Survival Strategies of the Elderly in Rural Ghana

Abstract

Globally, there is now a growing concern for the elderly. In the developing world especially, this concern has grown significantly due to increase in life span, the structural difficulties caused by globalization, rural-urban migration and the breakdown in the capacity of the extended family to perform its traditional roles. The net result is that in Ghana as in many developing countries, in the absence of government support, the elderly are compelled to fend for themselves. How the elderly in rural Ghana negotiate the means of livelihood is the focus of this study. The aim and objectives of the study are: To understand the dynamics of day-to-day life of the elderly in rural communities. To examine the challenges faced by the elderly in their day-to-day life To examine the causes of these challenges as well as factors affecting elderly survival To find out the survival strategies of the rural elderly in the face the challenges To find out how society (social networks) impacts on the survival challenges Examine the welfare implications of the problems of the elderly care in rural Ghana

Given the orientation of the study, data was collected from 300 respondents in the three geographical zones of the country, namely central, forest and savannah. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected using questionnaires, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. Findings Key findings of the study included the following: One of the difficulties of the elderly was how to feed on daily basis. The chief cause being rural-urban migration of the youth, leaving the elderly in the rural areas without any meaningful support. Most elderly are widows and widowers Most of them did not work in the formal sector so they did not have pension It was also identified that some of the elderly in rural Ghana are still engaged in economic activities to provide their needs even though they should not be engaged in economic activities at this time in life. From the data, the study found that the largest source of support for the rural elderly is remittances and supports derived from their own children and this in most cases explains the large family sizes that are witnessed in the rural areas; a source of social security. It was found that the state or government has not provided any reliable form of support to the elderly except that persons above 70 years are entitled to free health care under the fairly recently established National Health Insurance Scheme. Recommendations Against the background of these findings, the following recommendations are made: Future studies can investigate issues like an effective pension‟s regime, the national workable policy on ageing and the LEAP programme that will take care of the entire elderly population in terms of contributions, benefits and entitlements. For instance, the current bi-monthly LEAP payments of GH¢24.00 per beneficiary, GH¢30.00 per two beneficiaries, GH¢36.00 per three and GH¢45.00 per four beneficiaries is inadequate. As the research has shown, persons who join networks and associations stand the chance of receiving some form of assistance from the associations. Even when the assistance was not financial or tangible, the companionship and advices offered helped to deal with the problems associated with loneliness. It is recommended that such informal groupings be encouraged but given a redirection so that they can focus on much more important things instead of the traditional concentration on funerals. It was noted from the study that government support for the elderly in rural Ghana was woefully inadequate. The immediate representative of the central government at the local level is the District Assemblies. The current legal regime mandates each of the MMDAs to set aside 2.0% of their disbursements from the District Assemblies Common Fund purposely to help the disabled in society. It is the recommendation of this research that special allocations should also be made to cater for the needs of the elderly. Such funds can be disbursed directly to them or given in kind, like organizing free health screening and medication to the elderly, particularly in the rural areas where access to health centres are very limited. This has been provided for in the draft National Ageing Policy which is yet to receive parliamentary approval. It is, therefore, recommended that government give the policy urgent attention so that an institutional framework will be provided to care for the elderly. The state must take keen interest in the rate of population growth due to high birth rates. The interventions of the state through the Family Planning Programmes ought to be intensified especially in the rural areas where fertility is also very high. The research found that average families in the rural areas were between 4 and 6, with some as high as 15. Even when the parents are in the position to foot the bills of their children, the state has a burden to provide social facilities for these kids to enjoy. This puts great stress on the limited social facilities available. The active involvement of the state through education for couples to plan their families will not only help the couples, but will reduce the rate at which the burden of the state will increase. There is the need to strengthen current family planning education with the state providing active support since many of the campaigns are done by private organisations. This will likely reduce the incidences of the elderly having to care for their young children at a time they should not be bearing such responsibilities. It is the desire of all well-meaning citizens to obtain decent jobs from which they will survive. The rate of unemployment in Ghana is unfortunately very high that able bodied and willing youth find it difficult to find a decent job that will provide a moderate pay to take care of the utility bills and other needs. The urgent attention of government to address this problem through educational reforms and other economic interventions is needed now to arrest the situation. It was realized in the study that NGOs (Help Age) are involved in providing direct care to the elderly much more than government is doing. These organizations too have the capacity to reach out to all and sundry. It will be better for the state to actively engage genuine NGOs in some of the programmes it has for the less privileged so that the chunk of resources do not stay in the urban areas or major towns. Government in this case will have to strengthen its supervision and regulation of NGOs to weed out those that have been formed to serve as revenue generation ventures for their founders. It is also recommended that there should be a serious debate and subsequent policy on old-age care in Ghana, since nothing of its nature exists in the significant sense. This is important because of the revelations that the support that the elderly get from families/kin is declining by the day. Aboderin &Ogwumike (2005:11) finds that “the West Africa family system no longer affords sufficient protection to many old.” Contribution to Knowledge The extended family as the traditional support is giving way or cracking. The next line of support for the elderly is the children of the elderly. Findings however show that this line of support is not reliable because of the dislocations of the national economy that has caused large-scale unemployment amongst the employable youth. Where the elderly have not made social capital investment by way of taking care of others, then they are in bad shape. Agenda for Future Research This study has focused on the elderly in a few districts in Ghana. Clearly, the findings may be limited in their applicability. In spite of this limitation, the findings point to patterns and dynamics in ageing in contemporary Ghana that may be subjected to further and wider national study in order to enhance the empirical base of the findings and to better inform policy on the elderly.