Browsing by Author "Siakwah, P."

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Challenging formal accountability processes in community natural resource management in Sub-Saharan Africa
(GeoJournal, 2019-06-28) Siakwah, P.; Musavengane, R.
Africa is endowed with vast natural resources. It is equally labelled a cursed continent due to a plethora of conflicts emanating from the use and sharing of gains from these natural resources. For the past decades, accountability has been thought of as an anecdote to natural resources conflicts. However, these challenges have persisted across the Sub-Saharan African region. Using Ghana and South African communities, the study revisits the relationship between accountability of natural resources and community development with the aim to strengthen accountability processes in Africa. The paper revealed that accountability in natural resources management should extend beyond reports and opinions of the technocrats, bureaucrats, experts and political elites. We argue that accountability should be participatory, inclusive, and embody elements of trust and social justices. It therefore proposes the adoption of negotiated accountability, to strengthen the governance of natural resources in Africa. Negotiated accountability should holistically address four main accountability elements: the normative, relational, decisional and behavioural element.
“Does the poor matter” in pro-poor driven sub-Saharan African cities? towards progressive and inclusive pro-poor tourism
(INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TOURISM CITIES, 2019-11-29) Siakwah, P.; Musavengane, R.; Leonard, L.
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to question the extent to which Sub-Saharan African cities are progressing towards promoting pro-poor economies through pro-poor tourism (PPT). It specifically examines how African cities are resilient towards attaining sustainable urban tourism destinations in light of high urbanization. Design/methodology/approach – The methodological framework is interpretive in nature and qualitative in an operational form. It uses meta-synthesis to evaluate the causal relationships observed within Sub-Saharan African pro-poor economies to enhance PPT approaches, using Accra, Ghana, Johannesburg, South Africa, and Harare, Zimbabwe, as case studies. Findings – Tourism development in Sub-Saharan Africa has been dominantly underpinned by neoliberal development strategies which threaten the sustainability of tourism in African cities. Research limitations/implications – The study is limited to three Sub-Saharan African countries. Further studies may need to be done in other developing countries. Practical implications – It argues for good governance through sustainability institutionalization which strengthens the regulative mechanisms, processes and organizational culture. Inclusive tourism approaches that are resilient-centered have the potential to promote urban tourism in Sub-Saharan African cities. These findings contribute to the building of strong and inclusive Institutions for Sustainable Development in the Sub-Saharan African cities to alleviate poverty. Social implications – These findings contribute to the building of strong and inclusive institutions for sustainable development in the Sub-Saharan African cities to alleviate poverty. Originality/value – The “poor” are always within the communities, and it takes a community to minimise the impact of poverty among the populace. The study is conducted at a pertinent time when most African government’s development policies are pro-poor driven. Though African cities provide opportunities of growth, they are regarded as centres of high inequality.
“Does the poor matter” in pro-poor driven sub-Saharan African cities? towards progressive and inclusive pro-poor tourism
(INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TOURISM CITIES, 2019-11-29) Siakwah, P.; Musavengane, R.; Leonard, L.
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to question the extent to which Sub-Saharan African cities are progressing towards promoting pro-poor economies through pro-poor tourism (PPT). It specifically examines how African cities are resilient towards attaining sustainable urban tourism destinations in light of high urbanization. Design/methodology/approach – The methodological framework is interpretive in nature and qualitative in an operational form. It uses meta-synthesis to evaluate the causal relationships observed within Sub-Saharan African pro-poor economies to enhance PPT approaches, using Accra, Ghana, Johannesburg, South Africa, and Harare, Zimbabwe, as case studies. Findings – Tourism development in Sub-Saharan Africa has been dominantly underpinned by neoliberal development strategies which threaten the sustainability of tourism in African cities. Research limitations/implications – The study is limited to three Sub-Saharan African countries. Further studies may need to be done in other developing countries. Practical implications – It argues for good governance through sustainability institutionalization which strengthens the regulative mechanisms, processes and organizational culture. Inclusive tourism approaches that are resilient-centered have the potential to promote urban tourism in Sub-Saharan African cities. These findings contribute to the building of strong and inclusive Institutions for Sustainable Development in the Sub-Saharan African cities to alleviate poverty. Social implications – These findings contribute to the building of strong and inclusive institutions for sustainable development in the Sub-Saharan African cities to alleviate poverty. Originality/value – The “poor” are always within the communities, and it takes a community to minimise the impact of poverty among the populace. The study is conducted at a pertinent time when most African government’s development policies are pro-poor driven. Though African cities provide opportunities of growth, they are regarded as centres of high inequality.
Female farmers’ struggles and responses to COVID-19 in Ghana
(African Geographical Review, 2024) Yaro, J.A.; Essien, R.S.; Ablo, A.D.; Siakwah, P.; Zaam, M.
The COVID-19 lockdown measures exacerbated the struggles of societies with existing inequalities. Given that women are generally the most vulnerable in times of pandemics and associated economic downturns, the study seeks to understand the struggles that female farmers experienced during the COVID-19 crisis and their survival responses and livelihood enhancement. To do this, we organized six women’s focus group discussions and interviewed 145 women farmers in communities within Builsa South and Ada (in Ghana) where farming is one of the major occupations for women. The findings reveal that the pandemic severely disrupted women’s access to farm inputs, markets, and farming activities amidst the absence of COVID-19 relief funds. Consequently, female farmers had to adopt multiple alternative livelihood strategies to meet their basic needs. But, the nature of the adaptation strategy adopted depended on the intersections of gender, household characteristics and remittance flows. Female farmers from migrant households with larger household sizes temporarily migrated as an alternative livelihood strategy compared to those from non-migrant households and with smaller family sizes. This distributional consequence of COVID-19 is important for government agencies to carefully consider when forming future response policies to pandemics in general and the rural agricultural sector specifically since it has implications for food security
Immigration, education, sense of community and mental well-being: the case of visible minority immigrants in Canada
(Taylor & Francis Group, 2021) Agyekum, B.; Siakwah, P.; Boateng, J.K.
Immigrants often cite improvements in quality of life as the motivation for immigration, yet it can lead to the loss of social networks, family and community ties. This article employed key informant interviews to explore visible minorities’ sense of community from the perspectives of immigrant resettlement service providers. Nine key informants were interviewed to document visible minority immigrants’ experiences in Canada, and how this affected their sense of community. Participants identified barriers to immigrants’ development of a new sense of community, including discrimination tied to improper placement within the Canadian educational system, unemployment/underemployment, poor housing conditions, language barriers, and lack of social support networks. Confronting these barriers will require creating a stronger sense of community by providing more and better support of immigrants, visible minorities and everyone across Canada. This would help eliminate discrimination against ethnic minorities and enhance a sense of community belonging amongst visible minorities in Canada.
The nexus between tourism and urban risk: Towards inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable outdoor tourism in African cities
(Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism, 2019-09-07) Siakwah, P.; Musavengane, R.; Leonard, L.
Sub-Saharan Africa is set to increase its tourism sector in urban areas. However, its cities are also settings for numerous struggles over future developments coupled with excess urban risks. The nexus created by the relationship between urbanization, urban growth, urban governance, poverty and inequality, and ecological degradation is altering the sustainability of urban tourism in Sub-Saharan African cities. Inspired by the United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Goal 11; making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable, this study critically analyses the linkages between risk, justice, inclusion, trust and power relations in urban spaces with the aim to strengthen tourism governance in Sub-Saharan African urban settings. Document analysis is adopted to draw evidence and critically analyse the sustainability of tourism in the three Sub-Saharan cities: Accra, Ghana; Johannesburg, South Africa; and Harare, Zimbabwe. The study reveals that tourism development in Africa is dominantly underpinned by neoliberal development strategies which threaten the sustainability of tourism in African cities. It, therefore, argues for good governance through strong sustainability institutions which strengthen the regulative mechanisms, processes and organizational culture which empowers local communities. Sustainable tourism approaches that are resilient centred have a potential to promote urban tourism in Sub-Saharan African cities.
Oil Production, Dispossession, and Community Development in Africa: A Development Education Perspective
(Reimagining Development Education in Africa, 2023) Agyekum, B.; Siakwah, P.
There is growing evidence that the impacts of oil and gas extraction on vulnerability are real and accelerating. Coupled with a host of interrelated livelihood sustainability questions, this has fueled interdisciplinary research on improving livelihoods to vulnerability, as well as to better understand the mechanisms of natural resources exploitation and policy options to limit the socio-cultural and environmental damages to natural resource extraction. Increasingly, development education, community education, and alternative livelihood sources are being leveraged by researchers when analyzing these problems. There is, however, limited discourse regarding the possible synergies that could result from improved engagement between those interested in natural resource extraction on one hand, and community members and researchers on the other hand in tackling resource extraction issues. In this chapter, we employ the accumulation by dispossession discourse espoused by David Harvey that focuses on the prospects for making new contributions to the growing literature on natural resource exploitation and vulnerability. We identify three critical issues that offer significant opportunities for collaborative studies on the nexus between natural resource extraction and development education: (1) the problem of oil exploitation and vulnerability, (2) questions of new alternative livelihood and transition, (3) development/community education and livelihood opportunities approach. Our analysis suggests that issues of development agenda/plan, decentralization of windfall revenues, sector analysis on policies and programs and other development education initiatives underpin these natural resource extraction research needs. This chapter is intended to foster new dialogue between oil exploitation and development education
Pan-Africanism and the Intelligentsia: the role of the African Academy in the Pan-African Movement
(2019-04-04) Frehiwot, M.; Siakwah, P.
The Pan-African Movement (PAM) has historically been linked with the African intelligentsia who have played pivotal roles in the idea and practice of Pan-Africanism. The historically recognized leaders of the PAM including Kwame Ture, W.E.B. Dubois, Marcus Garvey, Shirley Graham Dubois, Amy Ashwood Garvey, George Padmore and Kwame Nkrumah are all part of the Revolutionary PAM Intelligentsia. The African Academy has also played a major role in the evolution of the PAM’s ideological advancement from Historically Black Colleges and Universities to African Studies Institutes in Universities on the African Continent. However, the collective African academy is all but currently absent in the larger PAM. The PAM is dominated by individuals and enervated organisations promoting Pan-Africanism often from a micro-nationalist perspective that is loosely connected to the larger PAM. This is not to assert that there is no Pan-African activity occurring in or around the University campus, but this activity is both disconnected in nature and form, and often characterised by rootless ideological standpoint as well as detached from the larger PAM. Importantly, the paper argues that both the instrumental and intrinsic capabilities of the African Academy are minimally explored. Therefore, this paper interrogates the role of the African Academy in the Pan-African Movement historically and in a contemporary sense. It asserts that a new strategy must be developed for the PAM to mature beyond its current state (or how it is viewed by the masses) as a movement of the past to a fledging movement for transformation and consolidation of Global Africa.
Sustainable Energy Transition in Russia and Ghana Within a Multi-Level Perspective
(Changing Societies & Personalities, 2023) Siakwah, P.; Agyekum, B.; Ermolaeva, Y.V.; Ermolaeva, P.O.
This paper is a case study based on a critical review of existing literature and primary data through interviews to investigate energy transition framing and manifestation in the Global South. It provides critical insights into sustainable energy transition in Ghana and Russia within a multi-level perspective (MLP). We argue that whereas Ghana’s energy transition concepts and policies are mirrored by landscape, regime, and niche; practical transitioning has been slow due to inadequate resources and incentives, limited historical culpability in global greenhouse gas, and the country being locked-in to existing hydrocarbon socio-technical systems. The MLP approach is useful in describing energy technologies, markets, and consumption practices. But in Russia, social policy at distinct levels is united by centralised energy, law and technical systems, as well as institutional rules and differences based on costs in economic regions. This paper contributes to the energy transition discourse within the Global South, using Russia and Ghana as cases to highlight how transition policies and practices differ from country to country, driven by economic, political, social, cultural, and historical elements with global frameworks serving as guides. Rigid application of landscape, regime, and niche concepts is challenged in describing and analysing the context-specific nuances in sustainable energy transition policy across spaces. There is a fundamental challenge in mechanical fusing a one-fits-all approach to sustainable energy transitioning in developing countries and societies due to differences in historical contributions to climatic issues and inequality of access to resources and technologies. Energy transition processes and practices should be compatible with social justice.
Tourism Governance and Attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals in Africa
(Tourism Planning and Development, 2019-04) Siakwah, P.; Musavengane, R.; Leonard, L.
Inclusiveness that improves tourism governance is significant for development if benefits from tourism are distributed equitably. Declaration of 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism and adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have seemingly brought tourism to the forefront of development even where the SDGs have limited tourism focus. This paper examines how tourism governance is poorly applied in Africa. It interrogates the challenges of integrating tourism governance, mining, and conservation within the SDGs framework in Africa. Sustainable tourism governance frameworks have not comprehensively inculcated trust, justice, social capital, power, and participation. Using mining and conservation in South Africa and Zimbabwe respectively, it analyses how mining affects sustainability, as actors in tourism are unable to conserve and protect tourism sites. Achieving the SDGs requires collaboration between international actors, governments, the private sector, and locals in an inclusive governance based on justice, inclusion trust and equitable power relations.