Participation in Informal Social Security among Different Ethnic Groups in the Ga East Municipality.

Abstract

People are at risk of experiencing unforeseen risks and shocks in the course of their daily lives, which makes it important for them to plan towards managing risks in life. The objective of this dissertation is to investigate how different ethnic groups organize informal security, nature of benefits, who benefits and why within the Ga East Municipality in Greater Accra Region. Altogether 208 members of various ethnic associations were interviewed. In addition, 2 members of executives of each ethnic association making a total of 30 executives were interviewed. The data was analyzed using CSpro and Excel software to undertake bivariate analysis. The findings show that informal social security protection systems in Ghana have not changed much over the years among the ethnic groups. Traditional systems of protection such as the Susu where there is collective and reciprocal support which has operated for decades still exist. The reciprocal nature of social security in the informal sector is still prioritized; therefore participation and involvement guarantee one such protection. It appears that majority of the respondents do not rely on, or seek support from the government or any other bodies in times of need; many are skeptical of the Government of Ghana‟s ability to provide such services