Centre for Social Policy Studies
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Item The Art of Giving - Through Volunteerism and Philanthropy: The Ghana Experience(Center for Social Policy Studies - University of Ghana, 2012-04) Aryeetey, E.B.; Opai-Tetteh, D.D.The world has known a long history of philanthropy and volunteerism, in spite of its centuries of wars and often acrimonious social relations between adversaries. Traditional giving practices were and remain predominantly in the form pf reciprocal exchange ,of goods and services between kin groups and their neighbours to sustain social capital. The objective of this working paper is to review the nature and practice of giving in general, but with special reference to Ghana. The aim is mainly to introduce the development community to the importance of social mobilization in the overall efforts at social progress by highlighting the contributions that charitable giving can make to social development. In the process the paper unveils some of the challenges that confront giving in Ghana. The discussion points out that while familial giving receives a lot of attention in the country, there is a growing incidence of civic giving taking place; some of it with support from public institutions, Having said that, it does appear that the scene is dominated by customary giving practices, which leave a lot of scope for advancing civic forms of giving. Religious beliefs, philosophical ideas and ethical principles have all contributed to the endurance of societal commitment to reciprocity and redistribution. The United Nations General Assembly in 1985 set aside 5th December every year to celebrate the International Volunteer Day. This has further created renewed interest in volunteer activities across the world. The paper relies mainly on secondary data on giving in Ghana and elsewhere. The main finding is that in developed economies where attractive policies are in place to encourage people to give to charity huge amounts of funds can be mobilized for charity work. On the other hand in countries like Ghana though giving is common, especially as remittances and for funerals, philanthropy and volunteerism are largely unstructured and informal. . In addition, data on the scope and value of such practices is virtually non-existent, making it difficult to mobilize such funds for planned social development.Item Balancing finance and sustainability: The impact of financial access on carbon emissions through innovation and entrepreneurship in a global study.(Elsevier Inc., 2025-01-13) Domfe, G.This study examines the interplay between financial access, innovation, entrepreneurship, and carbon emissions using a dataset of 149 countries over 24 years (2000–2023). Employing two stage least squares (2SLS) techniques to address endogeneity, the findings reveal that financial access significantly boosts innovation and entrepreneurship, which are key drivers of economic growth. However, financial access may also increase carbon emissions if not aligned with sus tainable practices. Innovation reduces emissions by fostering environmentally friendly technol ogies, while entrepreneurship initially contributes to emissions but can mitigate this effect when supported by sustainable financial practices. The study highlights the importance of financial policies that promote green innovation and sustainable entrepreneurship, offering actionable insights for policymakers to achieve economic growth while addressing global carbon emissions.Item Building the adaptive capacity for livelihood improvements of Sahel Savannah farmers through NGO-led adaptation interventions(Climate Risk Management, 2019-09-24) Tahiru, A.; Sackey, B.; Owusu, G.; Bawakyillenuo, S.The paper explores the extent to which NGO-led interventions on climate change adaptation over the years have developed the adaptive capacity of farmers in Ghana. Drawing on the experiences of farmers from the Savelugu Municipal Assembly in Ghana, the paper investigates whether the adaptation practices by NGOs are localized and sufficiently progressive to ensure sustainable adaptation. The study is situated within the interpretive paradigm using a qualitative approach. Data was collected through interviews and focus group discussions with NGOs and farmers in the municipality. The study finds that institutions, particularly international NGOs and the various interventions they led, have been very critical for developing potential of farmers to be actively involved in the processes of change to minimize the negative impacts of climate change. They provide direct and indirect capacity building activities such as providing farmers with information on climate change and its impact on their yields and livelihoods, building farmers skills and knowledge to deal adequately with climate variability, laying the foundations for individuals to build various capitals, directly assisting in coping and adaptive livelihood activities, financial assistance to build livelihood capitals and engaging in impact offsetting strategies. These determinants of the adaptive capacity provide interesting input in terms of guidance for management options to enhance the adaptive capacity of the communities in the face of climate change. Such results are significant in informing policy and practice at the national and local levels.Item Choosing an apprenticeship: Skills preferences amongst the youth(International Development Planning Review, 2013-01) Aryeetey, E.; Doh, D.; Andoh, P.Young people leaving basic education with no opportunities of continuing on to the next level of education often face a tough choice of what to do next. There are a variety of issues that pose challenges for them, not least being what trajectory to pursue in their quest for skills training for employment. This article examines the precursors to skills choices among young people, using qualitative data from trainees engaging in both informal apprenticeships and formal and vocational training institutions in Ghana. The analysis adopted an inductive approach, using a thematic analytical framework to generate insights and uncover the factors that shape them. The findings show that there is interplay of several factors that influence the skills preferences of young people in vocational education, including the family context, socio-cultural environment and the presence of role models within specific trades. The paper concludes that, in harmonising the frontiers of skills training, it is imperative for policy to provide systematic career guidance and counselling paths for trainees in both formal and informal apprenticeship training institutions, in order to enhance their skills choices.Item Deals and Development: The Political Dynamics of Growth Episodes(Oxford University Press, 2017) Osei, R.D.; Ackah, C.; Domfe, G.; Danquah, M.This chapter explores the extent to which political settlements interacting with the rents space affect the nature of the deals space and consequently help explain economic growth in Ghana. The discussions are centred around four break points and therefore five growth episodes for Ghana: pre-1966, 1966–74, 1974–83, 1983–2001, and 2001–14. First, there are signs that the post-2001 period has been more ordered and open than the first twenty-five years after independence. Second, the political settlement has also changed somewhat over the years, from a dominant to a more competitive type. However, it is argued that political patronage remains rife. Third, the chapter finds that the interplay of political settlements and rent space has been important in shaping the nature of the deals space in Ghana. Finally, it highlights two types of positive and negative feedback loop relating to these variables over the years.Item ). Delayed primary school enrolment among boys and girls in Ghana(Elsevier Science, 2016) Seshie-Nasser, H.A.; Oduro, A.D.Using the fifth Ghana Living Standards Survey, this paper examines whether delayed entry is as likely among girls as it is among boys and the importance of the household's poverty status in understanding delayed entry. No gender difference is found in the likelihood of delayed entry. However boys are much older for their grades than girls suggesting that they may experience a more extended period of delayed entry. The poverty status of the household is not an important correlate of delayed entry among girls or children in urban households but is important for boys and rural children.Item 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 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 The economy of Ghana sixty years after indpendence(Oxford University Press, 2017) Oduro, A.D.; Ackah, C.J.his chapter assesses gender issues in the national discourse and policy agenda since independence and presents evidence on trends in gender gaps in education, employment, time use, and asset ownership. Although progress has been made in introducing legislation and policies to promote gender equality, important legislation remains to be enacted. Gender parity in primary enrolment has been achieved but gender gaps persist in other education levels and in education outcomes. More women are in wage employment, but the proportion of working women classified as unpaid family workers remains stubbornly high. The gender gap in time spent on unpaid domestic work persists despite women’s increased labour force participation and there is a gender gap in asset ownership. Closing the gender gap will require crafting appropriate strategies based on a clear understanding of gender relations in order to change values, norms, and behaviours.Item Effective Project Management of a Pan-African Cancer Research Network: Men of African Descent and Carcinoma of the Prostate (MADCaP)(Journal of Global Oncology, 2018-09) Odiaka, E.; Lounsbury, D.W.; Jalloh, M.; Adusei, B.; Diallo, T.A.; Kane, P.M.S.; Rockson, I.; Okyne, V.; Irusen, H.; Pentz, A.; Makinde, I.et.al.Purpose Health research in low- and middle-income countries can generate novel scientific knowledge and improve clinical care, fostering population health improvements to prevent premature death. Project management is a critical part of the success of this research, applying knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to accomplish required goals. Here, we describe the development and implementation of tools to support a multifaceted study of prostate cancer in Africa, focusing on building strategic and operational capacity. Methods Applying a learning organizational framework, we developed and implemented a project management toolkit (PMT) that includes a management process flowchart, a cyclical center-specific schedule of activities, periodic reporting and communication, and center-specific monitoring and evaluation metrics. Results The PMT was successfully deployed during year one of the project with effective component implementation occurring through periodic cycles of dissemination and feedback to local center project managers. A specific evaluation was conducted 1 year after study initiation to obtain enrollment data, evaluate individual quality control management plans, and undertake risk log assessments and follow-up. Pilot data obtained identified areas in which centers required mentoring, strengthening, and capacity development. Strategies were implemented to improve project goals and operational capacity through local problem solving, conducting quality control checks and following compliancy with study aims. Moving forward, centers will perform quarterly evaluations and initiate strengthening measures as required. Conclusion The PMT has fostered the development of both strategic and operational capacity across project centers. Investment in project management resources is essential to ensuring high-quality, impactful health research in low- and middle-income countries.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 Engendering economic policy in Africa.(Taylor & Francis, 2015) Oduro, A.D.; van Staveren, I.Despite Africa's relatively commendable growth performance since 2000, growth has not been accompanied by structural transformations. First, there has been little diversification from agriculture into industry, particularly manufacturing. Second, the poverty headcount and inequality remain high in many countries, even as African countries continue to rank lowest on the United Nations Development Programme's Gender Inequality Index. This contribution goes beyond the individualistic approach of supply-side policies and unveils deeper mechanisms that need to be tackled for the two transformations (diversification and inequality reduction) to occur. It demonstrates that gender inequality relies on unwritten but dominant social norms, hence, informal institutions. The removal of formal legislation that constrains women's agency, the enactment of formal laws, and the implementation of economic policies designed specifically to create incentives for behavior change are recommended.Item Friend or Patron? Social Relations Across the National NGO–Donor Divide in Ghana(Springer, 2021) Kumi, E.; Copestake, J.The article examines the institutions governing relations between grant using national NGOs and grant giving international donors in three regions of Ghana (Upper West, Northern and Greater Accra Region). Formal procedural rules and professional norms can be viewed as necessary to minimise opportunities for informal patronage, rent-seeking and corruption made possible by the unequal access to resources. However, semi-structured interviews, life histories and observation high light the positive role informal networks, connections, personal contacts and friend ship play in enhancing collaboration between donors and national NGOs. Friend ships originating in kinship and ethnicity, school links and past collaboration offer opportunities for infuencing and resource mobilisation, but can also weaken NGO sustainability. Informal contacts and face-to-face interactions also build trust and strengthen lines of accountability, with non-adherence to shared norms resulting in sanctions and reputation loss. These findings affrm the positive role of informal relations, and highlight how they can complement formal rules and professional norms governing NGO–donor relations rather than undermining them. It throws a very different light on the role of informal institutions than that fostered by a discourse of clientelism and provides a more nuanced conceptual foundation for assessing ‘formalisation’ as a normative strategy.Item Gender of Household Heads, Assets and Choice of Basic Services(Ghana Social Science Journal, 2017-06-01) Domfe, G.; Bortei-Doku Aryeetey, E.The paper examines how assets owned by men- and women-headed households could help in enhancing the choice of different basic social services. It uses the data of a comprehensive field survey conducted by the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research in 9,310 households across 23 MiDA intervention districts in Ghana in 2008. A multinomial logistic regression was employed to assess how ownership of a particular asset could enhance the choice of basic social services such as education, health and sanitation. The results of the study indicate that women-headed households control less productive assets and are therefore more likely to depend on the cheaper but lower quality public educational facilities than on the expensive but higher quality private educational facilities. Recommendations were therefore made for policy to ensure that opportunities are provided for women-headed households to own more productive assets.Item Girls in Mining in Ghana: Surviving Without Flourishing(Centre for Social Policy Studies - University of Ghana, 2016-12) Doh, D.; Bortei-DokuAryeetey, E.; Ahadzie, W.; Lawson, E.T.Child labour is endemic in Africa and remains one of the biggest challenges facing Ghana. Child labour, by definition in Ghana’s Children’s Act, 1998 (Act 560) refers to (harmful) work by children below the age of 18 years. Yet for many children and their families, child labour is a very important coping mechanism that helps them to fight poverty. Some scholars are beginning to soften their hardline stance on child labour, suggesting that many working children have successfully completed school. This report shares findings on an exploratory study of 165 girls under 18 years working in artisanal gold mines in Akwatia in the Eastern Region and Tarkwa in the Western Region in Ghana. Descriptive statistics from the study revealed that the majority of girls in mining were able to support themselves financially but simply could not cope with regular school, to be able to make positive advancements in their social development. Thus the girls were able to survive but could hardly flourish under the circumstances. Thus the observation that it is possible to successfully combine school and work among children therefore is subject to the conditions under which this occurs, and requires further field study.Item Household Composition and Well-Being of Older Persons in Ghana(University of Wisconsin Press, 2016) Domfe, G.; Bortei-Doku Aryeetey, E.Ghana’s population is aging in line with global trends. While this has implications for household composition and well-being of older persons, discussions on it have not received much attention in the various welfare studies on Ghana. This paper examines changes in household composition and their overall correlation with well-being of the older person. The data sets of the last four rounds of Ghana Living Standard Surveys were used to analyse trends in household composition in Ghana from 1991–1992 survey period to 2012–2013 survey period. A probit regression analysis was employed to identify key household characteristics and resources that correlate with well-being of older persons. The findings suggest that higher number of economically active household members, acquisition of formal education, receipt of remittances and ownership of certain material and social resources correlate positively with the well-being of the older persons. The paper concludes that household composition and resources owned by household members can affect the well-being of the older persons in the household. Household members are therefore encouraged to remain economically active while conserving resources to improve their well-being later in life.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 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 Implementation of Social Protection Interventions in Africa. "The Trend in the Outcomes of Free Basic Education in Ghana, Malawi, Kenya and Uganda"(Universal Journal of Educational Research, 2018-12) Brenyah, J.K.Social protection interventions have been used as a poverty reduction strategy in many countries. Free Basic Education is one of the social protection interventions implemented in most developing countries. This review assessed the outcome of the implementation of Free Basic Education in Africa, using Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, and Malawi as a test case. Thirty-Seven (37) published documents were used for the study. The study is underpinned by Bagozzi’s Goal Theory and Conceptualized with Knowledge Gaps and Knowledge Management Strategies. The study noted that, the Free Basic Education Policy has increased primary school net enrolment rates in these countries holding all other confounders constant. The study also revealed that, the implementation of the Free Basic Education Policy did not reduce educational expenditure as expected as school authorities continue to levy pupils. The objective of removing financial barriers was therefore not met, and the quality of teaching and learning delivery in most schools has fallen due to high pupils-teacher ratio and other implementation challenges. Based upon these findings, the study concluded that, there is the need for constant stakeholder interaction, efficient financial practices, fiscal space creation, provision of more educational infrastructure, recruitment of additional teachers, measures to ensure quality of teaching and learning delivery and effective monitoring of social protection intervention programmes in Africa.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.
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