributing to the scheme's decreasing membership, long-standing financial deficit, and frequent out-of-pocket payments among members—is the large benefits package (BP). While, on paper, the BP covers over 95% of the conditions occurring in Ghana, its design was not informed by any budget analysis, nor any systematic prioritization of interventions. This paper aims to provide evidence-based input into ongoing discussions regarding a review of the NHIS benefits package. Methods: An existing analytic framework is used to calculate net health benefit (NHB) for a range of interventions in order to assess their cost-effectiveness and enable the prioritization of 'best buys'. The framework is expanded upon by incorporating concerns for financial protection, and practical feasibility, as well as the political economy challenges of disinvesting in currently funded activities. Five different options for the benefits package, each based on policy discourse in Ghana's health sector, are presented and evaluated. Results: Implementing all interventions for which data was available to 100% of the population in need was estimated to cost GH₵4323 million (US$994 million), while the available NHIS budget was only GH₵970 million (US$223 million). Options for the benefits package that focussed on cost-effectiveness and primary care provision achieved the best health outcomes, while options reflecting the status quo and allowing for co-payments included a higher number of healthcare interventions. Apart from the package option focussing on primary care, all packages were faced with physician shortages. Conclusions: Current funding to the NHIS is insufficient to provide the historical benefits package, which promises to cover over 95% of disease conditions occurring in Ghana, to the total population. Shifting the NHIS focus from intervention coverage to population coverage is likely to lead to better health outcomes. A primary care package may be most feasible in the short-term, though additional physicians should be trained to provide higher-level care that is highly cost-effective, such as emergency neonatal care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is primarily based on collections in Tanzania and Ghana in 1990-1991 and 1991-1994, respectively. In all, 46 species of Chimarra were collected, 31 of them new species. All these species are illustrated or re-illustrated and described in the paper. Additionally, five species from Africa from collections in Illinois and Minnesota, four of them new, are included. This provided the incentive to review the species of Chimarra from the African subregion and assign the majority of them to species groups and subgroups. In the process, several species were synonymized. In all 147 valid species are recognized, of which 51 are treated in this paper. Two major species groups are recognized for Africa, the marginata Group and the georgensis Group. The former is based on the type species for the genus; this is the first formal characterization of this group, as distinct from other species groups in the subgenus. Mainland African species in the marginata Group mostly fall into four large species-diverse subgroups, but a number of smaller subgroups are also recognized. Membership in these subgroups is specified for the majority of African species and characters defining the subgroups informally discussed. The georgensis Group includes a single Asian species and nine previously described African species. They are assigned to two subgroups, one newly recognized in this paper. Several additional species were considered unassigned to subgroup within the georgensis Group. The majority of the new species described in this paper belong to the georgensis Group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large body of work on consensual unions suggests a unitary household conception of consensual unions either as a precursor or an alternative to marriage. Another set of literature, though quite scanty, reveals gender differences in experiences in consensual unions. This paper adds to the argument that attitudes towards intimate relationships and marriage can be gendered. As a result, one partner may hope for the conversion of a consensual union to marriage whilst the other would not. The paper interrogates the ways in which the socio-cultural context of Ghana influences the gendered attitudes towards consensual unions as a form of intimate partnership and creates a sense of 'commitment phobia' particularly for men. To do this, thirty-one people with varying ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds were purposively sampled. In-depth interviews were conducted separately for the individual partners. The paper concludes that contrary to the unitary household conception of consensual unions, there is a gendered conceptualisation of these unions where women are more likely to think of consensual unions as a precursor to marriage while men think of it as an alternative to marriage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper analysed the motives behind farmers' savings with Rural and Community Banks (RCBs) and the effect of these savings on rice yield in the Hohoe Municipality of the Volta region of Ghana. Design/methodology/approach: A multi-stage sampling approach was used to draw a random sample of 222 rice farmers, and a structured questionnaire was employed to collect cross-sectional data. A Likert scale was used to rank the motive behind farmers' savings while the endogenous switching regression model was used to estimate the effect of savings on rice yield. Findings: The results of the study showed that most farmers mobilise savings to enhance farm investment which is critical to increasing rice productivity. Improved labour and fertiliser use had a positive influence on rice yield, while farm size had an inverse relation with rice yield. Further, the findings show that savings with RCBs help mobilise the necessary finance to enhance rice productivity. In terms of the treatment effect of savings, the results indicate that farmers who patronise saving products of RCBs recorded a statistically significant average yield of 1.41 Mt/ha more than those not patronising saving products from any bank. Practical implications: While the literature on agricultural finance focuses largely on credit, this study demonstrates that savings hold significant benefits for the development of agriculture through productivity gains. The importance of this demonstration is further shown by the fact that credit access depends on the ability to save in most developing countries. Social implications: There is a need to educate farmers about the essence of patronising formal savings products. Originality/value: This study represents the first attempt at linking farmers' savings to agricultural productivity using an econometric methodology in Ghana. The study serves as a foundation paper and for that matter will serve as a guide to future research on savings mobilisation and agricultural productivity nexus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to examine the determinants of rural dwellers financial literacy in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach: A cross-sectional primary data set was used to estimate the factors influencing rural farm households' financial literacy using the IV-Tobit model. Findings: The findings reveal that most rural residents are financially illiterate. The econometrics model results depicted that respondents' socioeconomic and demographic characteristics such as gender, income, age and education significantly affect financial literacy. Again, respondents who are risk seekers and listen or watch education programs are more likely to be financially literate. Research limitations/implications: The paper examined the determinants of rural dwellers financial literacy in four regions in Ghana. Future research should consider all or many regions for an informed generalization of findings. Practical implications: This paper provides evidence that rural dwellers are financially illiterate and it would require the policymakers or non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to establish a village or community group that comprises a wide range of bankers and government officials to help rural dwellers acquire some financial skills. Also, the positive relationship between media (whether respondent watches or listens to educational programs) and financial literacy implies that policymakers should focus on improving individuals' financial knowledge through training programs and utilize the media as a channel to propagate financial education to the public. Originality/value: Although previous studies have examined the determinants of financial literacy, little is known in developing countries and, in particular, rural communities. The authors fill this gap by contributing to the scanty existing literature in developing countries in several ways. First, this is the first study to examine the financial literacy level of rural dwellers in Ghana. Second, to not undermine the credibility of the estimation results, this study addresses the potential endogeneity issue, which other researchers have not adequately recognized. Finally, the study expands the scant literature on the subject and provides critical policy implications that will help policymakers formulate financial market policies that will contribute to rural dwellers financial literacy enhancement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's progressive assumption as a major actor on the African scene needs critical academic attention and examination. Although there are undoubtedly varied benefits, there are also concerns about whether China's win-win rhetoric is sincere or just empty propaganda. This paper contributes to the debate by examining the relationship between China and Africa through the lens of neo-colonialism. In this regard, the paper examines China's involvement in the textiles and mining industries of Ghana as a case study to argue whether the partnership between China and Africa is one that actually promotes development or engenders a new trend of neo-colonialism. Since this research focuses on areas such as partnership (i.e., between Ghana and China) and illegal mining with its effects, it intersects four of the SDGs (clean water and sanitation [SDG 6]; sustainable cities and communities [SDG 11]; life below water [SDG 14]; and partnership for the goals [SDG 17]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper finds out whether the Margin of Appreciation can accommodate children's engagement in work in the field of human rights in rural and urban Ghana drawing on the experiences and perceptions of 60 participants. Qualitative exploratory study was undertaken using semi-structured interviews with parents of children who both were and were not involved in child work (10), and stakeholders, including government officials and NGO representatives (10); focus groups (30); and participant observation techniques (10) in order to gather the needed data. The average age of participants was 31 years. Participants were purposively sampled across rural areas (Ankaase, Anwiankwanta and Kensere), and urban areas (Jamestown, Korle Gonno and Chorkor). Interviews were recorded, and transcribed, using a framework approach as the main data analysis method. The paper argues that there is the need to understand diversity in the field of human rights and accommodate the best interests of the child to local contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how social media affects general voting patterns. Unlike previous studies investigating whether citizens' use of social media affects political participation, this paper considers the connections that social media users have with political activists on social media, and how this connectedness influences general voting patterns, using data from Ghana. With contemporary theoretical perspectives and exploratory techniques, trends from past literature are presented, from a social media-based propagated survey with 420 valid responses. Structural equation modeling was used to test the conceptual model, which demonstrates that the connectedness with political and social media activists is significant and positively influences modifications in voting patterns. Online political participation and political affect also present an effect on voting patterns. The relationship between connections with social media political activists and online political participation is significant, as indicated by a strong covariance observed in the model. The results of the multigroup analysis also indicate some cultural and social issues to shape the phenomena for further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Major past floods that have resulted in huge losses to households along the Black and White Volta Basins have raised the question of whether they were consequences of climate change or direct anthropogenic activities. This paper therefore examines the physical and human contexts of fluvial floods in rural Central Gonja District of Ghana using the mixed-methods technique. Mann Kendall test was employed to show rainfall trends from 1980 to 2016 supplemented with household surveys and in-depth interviews. The primary data were analysed using IBM SPSS (Version 21) as well as thematic analytical framework. There was no evidence to show that past floods in the district was climate change induced. Results however indicated that floods in Central Gonja District have been the results of a mix of factors including the perennial opening of the Bagre Dam in Neighbouring Burkina Faso, floodplain intrusion and the generally flat topography. The paper thus recommends as a short-term measure an effective collaboration between relevant institutions in Ghana and their counterparts in Burkina Faso for ensuring effective management and use of the shared water resources of the Black and White Volta. An effective flood risk communication, supported by early warning signals is critical in reducing flood disaster losses. In the long-term, however, a relocation of these communities away from the river banks with the support of the District Assembly and other stakeholders will be a welcome alternative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dominant food security literature that reports on children's experiences of food insecurity rely on adult/parent proxies. Nevertheless, studies have shown that adult narrations of children's experiences might not always accurately reflect children's experiences. Furthermore, other studies have also shown that in many cases, children are the best reporters of their experiences. Against this background, this paper sets out to explore, from school children's own perspectives, their lived experiences of food insecurity in school under the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP). This research is important because the latest round of austerity programmes in Ghana has compelled the service providers of the GSFP to resort to several coping strategies (such as rationing services, compromising the quality and quantity of meals served, and occasionally skipping service delivery) which can have significant effects on children's nutrition. Findings from group discussions and one‐on‐one semi‐structured interviews with 21 primary school children aged 8 to 15 highlight school children's experiences of food insecurity. By exploring children's experiences of food insecurity in school, this paper presents evidence that shows that research about children's experiences can and should be based on children's accounts and not adult proxies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the wake of the recently emerged COVID-19 pandemic, legislatures were regarded as one of the important government institutions that can help cushion nations against the economic and social disruptions inflicted by the health crises, given the important roles they play in policymaking within political systems. This paper examines the roles played by Ghana's legislative institution in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper further explores some of the challenges to legislative activities during the height of the pandemic. From a content analysis of a variety of literature drawn from Parliamentary Proceedings, online journal articles, official documents, and news from credible media outlets, we found that Ghana's legislative institution was crucial to the country's management of the pandemic as they played important roles such as passing COVID-19 related laws, financial oversight, and providing a check on Executive actions. The main challenge to Parliamentary activities was the demand for rapid legislation, which weakened Parliamentary oversight and scrutiny functions. The study makes some recommendations to strengthen legislative responses to future pandemics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article engages with a global migration-development agenda that aims to harness the development potential of remittances by incorporating remittance flows and households into global finance. Drawing upon 10 months of fieldwork research with remittance recipients in Ghana and Senegal, this paper shows that any attempts to financialise and channel remittances away from so-called 'informal' financial circuits face differentiated forms of contestation, namely reluctance, refusal, and dissent. To explain how and why variegated financial practices and subjectivities – that differ from the neoliberal self-disciplined subject – emerge and endure, the paper draws together analyses on everyday financialisation with discussions on the central role of 'informal' finance and the concept of relational value in processes of social reproduction and strategies of future-making. In doing so, it contributes to a growing body of work that aims to decentre research on everyday financialisation beyond Anglo-American economies, and the Global North more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The slow pace of fertility decline in Africa relative to other parts of the world has important implications for the region's economic development. Modern contraceptive use is seen as important population control and family planning strategy by governments worldwide. This paper examines the socioeconomic determinants of modern contraceptive use and choice among Ghanaian men and women. Methods: We use the most recent and nationally representative Ghana Demographic and Health Survey conducted in 2014. The analysis is observational, with no causal implications. Bivariate and multivariate methods are used to analyse the data. We first use logistic regression to explore the correlates of modern contraceptive use among Ghanaian men and women. Second, we explore the socioeconomic factors influencing the choice of modern contraceptive methods among contraceptive users using multinomial logistic regression. We classify the modern methods of contraception into three groups: long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARC), short-acting contraceptives (SAC), and permanent contraceptives. Results: Marital status proves to be the most significant predictor for both men and women, with women in monogamous unions having a greater propensity to use modern methods of contraception (OR = 1.4, p < 0.00). We also find that different factors affect the use and choice of modern methods of contraception among men and women in Ghana. Muslim men had a higher likelihood than Catholics to choose the permanent (sterilisation) method (OR = 11.9, p < 0.05), while their female counterparts were 0.25 times less likely to choose sterilisation over SAC (p < 0.05). Moreover, women who ever tested for HIV had higher use of LAC than the SAC ((RRR = 1.6, p < 0.01). The modern contraceptive users (women) with at most basic education were more likely than those with tertiary education to choose LAC over SAC. Finally, rural women with health insurance were 0.75 times (p < 0.01) less likely to use modern methods of contraception. Conclusions: The paper reiterates the need to intensify and sustain public health education on the health benefits of using modern methods of contraception among the adult population. The paper suggests that including family planning services on Ghana's national health insurance benefits package is commendable. It can promote modern contraceptive use and curtail unwarranted population growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examined lifelong education and learning trajectories and issues of policy, ideology and practice that have underpinned the implementation of adult literacy and adult learning education strategies within a lifelong learning perspective in Ghana. Using documentary analysis, the paper noted that although the concept of lifelong education/learning has been used in some national development documents and educational policies, Ghana has no national policy on lifelong learning. The paper found that multilateral and bilateral organisations have influenced the direction and strategies captured in the national development documents and educational policies. The paper found that recommendations from International Conferences on Adult Education have often had very little influence on these national policy texts. For Ghana to be able to provide opportunities for lifelong learning for all there is the need for a vision of lifelong learning that is situated in the present and looks into the future. Ghana must work towards building a culture of lifelong learning. Policymakers need to understand that lifelong learning cannot be achieved when there are no clear-cut policies on adult literacy and adult learning and education, which are all critical components of lifelong learning. The learning needs of the youth and adults have to be given recognition in national development documents and educational policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, LGBT issues have received substantial media attention and engendered heated public debate in Ghana. This paper analyzes the prejudiced construction of LGBT issues in the Ghanaian news media and how this contributes to a discriminatory discourse that demeans LGBT people and puts them at the periphery of Ghanaian society. The study employs a critical discourse analysis framework and a dataset of 385 articles, comprising news reports, op-ed pieces, and editorials. The analysis reveals that news content on LGBT issues is biased and inflammatory, and it frames LGBT people as expendables and undesirables. This is realized by exploiting three discourses, or forms of othering, that culminate into the (re)production and naturalization of moral panic: a discourse of amorality/immorality and societal destruction, a discourse of alienization, and a discourse of medicalization or pathologization. The paper concludes with a call for a more balanced and ethically/socially responsible news reporting, especially since LGBT issues in Ghana hold implications for national cohesion and security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Faecal sludge (FS) management is pertinent to the achievement of sustainable development goal 6.2 around the world; yet it is constrained by urbanisation challenges, waste management complexities, and defective attitudes. These deny communities of the plausible supply of resources from FS. This paper assesses the perception underpinning the occurrence of nonfaecal matter in FS in Ghana. Primary data were obtained from 400 respondents in four communities in Brong Ahafo and Greater Accra Regions of Ghana, using a structured questionnaire. Data were analysed by using STATA software version 15. Chi-square test and multiple logistic regression were conducted on all independent variables and statistical significance was accepted at p < 0.05. The study identified the following as the most perceived frequently disposed nonfaecal matter into FS: sanitary pads and diapers (38.5%), fabrics/rags (23.2%), toilet rolls (20.8%), razor/shaving sticks (10.3%), and others (7.2%). Gender, state of toilet facility (roof or unroofed), presence of container for collecting other types of waste in the toilet room, and state of container in toilet room either covered or uncovered were the factors found to be significantly associated with the disposal of solid waste (SW) into FS at 95% confidence level. The fear of exposing used sanitary materials for rituals, the use of fabric as an alternative to toilet rolls, and the desire to conceal aborted pregnancies from the public were some of the reasons alluded to the disposal acts. Education and awareness campaigns on proper SW disposal practices, appropriate use of toilet facilities, and the resource potentials of FS were found to be the best way forward to discourage indiscriminate disposal of SW into FS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In Ghana district directors of health services and district hospital medical superintendents provide leadership and management within district health systems. A healthy relationship among these managers is dependent on the clarity of formal and informal rules governing their routine duties. These rules translate into the power structures within which district health managers operate. However, detailed nuanced studies of power sources among district health managers are scarce. This paper explores how, why and from where district health directors and medical superintendents derive power in their routine functions. Methods: A multiple case study was conducted in three districts; Bongo, Kintampo North and Juaboso. In each case study site, a cross-sectional design was used to explore the research question. Purposive sampling technique was used to select study sites and 61 participants for interview and focus group discussion. A total of 11 interviews (3 in each district and 2 with deputy regional directors), and 9 focus group discussions (3 in each district) were conducted. Transcriptions of the voice-recordings were done verbatim, cleaned and imported into the Nvivo version 11 software for analysis using the inductive content analysis approach. Results: The findings revealed that legitimacy provides formal power source for district health managers since they are formally appointed by the Director General of the Ghana Health Service after going through the appointment processes. These appointments serve as the primary power source for district health managers based on the existing legal and policy framework of the Ghana Health Service. Additionally, resource control especially finances and medical dominance are major informal sources of power that district health managers often employ for the management and administration of their functional areas in the health districts. Conclusions: The study concludes that district health managers derive powers primarily from their positions within the hierarchical structure (legitimacy) of the district health system. Secondary sources of power stems from resource control (medical dominance and financial dominance), and these power sources inform the way district health managers relate to each other. This paper recommends that district health managers are oriented to understand the power dynamics in the district health system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of sexuality, especially queer sexuality, has occupied a historically marginal position within political economy. Where feminist scholars have addressed the topic, they have typically done so through the lens of women's sexual labour and social reproduction and/or by framing sexual orientation and gender identity as a variable through which patterns of differentiation may occur. Most critical political economy ignores sexuality entirely. As a result, matters of queer oppression and resistance have not been systematically investigated or theorised. This paper addresses this gap by fusing together insights from the emergent 'queering IPE' literature with two other strands of scholarship that integrate queer concerns into the study of global capitalism: the 'globalisation' and 'state-centric' frames. Based on this, I propose a theoretical framework for understanding queer struggle and apply this to the analysis of LGBTI politics and activism in Ghana. The paper argues that queer oppression and resistance are important topics of inquiry in and of themselves in political economy. At the same time, a broader ontological shift is required to recognise the constitutive role of sexuality within political economic phenomena, which has potentially far-reaching implications for future research agendas within and beyond the study of queer politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The centrality of examinations to the understanding of competences and abilities of examinees across the globe cannot be overemphasised. The paper focused on exploring the criteria used in setting the English language component of the Mature Students' Entrance Examination questions in Ghana. The qualitative design (specifically, multiple case study design) was employed for the paper. Using the multi-stage sampling technique, five Ghanaian universities were used for the paper. The data was elicited from in-depth interviews applied on the lecturers who set the English language component of the MSEE questions. [1] data analysis spiral plan was employed to analyse the data. The paper revealed that there were major weaknesses in the criteria used by the universities in areas such as training of the assessors, use of standard assessment models and consideration of test takers' characteristics. The paper advanced, to policy makers, suggestions such as the adoption of standard assessment models and the training of the assessors for the improvement of the examination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper examines how one group of frontline health workers (nurses) amid coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic perceive the Government of Ghana (GOG)'s decision to ease the lockdown restrictions when cases were increasing. This paper contributes to the literature on Igor Grossman's concept of wise reasoning and its applicability to COVID-19 management decision-making by political leaders. Design/methodology/approach: The paper employed an exploratory qualitative design. The decision to adopt qualitative method is linked to the paucity of research on wise reasoning, political leadership and COVID-19. The paper draws on qualitative online survey with 42 nurses located in Accra Metropolis, Ghana. Findings: The paper demonstrates that a confluence of research participants perceived the government's act of easing the lockdown restrictions to be in bad faith on account of (1) nonrecognition of different perspectives and viewpoints from stakeholders and interest groups; (2) rising number of cases which naturally make the decision to lift the restriction unwise; (3) concerns about the prioritization of peripheral issues over citizens' health and (4) concerns about limited and robust health facilities and their implications. Research limitations/implications: The key claims must be assessed against the limitations of the study. First, the study is an exploratory study and, therefore, not intended for a generalization purpose. Second, the research participants are highly educated, and the responses in this study are skewed toward them. Originality/value: The paper is novel in seeking to explore wise reasoning and political leadership during a global pandemic such as COVID-19. This exploratory study demonstrates that COVID-19, though devastating and causing havoc, presents an opportunity to test Igor Grossmann's wise reasoning framework about decision-making by political leaders. This extends the literature on wise reasoning beyond the discipline of psychology (the fact that all the authors are geographers) and Global North to Global South since the data for this study are gathered in Ghana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the power relations and institutional arrangements that shape Ghana's artisanal small-scale gold mining industry. Using the Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Area in the Eastern region as a case, the paper relies on in-depth interviews of key informants including officials of relevant local government institutions, members of the traditional authority and selected small-scale miners, to gather evidence of socio-political relationships and power dynamics. The study also adopted focus group discussions; transect walks and field observations to explore the perceived breaches by small-scale mine operators and how these are influenced by power relationships at national and local levels. The study finds complex power relationships that make artisanal small-scale mining (ASM) unsustainable. Innovative and participatory interventions have been proposed to ensure the effective enforcement of existing mining and environmental protection policies and laws. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study sought to analyze the efficiency and productivity of pineapple farmers in the Akwapim-South District of Ghana. The paper employs the stochastic translog distance function technique to analyze the influence of inputs on outputs whilst highlighting the technical efficiency and its determinants of the pineapple farmers. A total of 135 respondents were randomly selected using the multi-stage sampling technique. The results reveal that all the input variables (fertilizer, labour, cost of pineapple suckers and intermediate cost) are significant and have a positive influence on the productivity of pineapple production. The shadow share of other crops is estimated to be negative relative to the production of pineapple in the output mix. The mean technical efficiency score is found to be 85%. This implies that pineapple farmers in the Akwapim-South District have the potential to increase their output level by 15% using the current technology available to them. The results further indicate that age, number of extension visits, education and FBO (farmer-based organization) membership significantly and positively affect the technical efficiency of pineapple farmers. The paper recommends that government policies should ensure inputs are available to farmers at subsidized prices. Furthermore, regular education of extension agents and properly structured extension and FBO service delivery systems should be put in place to enhance the productivity of farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Ready acceptance of experiences of new diagnoses among HIV-positive persons is a known personal and public health safety-net. Its beneficial effects include prompt commencement and sustenance of HIV-positive treatment and care, better management of transmission risk, and disclosure of the HIV-positive status to significant others. Yet, no known study has explored this topic in Ghana; despite Ghana's generalised HIV/AIDS infection rate. Existing studies have illuminated the effects of such reactions on affected significant others; not the infected.Methods: This paper studied qualitatively the experiences of new diagnoses among 26 persons living with HIV/AIDS. Sample selection was random, from two hospitals in a district in Ghana heavily affected by HIV/AIDS. The paper applied the Hopelessness Theory of Depression.Results: As expected, the vast majority of respondents experienced the new diagnoses of their HIV-positive infection with a myriad of negative psychosocial reactions, including thoughts of committing suicide. Yet, few of them received the news with resignation. For the vast majority of respondents, having comorbidities from AIDS prior to the diagnosis primarily shaped their initial reactions to their diagnosis. The respondents' transitioning to self-acceptance of their HIV-positive status was mostly facilitated by receiving counselling from healthcare workers.Conclusions: Although the new HIV-positive diagnosis was immobilising to most respondents, the trauma faded, paving the way for beneficial public health actions. The results imply the critical need for continuous education on HIV/AIDS by public health advocates, using mass media, particularly, TV. Healthcare workers in VCTs should empathise with persons who experience new diagnoses of their HIV-positive status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context and background The role of customary land tenure institutions in land governance is immeasurable. Notwithstanding the enormous role of customary land tenure institutions in local land governance, they are fraught with problems. The governability of customary land tenure institutions is critical to good local land governance, however, the literature has mainly focused on examining the role and capacity of customary land tenure institutions with little attention to good local land governance indicators. Goal and Objectives: The goal of this paper is to assess the governability of the Odupongkpehe customary land tenure institution in the Awutu Senya East Municipal area of Ghana. The objectives of this paper are to examine the quality and capacity of the Odupongkpehe customary land tenure institution. Methodology: The study was conducted in the Awutu Senya Municipal area of Ghana. The concurrent mixed methods design was used for the study. Data was collected from 178 landowners, and key officials in customary and statutory land governance. Data was collected from 10th February to 24th February 2019. Semi-structured interview schedules used for data collection in this study was developed and pretested on 14th January 2019. Results: The results evinced that the governability of the customary land tenure institutions was poor due to the failure of institutions to interact with the populace in the customary area. Furthermore, the customary institution did not have the capacity to govern since it was constrained by inadequate staff and logistics and did not collaborate with public land sector agencies. The study recommends the formulation and implementation of a Customary Land Secretariat policy to guide the activities of customary land governance structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, although there have been steady increases in the number of women in politics, widespread gender inequalities persist. This is particularly pervasive in patriarchal societies where gender norms and practices are deeply entrenched, with socio-cultural barriers often cited as some of the key impediments to women's search for political power. There have, therefore, been calls to remove such barriers for effective participation. Unfortunately, some events that occurred before Ghana's 2020 election discourage, rather than encourage, women's participation in governance. With data from articles, headlines and comments from various online media outlets, this paper examines three events that reinforce what may be called 'a bloody widow discourse' in Ghana's politics. Using Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis, the paper shows how traditional norms and expectations associated with widowhood can be perceived as barriers to women's (and not men's) quest for political power, thereby sustaining the unequal gender and power relations in politics. The use of allusion, rhetorical questions and presuppositions further perpetuate a 'blame-the-widow' discourse which makes the women appear unworthy of the power they seek. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gold mining industry is a major contributor to the economy of Ghana. However, this contribution has been declining over the past decade. This decline coupled with the importance of the industry to the country's economy necessitated the need to analyse the performance of companies within the industry. Therefore, a cost performance analysis of Ghana's major gold mines was done in this paper for the period 2007 to 2016 using industry cost curves. A correlation coefficient analysis was also done to identify the key cost drivers in Ghana. This paper further analysed the cost competitiveness of Ghana's gold mining industry against other gold producing countries in the world. From the analysis, it was found that Newmont's Ahafo and Akyem mines were consistent low unit cost producers. Both mines benefited from economies of scale and high metallurgical recovery rates. On the other hand, AngloGold Ashanti's Obuasi and Golden Star's Bogoso mines were found to be consistent high unit cost producers due to low-productive and labour-intensive underground mining methods used and very low metallurgical recovery rates, respectively. Finally, the study revealed that Ghana's gold mining industry was not cost competitive when compared to other gold-producing countries over the analysis period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although traditional markets and women traders in West African cities have long attracted the attention of scholars, limited studies exist on women's experiences of crime and safety issues in this economic space that they dominate. This paper contributes to the growing geographical scholarship on gender and crime from the Ghanaian perspective as a result of the increasing urbanisation process that has raised concerns about crime and safety among urban dwellers. Using in‐depth interviews, the paper explores the experiences of three categories of Ghanaian women traders in a traditional urban market, Makola, in Accra, Ghana's capital city. Theft cases appeared to be the most common criminal activity that women traders experience and this results in significant economic, social, psychological, and emotional effects on the lives of the women, with the most vulnerable being those who do not have enough resources to secure their livelihoods. We recommend that city authorities, the police, and other stakeholders support the efforts of these women traders through gender‐sensitive and equitable approaches to improve security in market spaces because market trade contributes significantly to city and national socio‐economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effect of national health insurance on the choice of healthcare facility among diabetic and hypertensive patients in Ghana. The data for this paper came from a secondary source, and the conditional mixed processing approach was utilised to investigate the influence of health insurance status on healthcare facility choice among diabetic and hypertension patients. The study reveals that when compared with uninsured individuals suffering from hypertension/diabetes, insured individuals are more likely to attend formal healthcare facilities and herbal clinics/hospitals and less likely to attend traditional/spiritual healing centres instead of chemical shop/self-care. This work addresses the problem of unobserved heterogeneity (selection bias) by employing the conditional mixed processing approach to account for the potential that health insurance is endogenous to the choice of healthcare facility, which if not accounted for might lead to biased estimates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, Parliaments are democratic representation institutions responsible for law making, oversight over the executive, financial controls, and representation. There is ample evidence that Members of Parliament (MPs) in Africa are providing clientelistic services to constituents. This paper seeks to unearth the implications of the involvement of MPs in the provision of clientelistic goods and services on the effective performance of the MP's traditional functions. The paper used data collected from 80 Members of the 6th Parliament of Ghana, in 2016 to draw its conclusions. The incidence of Political clientelism among MPs manifest in two dimensions: Providing individual constituent's particular services and providing constituency-wide services. Political Clientelism prevents MPs from effectively performing their traditional roles. Educating the electorate on the traditional role of the MP, and improving the policy making capacity of political parties to engage citizens on policy issues, can help change the culture of political clientelism among MPs and citizens in Ghana and Africa as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper has investigated the shocks effects of inflation, money supply, and exchange rate on the economies of the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) from 1987 to 2019 using the Kapetanios-Shin-Snell nonlinear cointegration test, Kilian-Vigfusson asymmetric tests, and Hatemi technique that allows the estimation of Asymmetric Structural Vector Autoregressive (ASVAR) model. The findings revealed that in all the countries, the shocks effects of inflation, money supply, and exchange rate are asymmetric except in Guinea and inflation in Liberia. Furthermore, for Gambia and Nigeria, only money supply is impacting the economies, while for Ghana, Guinea, and Liberia, none of the variables is impacting the economies but for Serra Leone, money supply and exchange rate are impacting its economy. Moreover, all the countries have common sources of shocks emanating from monetary and exchange rate policies except Gambia, which is monetary policy only. Therefore, the paper recommends the members, especially Ghana, Guinea, and Liberia, a solemn effort on appropriate monetary and exchange rate policies to boost their economies. Also, since almost all the countries have common sources of shocks emanating from monetary and exchange rate policies, they can embark into the monetary integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to test and examine the interrelationships amongst customer satisfaction, customer service, innovation, and competitive pricing in the laundry industry in Ghana using the covariance approach of Structural Equation Modeling. Quantitative research design was adopted for this study. The data set used to meet this paper's main objectives was collected using face to face meeting of laundry customers and requesting them to fill out a 1–5 point Likert scale questionnaire. The results demonstrate the mediating effects and moderating effects that customer service, competitive pricing, and innovation has on customer satisfaction in the laundry service industry in Ghana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was commissioned to investigate the level of risk and Barriers associated with mobile money transactions in Ghana. It seeked to assess the level of risk perception among mobile money users and merchants. In addition to the above, the paper examined behaviour and attitudes exhibited by customers and merchants during mobile money transactions. This was to help in ascertaining whether or not both parties are being susceptible to high risk or not. The empirical evidence showed that, mobile money transactions have become the most popular and preferred method of sending and receiving payments in Africa since the vast majority of the Continent’s population are rural dwellers with Ghana not being an exception. The population for the study was customers and merchants of the MTN brand of mobile money from which five hundred and fifty (550) respondents were sampled for the study. The methodology used was quantitative where primary data was sort through administration of questionnaire within the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis. The paper discovered a higher-level patronage of mobile money among respondents. It emerged that, there were eminent risks associated with mobile money operations although the growth prospects appeared to be greater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is twofold: to explore the factors influencing the emergence and growth of informal e-waste activities and to examine workers' motivation for involvement in informal e-waste activities. Semi-structured interviews and observations among actors in the recently established Dagomba-Line e-waste site in Kumasi, Ghana were employed to gather relevant data. Emergence and growth of e-waste activities are largely influenced by spatial, political, socio-cultural and economic factors. The reuse and open disposal of e-waste are the common practices due to the cost of transportation to a final disposal site. Similar to findings at the well-established Agbogbloshie e-waste site, also in Ghana, scavengers are found at the bottom of the e-waste financial ladder. The major motivating factor for engaging in e-waste handling is poverty. Additionally, some respondents mentioned the lucrative nature of the activity, landlessness, and peer influence as a motivation. The results showed that younger workers (below 35 years) were more likely to be engaged in the activity for reasons of peer influence and poverty and major source of livelihood. The paper recommends that policy and planning should reflect ways of delivering and creating stable socio-economic conditions that promote an inclusive and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study estimates the potential implications of the implementation of African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement for Ghana in terms of trade, welfare and revenue effects. By applying the WITS‐SMART simulation model on 2018 disaggregated international trade data, the paper finds that total trade effects in Ghana are likely to surge by US$ 148.3 million while promoting consumers' welfare by US$ 8.597 million. However, revenue losses are imminent as the country might experience a drop in tariff revenue of US$ 8.604 million. Overall, the free trade area is expected to improve on the country's trade balance as exports are envisaged to outweigh imports. In order to mitigate the revenue losses, the paper recommends that the country keep substantial portion of tariff lines for sensitive and excluded products over a longer period during the liberalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This paper reports on results of a health system strengthening implementation research initiative conducted the Upper East Region of northern Ghana. Transformative interventions to accelerate and strengthen the health delivery were implemented that included empowering community leaders and members to actively participate in health delivery, strengthening the referral systems through the provision of community transport systems, providing basic medical equipment to community clinics, and improving the skills of critical health staff through training. Methods: A mixed method design was used to evaluate the impact of the interventions. A quantitative evaluation employed a flexible research design to test the effects of various component activities of the project. To assess impact, a pre-versus–post randomized cluster survey design was used. Qualitative research was conducted with focus group data and individual in depth interviews to gauge the views of various stakeholders associated with the implementation process. Results: After intervention, significant improvements in key maternal and child health indicators such as antenatal and postnatal care coverage were observed and increases in the proportion of deliveries occurring in health facilities and assisted by skilled health personnel relative to pre-intervention conditions. There was also increased uptake of oral rehydration salts (ORS) for treatment of childhood diarrhoea, as well as marked reductions in the incidence of upper respiratory infections (URI). Conclusions: A pre-and post-evaluation of impact suggests that the programme had a strong positive impact on the functioning of primary health care. Findings are consistent with the proposition that the coverage and content of the Ghana Community-based Health Planning and Services programme was improved by program interventions and induced discernable changes in key indicators of health system performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature on urban transport in Ghana focus exclusively on the state of buses, drivers and transport unions, much to the neglect of a group of workers referred to as "shadow men." Their function is to help fill these buses with passengers. This paper explores the activities of these shadow men, their origin, and their contributions to the growth of urban transport. The researchers selected a total of 47 respondents for the study. The researchers conducted interviews with the Head of Department of Urban Transport of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly and the Head of Ghana Private Road Transport Union, and then purposely selected 25 of these shadow men, 4 trotro drivers, 6 trotro mates, and 10 passengers in Kumasi, Ghana's second largest city. In addition to these interviews, the researchers held two focus group discussions that involved drivers and drivers' mates (conductors) in one group, and passengers in another group. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. The research found that there are two broad categories of shadow men: those engaged in it as a full-time business, and out-of-work drivers and drivers' mates who rely on it for income until they have a new bus to work with. The findings also underscore the lucrative nature of the work and the city authorities' indifference to the shadow men. Shadow men are essential to the urban transport sector in Ghana and should therefore be given considerable attention by academics, and included in the plans of city authorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing on the urban identity of South African cities, this paper considers the merit of adopting "genre knowledges" to understand how violence shapes urban sustainability. Genre and the metaphor of unconscious "muscle memories" allow scholars, urban planners, and development practitioners to understand violence in sociohistorical and situated ways, as a systemic impediment to urban sustainability. South African residents and state actors have themselves internalized genre knowledges of violence that develop through common norms and implicate individual and collective entities. Specific instances of violence reveal how, once incarnated, genres of violence live on through muscle memories, like a phantom limb. However, genre knowledges and their physical evocations are not path-dependent: by genuinely reckoning with violence as situated cognition, and understanding its sociohistorical drivers, new practices can emerge. To realize urban sustainability in South African cities, one must engage violence as a defining genre of urban life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the governance of labour standards in the less-studied yet rapidly globalising Ghanaian construction sector. While incorporation into international production networks generates several opportunities for workers, the drivers of adverse incorporation originate at multiple levels of analysis. The study offers an investigation into such drivers and their interconnections. Design/methodology/approach: The authors utilise a multi-scalar framework and mixed methods of analysis. Both the qualitative and multi-level quantitative analyses rely on a primary dataset collected among 30 firms and 304 respondents, through semi-structured interviews. Findings: A composite yet unbalanced labour standards governance configuration emerges, where the absence of social governance combined with a weak role of the State leaves labour standards subject to the variegated landscape of firms' embeddedness in the sector. Originality/value: The construction industry is acquiring ever-increasing relevance in the economic trajectory of Ghana as well as that of several other African economies, not least for its large employment generation potential. Research on the governance of labour standards in the sector is, however, largely missing. The authors argue that labour incorporation dynamics represent a complex under-investigated regulatory challenge as well as a policy-making priority. The analysis is one of the first to offer a reconstruction of the governance landscape determining the challenges workers face in the Ghanaian construction sector, from both a qualitative and quantitative perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reexamines African socialism, the Ghanaian political economy under Kwame Nkrumah (1957–1966), Nkrumah's intellectual genealogical heritage, and African intellectual history as a genre that transcends the bounds of the Atlantic world. First, I sketch the lives of Black Marxists—Nkrumah, C.L.R. James, George Padmore, and Bankole Awoonor-Renner—from Africa and the Americas, to the Soviet Union, to England and Ghana, to rethink Black bodies not merely as theorists of racial and decolonial questions but also as sites, carriers, and manipulators of political-economic theories. In constructing connected and overlapping histories, I demonstrate how controversial and contested Soviet ideas became key sites of interrogation among global Black Marxists. By reframing travel as an intellectual process, I reconceptualize the movements of Black Marxists to the USSR, the United States, England, and Ghana as critical intellectual and historical processes in their understandings of Lenin's state capitalist ideas. Second, I revisit the Ghanaian political economy under Nkrumah to argue that combining socialist and capitalist development paths was not a contradictory Marxian policy but was embedded within Black Marxist understandings of Lenin's state capitalist ideas. In so doing, I argue that we must situate African political ideologies not solely within a romanticized Afrocentric origin but as ideas that emerge out of contemporaneous global political and ideological struggles. I draw on global Black Marxists' correspondence; newspaper and magazine articles; British and American espionage files; and Ghanaian, American, and British state and inter-state departmental documents in imperial, colonial, and postcolonial British, Ghanaian, American, and Russian archives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food and economic security in West Africa rely heavily on rainfed agriculture and are threatened by climate change and demographic growth. Accurate rainfall information is therefore crucial to tackling these challenges. Particularly, information about the occurrence and length of droughts as well as the onset date of the rainy season is essential for agricultural planning. However, existing rainfall models fail to accurately represent the highly variable and sparsely monitored West African rainfall patterns. In this paper, we show the potential of deep learning (DL) to model rainfall in the region and propose a methodology to develop DL models in data-scarce areas. We built two DL models for satellite rainfall (rain/no-rain) detection over northern Ghana from Meteosat TIR data based on standard DL architectures: Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and convolutional long short-term memory neural networks (ConvLSTM). The Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission (IMERG) and Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Imagery Using an Artificial Neural Network Cloud Classification System (PERSIANN-CCS) products are used as benchmarks. We use rain gauge data from the Trans-African Hydro-Meteorological Observatory (TAHMO) for model development and performance evaluation. We show that our models compare well against existing products despite being considerably simpler, developed with a small training dataset—i.e., 8 stations covering 2.5 years with 20.4% of the data missing—and using TIR data alone. Concretely, our models consistently outperform PERSIANN-CCS for rain/no-rain detection at a sub-daily timescale. While IMERG is the overall best performer, the DL models perform better in the second half of the rainy season despite their simplicity (i.e., up to 120 k parameters). Our results suggest that DL-based regional models are a promising alternative to state-of-the-art global products for providing regional rainfall information, especially in meteorologically complex regions such as the (sub)tropics, which are poorly covered by ground-based rainfall observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting female learning otherwise known as Girl Child Education continues to engage the attention of policy makers and practitioners in education and development generally; a situation greatly shaped by the myriad of obstacles militating against girl child education. In the current study, we probed the influence of CAMFED's girl child education support scheme on school enrollment, retention and progression. We applied a reflexive evaluation approach anchored on a concurrent mixed methods research design in the study. Using a multistage sampling procedure, selected respondents were administered a combination of semi-structured questionnaires and in-depth interviews. We analyzed our data using multiple regression and descriptive statistics, supported by content analysis. The findings show that school enrollment and progression of the girl child increased substantially after the introduction of CAMFED's intervention. However, gender-based perceptions continue to stifle girl child education, in spite of the behavior change component of the intervention scheme. The paper concludes that policy interventions should address the sociocultural bottlenecks inhibiting the education of the girl child if the gains made so far must be sustained. Going forward, studies could focus on measurement of performance as a function of girl child education support schemes beyond the basic level of education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper ascertains whether young internal migrants are prone to poverty and livelihood insecurity and become victims of exploitative employment when compared to the non-migrant youth population in Ghana. This study employs econometrics analysis using the Ghana Living Standards Survey 6 (2012) and 7 (2017), with a sample size of 15,000 households, and ethnographic interviews to assess the determinants of livelihood security, exploitation, and abuse. Our analysis focuses on youth in four administrative regions in Ghana with the highest number of internal migrants. The study found that young internal migrants are often engaged in unstable, noncontract, abusive, and exploitative employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The topic of occupational health and safety (OHS) has been investigated for many years and continues to be a concept often researched today. Generally speaking, OHS research has been centered around food safety, construction safety, transportation safety, fire safety, drug and alcohol testing, health and medical management, and industrial hygiene, to name a few. However, the concept of OHS concerning female commercial sex workers (FCSWs) has rarely been investigated, often neglected, seldom discussed, and is lacking in sound research. Although regarded as the "oldest profession", commercial sex work (CSW) has consistently been ignored, disregarded, and under-researched due to the illegality and stigmatization of prostitution. This paper reviews occupational safety and health issues faced by FCSWs in Tema and Accra, Ghana, through in-depth interviews, visits to women's homes, fieldwork, informal conversations, and observations with FCSWs during the summer of May 2012–July 2012. Facets of OHS that emerged among FCSWs included: sexually transmissible infections, risks associated with harassment and violence from police and clients, alcohol and drug use, irregular hospital visits or lack of hospital visits, immigration issues, legal hazards, and working conditions. We argue that CSW be viewed as an occupation in great need of interventions to reduce workplace risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]