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121. When Voicelessness Meets Speechlessness – Struggling for Equity in Chinese-Ghanaian Employment Relations

Author:
Karsten Giese and Alena Thiel
Publication Date:
05-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
In this article Chinese-Ghanaian employment relations are analyzed using the concepts of foreignness, the psychological contract, equity, and cross-cultural communication. Based on a qualitative study conducted in Accra, Ghana, we discuss the labor market in general and introduce the conditions under which Chinese sojourners operate their family trade businesses in the city. After discussing the phenomenon of Ghanaian employment within Chinese trade companies from a theoretical perspective, we explain how Chinese employers' and Ghanaian employees' culturally based perceptions of employment relations are contradictory and prone to conflict. We then show how, under the condition of the employers' foreignness, Ghanaian employees perceive their psychological contracts as being violated and Chinese employers regard the equity of exchange relations as distorted. We discuss how Ghanaian employees cope with this situation by means of voice, silence, retreat or destruction, while Chinese employers, who lack both sufficient language skills and effective sanctions, choose to endure perceived distortions of equity and in some cases ultimately terminate employment relations when inadequate cross-cultural communication results in a failure to mediate conflicts.
Topic:
Industrial Policy, International Trade and Finance, Labor Issues, and Foreign Direct Investment
Political Geography:
Africa, China, and Ghana

122. CARE and Cargill: An Innovative NGO-Private Sector Partnership to Fight Global Poverty

Publication Date:
06-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
Abstract:
Formed in 2008, the Rural Development Initiative is a five-year, $10 million partnership between CARE, a prominent humanitarian organization, and Cargill, an international producer and marketer of food, agricultural, financial, and industrial products and services. CARE partners with Cargill employees in local communities and along the company's supply chains to improve crop yields, access to markets, and incomes for farmers; enhance the attendance and quality of education programs; and increase access to health care, nutritional programs, and safe drinking water in rural communities. With projects in Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Egypt, India, Honduras, Guatemala, and Brazil, the CARE-Cargill partnership seeks to help 100,000 people lift themselves out of poverty by 2013. Through the Rural Development Initiative, CARE and Cargill leverage their respective strengths to improve livelihoods, while at the same time improving Cargill's competitive advantage and fulfilling CARE's mandate.
Topic:
Agriculture, Economics, Humanitarian Aid, and Markets
Political Geography:
India, Brazil, Egypt, Honduras, Guatemala, and Ghana

123. The Effects of Socioeconomic Status and Health Insurance on the Demand for Prenatal and Postnatal Health Care in Ghana

Publication Date:
11-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
African Economic Research Consortium (AERC)
Abstract:
Ghana is committed to achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDG) 4 and 5, which aim to reduce child and maternal deaths by 2015. This commitment is manifested in the way prenatal and postnatal health care services are being made accessible to women of reproductive age. Prenatal care refers to the medical and nursing care recommended for women before and during pregnancy. Postnatal care is an essential part of safe motherhood. The access to and use of prenatal and postnatal health care services are crucial for improved maternal-child survival. Ill health of women and children can arise due to the under utilization of prenatal and postnatal health care services.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Health, Poverty, Health Care Policy, Children, Millennium Development Goals, and Infants
Political Geography:
Africa and Ghana

124. Africa's Quest for Food Security: What is the Role of Urban Agriculture?

Author:
G. Arku, V. Kuuire, P. Mkandawire, and N. Aguda
Publication Date:
01-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF)
Abstract:
The history of urban agriculture in Africa dates to the colonial era when farming flourished in urban areas, largely to meet consumption needs of bureaucrats, settlers, and other elites. Today, urban agriculture is becoming increasingly significant as a source of household food, a trend that is closely linked to declining incomes of vulnerable urban households in the wake of neoliberal economic restructuring, high rates of urbanisation, and the need to serve an emerging niche market in African cities. Urban agriculture is generally viewed as a potentially viable policy response to the complex challenge of feeding a burgeoning mass of urban residents amidst decline in food production in rural areas. Also, recent concern regarding climate change and the need to reduce the environmental footprint that comes from transporting food over long distances has given impetus to the need for urban agriculture. The aforementioned notwithstanding, the balance of evidence from existing literature on urban agriculture indicates that the practice faces varying degrees of opposition from urban authorities and policy-makers, who generally underestimate its actual value and contribution to urban povertyandfood insecurity. The apparent lack of political will necessary to promote African urban agriculture over the years is reflected in weak or absent policy frameworks over the years, resulting in an enormous capacity deficit. Policy makers and planners need systematic information for planning and managing capacity development centered on urban agriculture. Such a focus on urban agriculture will unlock its potential to address the growing urbandemandfor foodandto alleviate urban poverty.
Topic:
Agriculture, Food Security, Livelihoods, and Urban Agriculture
Political Geography:
Africa, Ghana, and Malawi

125. Employment Choice And Mobility In Multisector Labor Markets

Author:
Olumide Taiwo
Publication Date:
11-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa (CSEA)
Abstract:
This paper examines employment choice and occupational mobility using data from Ghana in a model that incorporates capital market failure, credit constrained individuals and draw self-employment capital from family asset.
Topic:
Economics, Employment, Mobility, and Labor Market
Political Geography:
Africa and Ghana

126. A Case Study from Ghana: Understanding the Links between Sexual and Reproductive Health, Gender Equality and Poverty Reduction

Author:
Akosua K. Darkwah
Publication Date:
01-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Institute for the Study of International Development, McGill University (ISID)
Abstract:
Ghana is an interesting case study for this project for two reasons. First, it has an anomalous reproductive health profile. The country has the lowest Total Fertility Rate (TFR) in West Africa and one of the lowest in the sub-region. As at 2008, the TFR for the country was 4.0, for urban areas it was 3.1 and for the Greater Accra area, the most urbanized part of the country, it was 2.5 (GDHS 2008). This is a quite rapid decline from a TFR of 6.4 children per woman as at 1988. Even more interesting is the fact that the Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR) stood at a low 24% in 2008. Some scholars such as Grey and Blanc (2002) argue that abortion rates help explain the gap between the CPR one should expect given the low TFR and what actually pertains as measured by the GDHS. Abortion in Ghana, however, inspite of a liberal law, accounts for between 13% (Sedgh 2010) and 25% (Baiden 2009) of maternal mortality cases in the country. In other words, in Ghana if the assertions of Grey and Blanc (2002) are valid, a low TFR has been achieved at the peril of women’s lives, quite contrary to what one would expect if reproductive health concerns were addressed systematically in the country. Second, the country exhibits quite some discord between its policies and its practices. Over the years, Ghana has been influenced and positively impacted by the global regimes in first Family Planning and later Reproductive Health. It joined the UN system of Population Censuses in 1960 and was an African Pioneer in the development of official Population Policy. It has an illustrious son, Fred Sai who is well known in international circles for his work on Reproductive Health. Fred Sai was the president of the International Planned Parenthood Association during the International Conference on Population Development (ICPD) held in Cairo in 1994 at which the conceptual shift from a narrow emphasis on family planning to the much broader notion of Reproductive Health was made. As president of such a key institution, he was instrumental in the processes that led to this effort and worked tirelessly to ensure that the Ghanaian State in its policies and practices reflected the conceptual shifts from Population Control to Reproductive Health. Two years after ICPD, the Ghanaian Reproductive Health Service Policy and Standards were developed and revised in 2003 to incorporate sexual health and gender based violence.
Topic:
Development, Gender Issues, Poverty, and Reproductive Health
Political Geography:
Africa and Ghana

127. Achieving a Shared Goal: Free universal health care in Ghana

Publication Date:
03-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Coverage of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has been hugely exaggerated, and could be as low as 18% Every Ghanaian citizen pays for the NHIS through VAT, but as many as 82% remain excluded Twice as many rich people are signed up to the NHIS as poor people. 64% of the rich are registered compared with just 29% of the poorest Those excluded from the NHIS still pay user fees in the cash and carry system. Twenty five years after fees for health were introduced by the World Bank, they are still excluding millions of citizens from the health care they need An estimated 36% of health spending is wasted due to inefficiencies and poor investment. Moving away from a health insurance administration alone could save US$83 million each year. Enough to pay for 23,000 more nurses Through savings, good quality aid but primarily improved progressive taxation of Ghana's own resources, especially oil, the government could afford to increase spending on health by 200%, to US$54 per capita, by 2015 This would mean the government could deliver on its own promise to make health care free for all – not just the lucky few at the expense of the many.
Topic:
Health, Human Welfare, and Health Care Policy
Political Geography:
Africa and Ghana

128. Engaging in productive sector development: Comparisons between Mozambique and Ghana

Author:
Lars Buur and Lindsay Whitfield
Publication Date:
10-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
Abstract:
Through a comparison of sector cases in Mozambique and Ghana, the paper analyzes why and how African states engage in developing productive sectors and with what success. It argues that successful state interventions depend on four factors: (1) sustained political support by the government leadership; (2) the existence of an embedded and mediating bureaucracy; (3) changing the 'rules of the game' which govern the distribution of economic benefits and resources; and (4) the organisation of industry actors and institutionalised interaction between industry actors and state actors.
Topic:
Economics and Industrial Policy
Political Geography:
Africa and Ghana

129. Chinese Commodity Imports in Ghana and Senegal: Demystifying Chinese Business Strength in Urban West Africa

Author:
Laurence Marfaing and Alena Thiel
Publication Date:
11-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
Since the beginning of the twenty‐first century, Africa has seen the arrival of a new form of Chinese migration. Largely independent from big Chinese players, these “new entrepreneurial migrants” come to Africa not as workers in the highly prestigious state projects, but rather to follow their own economic interests. Engaging in business activities as diverse as petty manufacturing, printing, pharmaceutical and medical services, restaurants, beauty salons and last but not least, general trade, these independent Chinese migrants are often acknowledged for bringing affordable new commercial services and goods to low‐income households on the African continent. On the other hand, the high visibility of the Chinese entrepreneurial activities has also sparked anti‐Chinese sentiments among many African entrepreneurs.
Topic:
Economics, Imperialism, International Trade and Finance, and Markets
Political Geography:
Africa, China, and Ghana

130. Perceptions of (Micro)Insurance in Southern Ghana: The Role of Information and Peer Effects

Author:
Lena Giesbert and Susan Steiner
Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
This article investigates the understandings and perceptions of (micro)insurance among low income people in southern Ghana, using evidence from four focus group discussions. It analyzes how the focus group participants think about various types of insurance – among them a micro life insurance product – and how their negative and/or positive evaluations have come about. The evidence indicates that (micro)insurance is mostly positively perceived by the participants of the focus group discussions. However, it is also found that many people's image of insurance is based on incomplete (and sometimes erroneous) information, or even on intuition. In addition, the experiences or opinions of peers turn out to be critical in shaping an individual's perception of insurance. These two factors potentially have a contagious effect, which can lead to unreasonably positive or overly negative ideas about (micro )insurance. Such ideas, in turn, can become detrimental to the further distribution of microinsurance.
Topic:
Health, Political Economy, and Poverty
Political Geography:
Africa and Ghana