Study on Handicrafts as a Pro-Poor Tourism Development Strategy in Four Craft Villages in Ashanti Region, Ghana

Abstract

This study examines handicraft production and the effects of local and global spatio-temporal changes on craft production and craft-based livelihoods in the Ashanti region of Ghana. It also investigates the coping and survival mechanisms craftspeople have adopted to overcome production difficulties and poverty. The study is philosophically grounded in cultural geography (cultural globalisation). Using the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework, Value Chain analysis. Participatory Wealth Ranking and CASHPOR House Index (CHI) in combination with some descriptive and inferential statistics, the study identified some of the spatial and temporal changes that have occurred within craft villages, and their effects on the livelihoods and coping capacities of different categories of craftsmen and women. Focus group discussions and interviews were the main research instruments; however, these were supplemented with questionnaires administered to a hundred and thirty-eight craftspeople. Highlights of key findings, cross tabulations and chi square were employed in the analysis of qualitative and quantitative data respectively. The ‘pro-poor* focus of the cultural, tourism and poverty reduction policy frameworks were found to be inadequate, and effective implementation was lacking in many cases. The production, survival, sustainability and authenticity of cultural goods and associated livelihoods in the crafts villages were found to be susceptible to local and global ‘threats' and ‘opportunities’. Coping and survival capacities, however, varied from place to place, at different times and by gender. Few skilled artisans and many craft merchants were found in some of the crafts villages. Merchants resorted to the use of cheaper child labour and migrant artisans. Truancy, low academic achievement and a high school dropout rate among the youth in craft villages; Inequalities and illiteracy prevented some artisans from deriving enhanced benefits, and were not able to participate in decision making in their communities and within the craft industry. Cultural goods were directed at tourists and the export market, with implications for authenticity, whilst factory produced imitations and issues of intellectual property rights emerged. rights of craftspeople in the craft villages. Finally, the study concludes that pro-poor craft development approaches hold the keys to successful development of cultural goods and pro-poor tourism for poverty reduction.