Centre for Social Policy Studies
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Item Why national development experts are not included in development policy-making and practice: The case of Ghana(Development Policy Review, 2022) Kamruzzaman, P.; Kumi, E.Motivation: This article contributes to the debate around understanding whether and how the identity of aid workers (e.g. nationality, race, etc.) can contribute to inequality within various aid relationships. As “decolonizing development” is often employed either as a slogan or genuine goal, it is imperative that the politics of exclusion among/within development experts is critically scrutinized. Purpose: This article explores the processes of and the motivations behind how national development experts (NDEs) are frequently excluded in development policy-making and practice in Ghana. Methods and approach: This article relies on qualitative research methods and draws from semi-structured interviews conducted in two phases in 2017 and 2018 in Ghana. We focus on the narratives of the NDEs in Ghana are perceived to be well placed to elucidate the different mechanics of exclusionary processes and practices. Findings: International development experts (IDEs) are able to set agendas and exercise development decision-making power as their governments or organizations provide funding for many development projects. projects. This allows IDEs to influence development policies and practices in a way that eventually excludes NDEs from development policy-making in Ghana. We also reveal internal competition and power relations between NDEs and local actors (i.e. bureaucrats and politicians) can also exclude the NDEs from development policy-making processes, a feature that is non-existent in current scholarship. Policy implications: The exclusion of NDEs from national development decision-making processes undermines efforts to promote national ownership. It is important to adopt a holistic approach that does not just focus on one particular aspect (e.g. power inequality among different actors) of exclusionary practice in international development but also looks into local political and cultural settings as well as possible internal competition for resources.Item Hybridisation Of Institutional Logics And Civil Society Organisations' Advocacy In Kenya(Public Administration and Development, 2022) Kumi, E.; Saharan, T.Managerialist logic has become dominant in development policy and practice. However, in recent years, the Dutch government has seeking to adopt social transformation approaches to development interventions. The implementation of social Transformation ideas take place in an environment dominated by managerialism. However, our understanding of how the logic of social transformation and managerialism collide or come into conflict and the pathways through which managerialist principles dominate social transformation principles is limited. Drawing on qualitative data from the Strategic Partnerships (SP) and Accountability Fund (AF) policy instruments for civil society organisations in Kenya, we find that in practice, the social transformation principles underpinning the SP and AF ‘vaporise’ or get lost during implementation due to the wider aid system within which they are embedded. We highlight the implications of the broader aid system on attempts by donor agencies to shift from managerialism towards a social transformation perspective on development.Item How internationally funded NGOs promote gender equality in horticulture value chains in Kenya(Third World Quarterly, 2022) Kumi, E.; Elbers, W.This article contributes to the literature on global value chains by examining how non-governmental organisations (NGOs) promote gender equality. NGOs have been instrumental in setting social standards that seek to institutionalise gender-sensitive governance structures. However, relatively little is known about their roles in doing so. Using in-depth empirical research on the Women@Work Campaign in the cutlery sector in Kenya, the article examines how a coalition of Kenyan NGOs and an international NGO push for gender equality in global value chains. While the Kenyan NGOs do most of the actual work on the ground, the international NGO uses its position to facilitate and empower the local NGOs to do their work. Yet, we see that funding conditions hamper the local NGOs’ efforts to promote gender equality. Overall, our analysis highlights that NGOs fulfil important roles in promoting gender equality in horticulture value chains but the requirements of the international aid system act as a constraintItem Domestic Resource Mobilisation Strategies Of National Non‐Governmental Organisations In Ghana(Public Administration and Development, 2022) Kumi, E.National non‐governmental organisations (NNGOs) in Ghana are confronted with declining external donor funding, arising in part from the country's graduation to a lower–middle‐income status, but also more complex changes in donor funding modalities. This presents incentives the for mobilisation of alternative domestic resources to ensure organisational sustainability. Drawing on 62 qualitative in terviews with NNGOs' leaders, donor representatives and key informants, this article presents findings on how NNGOs in Ghana are responding to this chal lenge. Using Edwards' idea of funding ecosystem, this article finds that NNGOs mobilised five main domestic resources: (a) volunteer support; (b) individual donations; (c) commercial activities; (d) corporate philanthropy and (e) government funding. The findings shed useful insights on the applicability of democratic, commercial and institutional elements of the funding ecosystem in contexts experiencing aid reduction and donor exit. This article concludes that while external donor funding is an immediate threat to civil society space in Ghana, social innovations in domestic resources in response to it offer limited potentials for NNGOs' financial sustainability due to capacity challenges and the absence of an enabling environment that promote domestic philanthropy. Implications of the research findings for NNGOs' sustainability and domestic philanthropy are discussedItem Planning for retirement during active service in Ghana: Insights from pensioners in the Greater Accra Region(Journal of Aging & Social Policy, 2024) Ongoh, M.; Afranie, S.; Ohemeng, F.; Abekah-Carter, K.; Godi, A.H.Workers often participate in pre-retirement planning activities to gain awareness of the likely changes they may experience when they retire to enable them to prepare accordingly. Although pre-retirement planning is essential for successful retirement and healthy aging, studies on pre-retirement plan ning activities among older adults in Ghana are limited. This study explored pre-retirement planning actions that were taken by Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) pen sioners in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. A sequential explanatory mixed-methods approach was adopted to gather data from 437 pensioners aged 60 years and above through surveys, interviews, and focus group discussions. The results indicate that while in active service, many (309) pensioners were not motivated to plan for retirement due to issues, such as low income, and distrust of financial institutions. When plan ning did take place, the pensioners favored financial planning over social, mental, and physical planning. The respondents also revealed that they did not prepare adequately for retirement due to low salaries, as well as low knowledge on pre-retirement planning. Policies are needed to encourage pre-retirement plan ning among workers in Ghana to enable them to have an appreciable quality of life in old age.Item Effectiveness of foreign aid in agricultural development in the Adaklu District of Ghana: a case study of the Modernizing Agriculture in Ghana (MAG) Fund(Cogent Social Sciences, 2024) Dzakaklo, T.K.; Hlovor, I.K.; Tandoh-Offin, P.The debate on the effectiveness foreign aid in Africa continues to take center stage in the development literature. To contribute to this debate, this research sought to investigate the effectiveness of the Modernizing of Agriculture in Ghana (MAG) Fund, a 135 million Canadian dollars in foreign aid received by the Government of Ghana for agricultural development. The study employed a qualitative research approach in assessing the utilization effectiveness of the Fund in the Adaklu District of the Republic of Ghana. The researchers purposefully selected sixteen (16) informants from the study population and interviewed, using an interview guide. The informants selected for the study consists of technical staff of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, key staff of the Department of Agriculture of the Adaklu District, core staff of the Adaklu District Assembly, and farmers. The study revealed poor and ineffective utilization of the Fund resulting from cumbersome bureaucratic processes in accessing the Fund, weak institutional collaboration and partnerships, inadequate resource allocation by the Assembly to the Department of Agriculture for Agricultural Development in the district. Consequently, agricultural development in the District is characterized by poor agriculture extension service delivery, poor technological deployment, high cost of inputs and low agricultural production. The study recommends strengthening the institutional and personal capacities of those in charge of the utilization of foreign aid to ensure that funds are applied for their intended purposes. Additionally, the institutionalization of effective monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to track the progress of fund to ensure that they meet their objectives is recommended.Item Intergenerational earnings mobility in Ghana(International Review of Economics, 2023) Opoku, K.; Boahen, E.A.This paper estimates the degree of intergenerational earnings persistence and mobility in Ghana. We use micro-data from the third and sixth rounds of the Ghana Living Standard Survey (GLSS). We find relatively high estimates of intergenerational income elasticity (IGE), ranging from 40 to 54 percent, suggesting low intergenerational earnings mobility in Ghana. The results further point to a limited set of inherited circumstances that include the father’s education and occupation. Our estimates show that a father’s education and occupation determine one’s family’s economic status during the teenage years and explain a significant fraction of earnings inequality among male adults in Ghana. The novelty of this paper is the application of linear dynamic panel data models with repeated cross-sections to provide a consistent estimate of intergenerational elasticity of earnings in the framework of two-sample two-stage least squares (TSTSLS) using less restrictive functional form identification without exclusion restriction. The application of this new approach shows that a 1 percent increase in a father’s lifetime income raises a son’s permanent income by a range of 23.9 percent–40.9 percent, an indication of low intergenerational mobility. The results from the modified TSTSLS indicate that the traditional TSTSLS approach overestimates the IGE by at least 0.19.Item Duration of high school education on early fertility and marriage: evidence from a policy change in Ghana(International Journal of Social Economics, 2023) Boahen, E.A.; Nunoo, J.; Opoku, K.Purpose – The objective of this paper is to examine the effect of spending one extra year in high school on early marriage and childbirth. Design/methodology/approach – The study takes advantage of the education reform in 2007 that extended the years of high school education by one to conduct a quasi experiment. The marriage and fertility outcomes of women who completed a four-year senior high school education are compared to those who completed a threeyear senior high school education. Findings – The findings from the study indicate that the one-year extension in high school education led to a 4.75 percentage point reduction in the probability of ever marrying by age 27 and a 6.7 percentage point reduction in the probability of ever given birth. The authors demonstrate that the extension of the duration of high school education by one year has a heterogeneous effect, as it reduced the fertility and marriage outcomes of rural girls more than urban girls. The study reveals opportunity costs and confinement effects as possible mechanisms through which the policy affected early marriage and birth. Originality/value – This study is one of the few studies that examine the impact of the duration of secondary school education on fertility and marriage. For Africa in particular, there is no such study. Thus, this study provides a unique contribution to the literature since available studies on this subject matter can only be found in advanced economies. Unlike other studies in Africa that use a design that provides the combined effect of duration of schooling and school enrolment on fertility and marriage, this design enables the authors to only look at the effect of duration of schooling on fertility and marriage.Item Unpacking decentralization failures in promoting popular participation in the Ketu South Municipality of Ghana(Heliyon, 2023) Dzakaklo, T.K.; Hlovor, I.K.; Dah, F.K.Decentralization of governance across the globe, especially in sub-Saharan Africa was precipi tated by the need to ensure the participation of the citizenry in the development planning and implementation at the local level. This is to ensure that local problems are identified by those affected and remedied through policies formulated through the participation of the citizenry at the local level. In line with this, subnational government authorities were created at the local level to ensure effective local government administration. Against this backdrop, this study investigated the challenges hindering the active participation of the citizenry in local governance in the Ketu South Municipality of the Volta Region of Ghana. A qualitative research design was adopted. The study purposively selected thirty-five (35) participants in the study area for the purposes of its primary data collection through interviews. This study investigated the fact that citizens were expected to participate in local governance through community engagement fo rums, budgeting, and financial planning, medium-term development planning, preparation of annual action plans, and participation in district level elections. The results of the study showed that low participation of the citizenry in local government is attributable to citizens’ lack of in formation and education on the need for local-level participation, inadequate political structures of the Metropolitan Municipal and District Assemblies, and inadequate resources at the local government level. To ensure and promote the active participation of the citizenry at the local level, there is the need to educate the citizenry, and ensure that there are adequate and sufficient resources at the local level.Item Transforming critical agrarian studies: Solidarity, scholar activism and emancipatory agendas in and from the Global South*(The Journal of Peasant Studies, 2023) Aguiar, D.; Ahmed, Y.; Gyapong, A.Y.; et al.ABSTRACT This paper examines the challenges and opportunities faced by critical agrarian scholars in and from the Global South. We argue that despite the historical and structural limitations, the critical juncture of convergence of crises and renewed interest in agrarian political economies offers an opportunity for fostering a diverse research agenda that opens space for critical perspectives about, from and by the Global South, which is mostly absent in mainstream scholarship dominated by the Global North. We also propose doing so by enhancing solidarity to transform injustices within academia and other spaces of knowledge production and dissemination. To develop the argument, first, we reflect on the multiplicity of crises in rural areas and the changing character of social struggles, as well as the interlinkages between environmental crises and the re-emergence of critical agrarian studies that are reshaping the agrarian question. Then, we discuss the implications and conditions of the political agenda carried out by a scholar-activist movement working on agrarian studies from the Global South. Drawing on our experience as the Collective of Agrarian Scholar-Activists from the South (CASAS), we conclude by proposing three ways forward for enhancing solidarity through networks of scholar-activists: knowledge accessibility, cooperative organization, and co-production of knowledge