Browsing by Author "Appiah, S."
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Item The chasm between rising incomes and human development and its potential for conflict in resource intensive countries(University of Ghana, 2015-04-17) Appiah, S.Sub-Saharan Africa is home to much of the world's mineral reserves. South Africa produces 77% of the world's platinum and 46% of its chromite. The Democratic Republic of Congo produces 53% of the world's cobalt and 21 percent of the world's industrial diamonds. Angola is the fifth producer of diamonds in the world and Nigeria is the world's tenth largest producer of oil. Until the 1990s, this region did not generate much revenue from this wealth. This situation changed in the latter part of the 1990s. The 20 resource intensive countries in the region started gaining more money for their extractive exports partly as a result of increasing demand from China. This has contributed to what is now over a decade of consistent high economic growth. This has never before happened in the region's history. The extractives industry now produces about one-third of the GOP of the region and the 20 resource intensive countries contribute 79.6% of the region's GOP. The problem is that the economic growth has not translated into better human development in resource intensive countries-rather it seems to have widened the inequality gap. The 2005 United Nation's report on the World's Social Situation stated that, "violence associated with NATIONAL and international acts of terrorism should be viewed in the context of social inequality and disintegration". It added, "Violence is more common where inequalities are greater". Th is paper assesses the possibility of increased conflicts in the region if the regions extractives driven growth is not accompanied with better human development for its growing youthful populationItem The Role of the International Organisation for Migration in Preventing Human Trafficking In West Africa: A Case Study of Ghana.(University of Ghana, 2018-07) Appiah, S.Human trafficking is happening in every corner of the globe. Since it is a hidden crime, the full scale of the menace of human trafficking cannot be definitely detected and tackled by any country on its own. Ghana is not exempted from the universal challenge of trafficking in persons, as Ghana endures as a destination, source and transit country for trafficking in persons. In a quest to control this phenomenon globally, IOM as an intergovernmental organisation concerned with migration issues, has a counter trafficking unit in its country offices that works with states to combat trafficking internally and internationally. This study analyses the extent of collaboration between IOM, the Government of Ghana and other related state institutions in preventing Human Trafficking in West Africa, with specific reference to Ghana. The study is purely qualitative and relies primarily on literature review and interviews for data collection and analyses. Major findings from the study reveal that the activities done by the IOM in cooperation with the Government of Ghana and other agencies to prevent the phenomenon of human trafficking in Ghana included awareness creation, lobbying for effective legislation against human trafficking, promotion of economic development, assisting in capacity building and development of the “FREE TO BE ME” Tool Kit. The intervention by the IOM in preventing human trafficking in Ghana has yielded some successes including sensitization and advocacy through education, and assistance in the formulation of legislative laws to criminalize human trafficking. IOM also assisted in the formation of an Anti-Trafficking Units for both the Ghana Police Service and the Ghana Immigration Service to identify human trafficking cases within and across borders and to also sanction culprits, rescue trafficked victims and help reintegrate them back into society. IOM also implemented capacity building training, workshops and seminars and also promotion of economic development through education, by providing technical and vocational trainings to empower people economically. These achievements serve as deterrent to people involved in human trafficking in Ghana. However, IOM has encountered some challenges in its quest to help prevent human trafficking in Ghana. These challenges include poverty and economic hardships, poor cooperation, and lack of political will on the part of the government. The study therefore concludes that, The IOM has played a significant role in cooperation with other stakeholders in the prevention of human trafficking in Ghana. To this end, the study recommends that the Government of Ghana should continue to collaborate effectively with states and other international agencies such as the IOM, UNICEF, UNODC, among others, to effectively help tackle the menace of human trafficking in Ghana.Item Simulations of Policy Responses and Interventions to Promote Inclusive Adaptation to and Recovery from the COVID-19 Crisis in Ghana(International Journal of Microsimulation, 2022) Cooke, E.F.A.; Acheampong, V.; Appiah, S.; et al.We assess the impact of COVID-19 shocks on household welfare and the effectiveness of select policies implemented to reduce their impact on welfare in Ghana. We adopt a microsimulation approach to assess the effects of COVID-19 on household welfare. Welfare fell by 34.2% to 41.9% between March and June 2020. Over the same period, the poverty headcount and the Gini index increased by 9 to 10.5 percentage points and 0.4 to 0.6 points, respectively. The number of poor people increased by 2.8 to 3.2 million. The hardest-hit sector was education, followed by agriculture and forestry and fishing, trade and repairs, manufacturing, and other services also affected. The effects vary for men, women and children. While women experienced the largest decline in welfare, men experienced the highest increase in poverty incidence. The three policies selected reduced poverty marginally but were unable to offset the increase in poverty that occurred between March and June. The estimated cost of the three policies is GHS3.7 billion excluding administrative costs, which equates to approximately 1% of 2020 GDP