Collective learning and COVID-19 mitigation in Ghana

Abstract

COVID-19 has created significant uncertainty and disruption among governments and people acrossthe globe. Policy studies present various theoretical frameworks that allow scholars and practitioners to make sense of these developments in a structured and systematic fashion. In this paper, we combined the collective learning framework with documentary data and process tracing analysis to describe, first, the features of the COVID-19 collective learning setting in Ghana. Next, we explored the linkages among learning processes, learning products, and COVID-19 mitigation. We found that diverse policy actors operated at distinct levels of government and performed different functions in managing the pandemic. Furthermore, we confirmed all three phases of learning (acquisition, translation, and dissemination) in Ghana's context. Lastly, policies such as public grooming management, mandatory mask-wearing, partial lockdown, and fiscal and tax reliefs enabled the government to mitigate the pandemic's impact on people. We conclude by highlighting the implications of these findings for policy learning scholarship