Browsing by Author "Appiah-Kubi, J."
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Item Community Development in Slums: Approaches and Impediments in Ashaiman(University of Ghana, 2015-07) Appiah-Kubi, J.; Frimpong-Manso, K.; Boateng, A.; University of Ghana, College of Humanities, School of Social Sciences, Department of Social WorkCommunity development in Ghana began in the rural areas, and depended on the participation of rural dwellers, based on the spirit of reciprocity and mutual assistance. Over time, it has been adopted in the urban communities. However, there is scanty information on community development in Ghanaian urban communities. Therefore, this study was conducted to understand how the practice has fared in the urban communities, in particular the slums in Ashaiman. A qualitative research design was adopted for the study with seventeen participants who were purposively sampled from three communities in Ashaiman. Data from unstructured interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. The findings of the analysis revealed that community development in Ashaiman adopted the self-help and technical assistance approaches. Contributions of community development to Ashaiman included infrastructural projects, public health projects and campaigns as well as increased civic activism. Inadequate funding was the biggest factor that impeded development efforts within the study area. It is recommended that projects and educational and health care campaigns should be regularly assessed so that errors during execution can be detected and rectified on time. Additionally, efforts to raise more funds for community development should be promoted so that financial constraints can be resolved. It is also recommended that social workers should educate and link inhabitants of the communities to available resources which they may not have knowledge about.Item Factors influencing the approach to community development in Ghanaian urban slums(Taylor & Francis Group, 2022) Frimpong-Mansoa, K.; Appiah-Kubi, J.The approaches used in community development (CD) are critical to the success or failure of projects. Yet, we know little about approaches employed in CD in urban areas. This study investigates the approaches employed in two CD projects (construction of footbridges and cassava processing) in Ashaiman, an urban Ghanaian slum, and the factors that influenced the selected approaches. We used a qualitative technique by conducting semistructured interviews with 23 stakeholders involved in CD activities in Ashaiman. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and thematically analyzed. The findings demonstrated that the two selected initiatives used both self-help and technical support approaches, with the latter approach dominating. The community's capacity, weak social ties among the residents, and nature of the project undertaken were the factors that determined the approaches taken. The basis for the approach used in CD should be the characteristics of the communities and how they facilitate the successful implementation of projects.Item Neighbours as keepers: Informal volunteering in Ghanaian society(University of Ghana, 2015-04-17) Aryeetey, E.B-D.; Appiah-Kubi, J.The article discusses who is volunteering and what they are doing at the household level in Ghana. By all indications traditions of informal volunteerism continue to survive throughout the country, though this mode of volunteering has been overlooked by researchers. This is partly because Western conceptions of organized volunteerism do not capture adequately the dynamics of informal volunteering. The article is based on data drawn from the baseline of a panel household survey on living conditions in Ghana, conducted in 2010 on 5009 households. Descriptive statistics confirm that about 30% of the sample of 18,889 household members who were interviewed often volunteered to help others. Volunteering rates are higher among better educated and working men and women. But nearly all of them practice what is described as informal affinity-based volunteering, rather than unobligated civic volunteering. Given that Western research and publication on volunteering offers little insight into the persistence of informal volunteering outside industrialized societies, the study on Ghana brings vital contributions to knowledge in this field