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32. 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
33. 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
- 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
34. Understanding the Links Between Sexual and Reproductive Health Status and Poverty Reduction
- Author:
- Nata Duvvury and Philip Oxhorn
- Publication Date:
- 01-2012
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Institute for the Study of International Development, McGill University
- Abstract:
- The interrelationship between poverty and sexual and reproductive health status (SRHS) is widely noted in academic, policy and programmatic discourses, though none establishes causality. The primary emphasis in these discourses is that poor SRHS is an outcome of poverty, and thus can be addressed through poverty reduction programmes. The purpose of this brief is to understand what factors contribute to the interrelationship between SRHS and poverty, with a specific focus on understanding how SRHS impacts household poverty. Future studies may then focus specifically on these factors in order to address issues of causality. This brief is based on desk research involving two sources of data: 1) a review of global literature and 2) three country case studies. The global literature review examined literature documenting the nature, extent and strength of the interrelationship between poverty and SRHS. The literature search was conducted using keywords from different disciplinary perspectives demography, economics, development, women’s studies, sociology, human rights and public health. Key databases such as JSTOR, PubMed, MEDLINE and Elsevier Science Direct were consulted, as well as the specific library databases at National University of Ireland, Galway and McGill University. Researchers at McGill compiled an annotated bibliography of literature on India. The three country case studies were undertaken in Brazil, Ghana and Lebanon. Consultants in each country undertook an extensive search of academic, policy and programmatic literature including journal publications, research reports, policy briefs, and non-governmental organization (NGO) reports. The literature search in each country followed the same method as the global literature review, including identifying keywords from different disciplines and exploring different databases. In addition, the consultants searched grey literature through contacting various NGOs and research institutions. They also obtained statistical information from governmental and institutional databases. All country case studies explored three key questions: 1) Is there literature that demonstrates the impact of poor SRHS on poverty? 2) What factors have been highlighted in the literature as influencing the relationship between SRHS and poverty? 3) Are there trade-offs involved for women between education, fertility, status and work participation? and 4) Do programmes by civil society organizations, such as micro-credit or income-generating programmes, promote sexual and reproductive health?
- Topic:
- Development, Education, Poverty, Health Care Policy, and Reproductive Health
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Middle East, Brazil, South America, Lebanon, and Ghana
35. 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
- 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
36. 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
37. 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
38. Competitive Clientelism, Easy Financing and Weak Capitalists: The Contemporary Political Settlement in Ghana
- Author:
- Lindsay Whitfield
- Publication Date:
- 12-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Ghana has exhibited rather strong economic growth since the 1980s, but little transformation of the productive structure of its economy. The paper argues that ruling elites' policy choices are shaped by their political survival strategies. In turn, these strategies are shaped by (1) the characteristics of the ruling coalitions, which include a high degree of vulnerability in power, strong lower-level factions of the ruling coalition, and a substantial amount of fragmentation among the higher factions of the ruling coalition; (2) the weak capabilities and political influence of the nascent productive capitalists; and (3) easy access to financing for the state and the ruling coalition from foreign aid, mining and cocoa bean exports. As a result, ruling elites' policy actions did not prioritize the development of new productive sectors (or upgrading of old ones), but were geared towards delivering benefits to the higher and lower levels of the ruling coalition, as well as delivering a small amount of visible goods and services to as much of the population as possible in an effort to 'swing' voters their way at election time. Neither of these political survival strategies resulted in significant productive sector investments.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, Politics, Social Stratification, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Ghana
39. Growth without Economic Transformation: Economic Impacts of Ghana's Political Settlement
- Author:
- Lindsay Whitfield
- Publication Date:
- 12-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Since the Fourth Republic was inaugurated in 1993, politics in Ghana has been increasingly characterized by competitive clientelism. Ruling coalitions are characterized by a high degree of vulnerability in power due to a strong opposition party, by strong lower-level factions within the ruling coalition due to their importance in winning elections, and by a high degree of fragmentation among the ruling elite. These characteristics, combined with a weak domestic capitalist class and high inflows of foreign aid, have led the ruling elites across political parties to pursue and implement policies that have a short time horizon, that do not significantly shift the allocation of resources towards building productive sectors, and which are often plagued by problems of enforcement. The results have led to growth without economic transformation. In particular, the country has witnessed recurrent macroeconomic instability, a haphazard process of privatization of state-owned enterprises, and no serious attempt to build up productive sectors outside of cocoa and gold.
- Topic:
- Democratization, Development, Economics, Politics, Social Stratification, Foreign Aid, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Ghana
40. Political Challenges to Developing Non-Traditional Exports in Ghana: The Case of Horticulture Exports
- Author:
- Lindsay Whitfield
- Publication Date:
- 12-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- The nascent Ghanaian horticulture export sector, which emerged in the mid-1980s, has been ignored by ruling elites, especially after the return to multiparty democracy in 1993. Ruling elites across the two party governments between 1993 and 2008 did not actively pursue initiatives to support the industry. Without sustained political support, the types of public-private coordination of actions and investments needed to help the sector expand and upgrade were not forthcoming in an effective and timely manner. This private sector-driven non-traditional export sector constitutes a neglected opportunity for export diversification and building a new agro-industry, and also highlights some of the factors explaining why the country's economy was still dependent on the traditional exports of cocoa and gold by the close of the 2000s. The political challenges to changing the productive structure in Ghana can be found in the characteristics of ruling coalitions–vulnerability of the ruling elite in power, the high fragmentation within ruling coalitions, and their existing sources of and strategies for financing the state and the ruling coalition, combined with the country's existing economic structure as well as the size and capabilities of domestic capitalists. The characteristics of ruling coalitions in Ghana shaped the incentives facing ruling elites such that the ruling elites were not sufficiently compelled to support new productive sectors, such as horticulture export, which did not (yet) provide substantial revenues.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Economics, International Trade and Finance, Social Stratification, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Ghana