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Begin New Search Political Geography Ghana Publication Year within 5 Years

1. Local feminist perspectives as transformation levers for greater gender equality: synthesis study

Author:
Jacqueline Götze, Stephan Klingebiel, and Maryam Khalid
Publication Date:
01-2025
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)
Abstract:
The significance of gender equality needs to be spotlighted since women and LGBTQIA* communities are prone to become victims of violence and have limited participation in political and decision-making processes. The approaches of feminist development policies and feminist foreign policies have been criticised for their potential inapplicability to diverse contexts and for perpetuating paternalistic or neo-colonial behaviours. The global rise of right-wing policies has influenced politics, prompting researchers on feminist policies to critically examine their limitations and the ways they have been institutionalised. The present study builds on the expertise, knowledge and experiences of partners from Ghana, India and Ukraine. It introduces local feminist perspectives as levers for transformative change for greater gender equality that can produce context-specific alternative approaches to development processes by addressing prevailing norms and practices, and thereby enhance access to resources and improve the political participation of women, girls and members of the LGBTQIA* communities. This synthesis study identifies common themes, challenges and opportunities across the three case studies prepared by the partner organisations through a combination of deductive and inductive processes. We have developed a matrix of 13 criteria, which can be categorised into five thematic clusters that include: intersectionality, special characteristics of local feminisms and gender (in)equalities, multi-directional flow of norms, challenges and opportunities for gender-transformative change, and future of gender-transformative policies. Key findings reveal persistent barriers faced by local feminist perspectives in influencing policy, decision-making and gender norms due to limited possibilities and restricted opportunities.
Topic:
Feminism, LGBT+, Decision-Making, and Gender Equality
Political Geography:
Ukraine, India, and Ghana

2. Feminists’ perspectives as transformative levers in Ghana

Author:
Fidelia N. A. Ohemeng, Deda Ogum, Deborah Tayo Akakpo, and Dorcas Coker-Appiah
Publication Date:
01-2025
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)
Abstract:
Ghana is a multi-party, multi-ethnic and multi-religious state, with a dominant influence of socio-cultural norms and practices that impact negatively on women in their everyday lives. Most Ghanaians are subject to customary law which discriminates against women, even though Ghana practises legal pluralism. The overall aim of the study is to explore and analyse contemporary feminist perspectives and organising in Ghana to demonstrate how they can be used as levers for transformative change for greater equality and sustainable development. This was a cross-sectional and fully qualitative study involving 35 feminists and women’s rights advocates between the ages of 37 and 80+ years, with the majority (n=25) having over 20 years of experience and relevant postgraduate degrees. Data collection, analysis and conceptualisation were guided by the gender-transformative approach and the gender at work frameworks. Our findings show that gender inequity occurs in both formal and informal spaces. Strongly held socio-cultural norms emanating from patriarchy influence women’s daily lives, and the decisions made within sub-national and national legislature. Feminist strategies span general awareness creation, through lobbying, writing and reviewing of content for policies and laws, increasing the visibility of bills to picketing to ensure the passage and implementation of applicable laws or policies. Participants consider their strategies successful despite challenges such as backlash, burnout, and the lack of funding for their activities.
Topic:
Civil Society, Education, Feminism, Sustainable Development, Gender Equality, and Customary Law
Political Geography:
Africa and Ghana

3. Ghana’s Pathway to AI Governance and Its Implications for Africa

Author:
Thompson Gyedu Kwarkye
Publication Date:
04-2025
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI)
Abstract:
Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming various sectors, offering the opportunity for economic growth and societal progress in Africa. However, it poses several risks that may disproportionately impact the continent. African countries are developing governance frameworks to navigate these concerns. Ghana’s 10-year National Artificial Intelligence Strategy emphasizes innovation, talent development and addressing AI-related risks through ethical and regulatory frameworks. It integrates several ethical dimensions to provide a test case for others on the continent. African governments must adopt a more human-centric governance approach, invest in local talent and foster inclusive AI development to avoid technological dependency while mitigating AI risks and maximizing its benefits. The dominance of AI by major technology companies highlights disparities between the more prosperous and resource-poor African countries. Bridging these gaps is crucial to ensuring that Africa can influence the future trajectory of AI development.
Topic:
Development, Governance, Economic Growth, and Artificial Intelligence
Political Geography:
Africa and Ghana

4. Ethnic Conflicts in Ghana: Colonial Legacy and Elite Mobilisation

Author:
Beenish Ayub
Publication Date:
01-2025
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Rest: Journal of Politics and Development
Institution:
Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (CESRAN)
Abstract:
This research paper examines the relationship between ethnic conflicts in Africa and their roots in the colonial legacy and elite mobilisation, focusing on the case study of Ghana by taking into account the regions of Dagbon and Bawku as examples. It examines how the dynamics of ethnic tensions in the post-colonial age have been influenced by the colonial past of Africa, which was marked by arbitrary borders, dividing policies, and preferential treatment of particular ethnic groups. The paper also looks into how Ghana’s political elites use ethnic tensions for personal advantage, escalating disputes and impeding national unity. This study intends to provide a thorough knowledge of the complex interaction between colonial legacies, elite mobilisation, and ethnic conflicts in Ghana and Africa by analysing historical documents, academic writings, and empirical data.
Topic:
Ethnic Conflict, Elites, Mobilization, and Post-Colonial
Political Geography:
Africa and Ghana

5. The Complexities of Transnational Childcare Practices among Ghanaian Families in a Context of Global Pandemic

Author:
Patricia Serwaa Afrifa
Publication Date:
03-2024
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Ìrìnkèrindò: a Journal of African Migration
Abstract:
Childcare remains central in all human societies. This is because it is in children that humans invest their immortality and ensure the continuity of humanity. This partly explains the social collectivism that is brought to bear in childcare to the extent that in some indigenous African societies, the popular axiom is: "It takes a village to raise to raise a child". While the forces of modernity, neoliberalism, and the near-collapse of the extended family system across the world, including indigenous societies, have negatively impacted collective childcare, parents continue to devise creative strategies to nurture their children. The members of the Ghanaian diaspora in the United States of America (USA) often extended invitations to older members of their families, including their mothers, to join them across the Atlantic to help with nurturing their children. This practice of transnational migration of child carers was very efficient in helping children to access Ghanaian cultural values and languages, until the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. With the outbreak of the pandemic, one way of controlling its totalizing effect was the imposition of social distance protocols, which at the peak of the pandemic involved a global ban on all means of human crisscrossing the world. This implied that most diasporic Ghanaians had their family-dependent source of childcare supply significantly cut. This phenomenon inspired the paper. Through in-depth interviews with selected Ghanaian families in the USA through social media and phones, this paper explores the impact of the ban on transnational travel on childcare practices among Ghanaian diaspora in the USA. The key findings of the study suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic did not only cripple the economies of the world, it also blocked the alternatives available to Ghanaians to receive an additional source of care for their children.
Topic:
Diaspora, Family, COVID-19, Strategy, Migrants, and Child Care
Political Geography:
Africa and Ghana

6. Climate-related losses and damages to social cohesion are overlooked

Author:
Lily Salloum Lindegaard and Francis Jarawura
Publication Date:
06-2024
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
Abstract:
Climate change and related impacts – like forced migration and displacement – affect the social cohesion that is crucial for communities to function and thrive. Yet blind spots and misconceptions may misdirect response efforts.
Topic:
Climate Change, Displacement, Social Cohesion, and Forced Migration
Political Geography:
Africa, Ghana, and Niger

7. What role for Chinese FDI in Africa? New survey evidence from Ethiopia and Ghana

Author:
Charles Ackah, Alemayehu Geda, Holger Görg, and Federico Merchan
Publication Date:
04-2024
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW)
Abstract:
Foreign investments bring in not only new employment but also novel technology, managerial skill and know-how, that may also dissipate into the local economy. It is not clear whether this effect differs by the nationality of source countries, in particular between Chinese and non-Chinese firms. Based on a firm level survey on Ethiopia and Ghana, we found that all types of firms are engaged in limited R&D and innovation activity and their transfer to host countris in both countries. There is little difference between Chinese and non-Chinese foreign firms in such technology and managerial skill transfer once controlling for firm size and industry characteristics in the majority of metrices (R&D activities, horizontal & vertical spillover, directly adopting techniques). However, we found for Ghana that Chinese firms have more suppliers but are less likely to transfer technology to them. Chinese firms are more likely to transfer managerial skills than non-Chinese firms in Ghana though not in Ethiopia. Also, there is little evidence that foreign firms transfer technology via horizontal or backward spillovers in either countries. Finally, Chinese firms are much more likely to receive host country policy support than other foreign firms in Ghana but not in Ethiopia.
Topic:
Science and Technology, Foreign Direct Investment, Economy, and Technological Transfer
Political Geography:
Africa, China, Ethiopia, and Ghana

8. Assessing the Fiscal Regime in Ghana’s Lithium Agreement

Author:
Thomas Scurfield and Denis Gyeyir
Publication Date:
07-2024
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Natural Resource Governance Institute
Abstract:
NRGI modeling indicates that the Ghanaian government has negotiated a government take for the country’s first lithium mine that is higher than Ghana’s legislated fiscal regime and the regimes of many other current and imminent lithium hard rock producers, such as Australia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe. Modeling suggests an average effective tax rate (government revenues as a share of mine profits) of 58 percent (excluding paid state equity). Seventy percent of these government revenues depend on the profits that mine leaseholder Barari DV Ghana reports. To limit the risk of revenue shortfalls, the agreement should define the process for pricing the lithium, limit the deductibility of interest from taxable income, ensure state equity is non-dilutable and establish rules in the shareholders’ agreement about dividend payments. Given that modeling indicates an after-tax internal rate of return for investors in the Ewoyaa mine of around 102 percent (after debt financing), the government may be able to negotiate an even higher take in future deals for similarly profitable mines. A variable rate royalty could help achieve this higher take. To increase the prospects for a lithium refinery in Ghana—the government’s other key objective—the government should ensure Barari conducts a rigorous feasibility study, publish it and then hold a multistakeholder consultation to agree on subsequent actions.
Topic:
Tax Systems, Fiscal Policy, Lithium, Revenue Management, and Minerals
Political Geography:
Africa and Ghana

9. Proposals for Reducing the Size and Cost of Running Government

Author:
Kojo P. Asante and David Asante Darko
Publication Date:
01-2024
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Ghana Center for Democratic Development
Abstract:
This paper explores the prospect of saving the country much-needed revenue by reducing the number of ministries and ministers in government and exactly how this may be achieved. It is an uncomfortable fact that the current sovereign debt crisis in Ghana, the worst in the country since the year 2000, has visited severe economic hardship on the cizens. For 18 months beginning June, 2021, year-on-year rates of inflaon in the country have risen consistently, going from 40.4% in October, 2022, to 50.3% in November, 2022, and finally to 54.1% for December, 2022, according to the Ghana Stascal Service. This has highlighted the urgency of prudent management and fiscal discipline by the country's economic managers. In a situaon where the country's access to capital markets are closed, expenditure cuts are inevitable and the government must lead by example.
Topic:
Government, Reform, Public Spending, and Debt Crisis
Political Geography:
Africa and Ghana

10. Assessing Community Sensitivity to Cross-Border Security in Ghana

Author:
Mawusi Yaw Dumenu, Newton Yaw Norviewu, Balaarah Abdulai, and Nana Kwabena Aborampah Mensah
Publication Date:
03-2023
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Ghana Center for Democratic Development
Abstract:
Strengthening the integrity of Ghana’s borders is essential for the welfare of the nation and its people. National efforts to prevent illegal cross-border activities, including illicit goods, persons and activities require full involvement of all Ghanaians, especially those living in border areas. This has become even more important considering the regional insecurity posed by terrorist groups and violent extremists. It is therefore imperative that residents be sensitized to potential threats associated with irregular cross-border activities that have a potential to facilitate activities of criminal gangs such as terrorists and violent extremist groups. Furthermore, as violent extremism and terrorist activities have become more prevalent in the West African sub-region it is crucial that these threats are considered when examining the functionality of Ghana’s border security. In an effort to improve awareness among border communities, the Center initiated the project entitled “Enhancing citizen participation in border security”. As part of the project strategies, a baseline survey was conducted within selected border communities to assess the level of awareness regarding border-related threats and gather information on the relationship between border residents and security agencies. The baseline survey was intended to inform the direction and interventions of the broader project. Both border residents and staff of some security agencies were interviewed in each of the 10 regions within where Ghana’s land borders are located. The findings of this survey are contained in this report.
Topic:
Security, Development, Terrorism, Borders, Smuggling, and Survey
Political Geography:
Africa and Ghana