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The main aim of the study is to explore aspects of entrepreneurs' motivation and perceptions with reference to prevailing values in a given context in Africa. In the initial sections of the paper, we draw on concepts of entrepreneurship and the entrepreneurship ecosystem when discussing push and pull factors, access to resources, and Ubuntu. This discussion leads to the formulation of a set of research questions and the presentation of a case study analysis. The case study reveals the extent to which globalization and global events can present as palpable phenomena for small businesses opened by entrepreneurs in Africa. Further, in highlighting altruistically oriented entrepreneurial motivations and actions, the case study raises questions about notions of "necessity" entrepreneurs, given that entrepreneurship in Africa has traditionally been linked to finance and employment as opposed to altruistic and dispositional motivations. In drawing attention to the policy implications of the findings, we highlight that entrepreneurs driven by Ubuntu values are likely to be motivated to address issues of poverty, unemployment and community harmony as compared to those who are primarily motivated by rational-economic factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, Parliaments are democratic representation institutions responsible for law making, oversight over the executive, financial controls, and representation. There is ample evidence that Members of Parliament (MPs) in Africa are providing clientelistic services to constituents. This paper seeks to unearth the implications of the involvement of MPs in the provision of clientelistic goods and services on the effective performance of the MP's traditional functions. The paper used data collected from 80 Members of the 6th Parliament of Ghana, in 2016 to draw its conclusions. The incidence of Political clientelism among MPs manifest in two dimensions: Providing individual constituent's particular services and providing constituency-wide services. Political Clientelism prevents MPs from effectively performing their traditional roles. Educating the electorate on the traditional role of the MP, and improving the policy making capacity of political parties to engage citizens on policy issues, can help change the culture of political clientelism among MPs and citizens in Ghana and Africa as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we reexamine the determinants of nonperforming loans through the impact of supervisory devices in credit risk management in Africa. The paper employs bank-specific, macroeconomic and institutional data for a panel of 14 universal banks over the period 2009 to 2020. We develop models that capture the role of regulatory supervision on credit risk. Findings from the Panels Corrected Standard Errors (PCSE) and the system GMM shows that previous year's NPL and inflation significantly affect NPLs in the banking space of Gana. Bank size and financial development are inversely associated with NPLs. The interactive term of regulatory quality and government effectiveness on NPLs has net negative effect. This suggest that regulatory quality enhances the reductive effects of government effectiveness on NPLs. Our findings in general lends credence to the financial instability theory as NPLs in the Ghanaian context has been the outcome of activities of speculative borrowers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the generous legislative environments that protects children from sexual abuse, the magnitude of child sexual abuse has not changed much in most societies across the globe, especially in Africa. This has been attributed to the limited studies on the subject due to its sensitive and complex nature. Where studies are done, researchers have had to negotiate carefully through the matrix of gaining access and consent, through to ensuring that victims are not further victimized in the process of research. This paper discusses some practical and ethical challenges inherent in researching the phenomenon of child sexual abuse in Ghana. The paper outlines and discusses the undergirding principles and strategies for conducting child-sensitive research to serve as a framework for researches who want to conduct studies on child sexual abuse and other sensitive topics in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climatic impacts on the environment, land cover and land use change such as urbanisation and deforestation affect rainfall and change riverflow responsiveness and seasonal flows as a result of their influence on nonlinear behaviour of the catchments of rivers. Water supply is seriously affected which invariably impacts on domestic activities and agriculture. In some countries river transportation, hydropower, irrigation and fish farming are at risk due to these impacts. Within this paper, a review of existing hydrological and climatic studies in Africa and Ghana in particular is presented. The paper highlights the knowledge gaps identified in the review, such as rainfall-riverflow processes and their controls in the country, estimation of cycles in evapo-transpiration and solar radiation time series, together with the complete characterisation of the temporal and spatial fluctuations within the climate cycles. The establishment of a monograph of catchment response characteristic across the Ghanaian latitudinal gradient and if possible across the tropics is recommended. This could be used for the prediction of hydrologic response of ungauged catchments in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Choosing the most effective language is critical when advertising to multilingual audiences as the success of any advertising campaign depends on whether the audience "gets" the message. This paper argues that in Africa, "getting the message" is partly dependent on language given that indigenous languages, colonial legacy languages and blends between them compete for audience attention. Using Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) arguments, the study examines this possibility among a 1000 multilingual audience members in five cosmopolitan cities in Ghana. Findings show that advertisements are not consumed in a language vacuum and that language blends are the most appealing to the multilingual audience. The study also finds that attention to, and belief in advertisements are partly shaped by language preference. Besides these empirical contributions, the study positions the ELM as a viable theoretical lens for analyzing the implications of advertising language. Its use of an African sample to test the ELM's assumptions also introduces novel evidence to the theory's body of scholarship. Recommendations are made on how advertising practitioners and brand communicators may take advantage of language as an important segmentation criterion in advertising strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development projects play a crucial role in kickstarting and promoting women's empowerment in agriculture. This paper is a conversation starter on how women can be included in the agenda to mechanise agriculture in Africa. It investigates the potential of empowering women as vital actors in the mechanisation value chain, by analysing the perceptions and experiences of the trained women tractor operators. The findings showed that the involvement of women in mechanisation pushed them beyond their comfort zones and offered them a new self-identity with new opportunities previously reserved for men. It also broadened their social capital through the formation of an association for women operators which ensured their representation at a local and national level. For young women, being an operator is the only alternative they have to one day owning a tractor-for-hiring service business because they do not own land or have capital, which is often a precondition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is provided in which the author discusses articles in the issue on topics including counseling in Africa, prediction of academic success in southwestern Nigeria, and the experiences of college students from Ghana who are studying in Great Britain.

Preparation and coordination have come to dominate discourse on operational excellence in post disaster supply chain management. In this paper we explore the critical success factors (CSF) of operations excellence in post-disaster operations management in Africa, using in-depth interviews with disaster management practitioners. Available studies have often focussed on the commercial supply chains, but rarely on the critical success factors in service excellence in post disaster management operations in Africa. Using in-depth semi-structured interviews and desk-top data collection techniques from disaster management experts in Ghana a number of factors were identified. Employing thematic data analysis technique, these factors were categorised into eight (8) themes: management and administration, resources, political, governance structure, socio-cultural, education and training, infrastructure, and stakeholder involvement and co-operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global risks of zoonotic disease are high on policy agendas. Increasingly, Africa is seen as a ‘hotspot’, with likely disease spillovers from animals to humans. This paper explores the social dynamics of disease exposure, demonstrating how risks are not generalised, but are related to occupation, gender, class and other dimensions of social difference. Through case studies of Lassa Fever in Sierra Leone, Henipah virus in Ghana, Rift Valley Fever in Kenya and Trypanosomiasis in Zimbabwe, the paper proposes a social difference space–time framework to assist the understanding of and response to zoonotic diseases within a ‘One Health’ approach. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper places land grabbing within the context of developments within agribusiness within the last 30 years, tracing the various trajectories of increasing competition and concentration and pressures on commodity prices that have resulted in increasing dispossession of smallholders and a move in some agri-food chains towards large estate production. The paper explores the ways in which contemporary agricultural policies and neoliberal market reforms reflect these developments and examines recent framing of land policies in Africa in the context of the development of agrarian capital and agribusiness. Competitiveness results in dispossession of less successful smallholders from below by commercial smallholders, and from above by large estates vertically integrated into agribusiness marketing chains. This is illustrated with examples from the cocoa sector in Côte d'Ivoire and pineapples in Ghana. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose:We investigated how information resource diversification can enhance smallholder agricultural knowledge in Ghana. Design/Methodology/Approach:Study tools and methods were questionnaire survey (N = 200), focus group discussion (N = 1), in-depth interviews (N = 18) and field direct observation. Findings:This study shows there existed diversity of information resources in Hohoe. This diversity was, however, devoid of a broad integration process to enhance smallholder access to and use of agricultural information. We demonstrate that new information channels or sources cannot function independently, but rather through an integrated approach that relies on a human facet of extension. Practical Implications:We illustrate the need for integrated extension that includes interactive field modules such as basic cell phone decision guides that support smallholder construction of solutions for their circumstances. This process requires new sets of smallholder skills and holistic extension schemes that diversify information resources through incorporation and adaptation, rather than substitution. New information resources can only be gradually mainstreamed through integration with more familiar extension means. They need a human interface because smallholder householders did not require same types and/or amounts of information. Human interface is essential to ensure critical groups including women access and utilise agricultural information resources, but without entrenching unfair task allocations among smallholder householders. Originality/Value:This paper illustrates how extension can be strengthened through new approaches. However, new approaches such as use of basic cell phones cannot be standalone processes; they require a human interface and an integrated process. The article presents actual data collected from the Ghana. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study sets out to address the decontextualized discourse on African entrepreneurship and attempts to locate it within the socio-cultural context using the philosophy and principles of Ubuntu. It investigates and traces how Ubuntu informs the motive, decisions and actions of the African entrepreneur. The study contrasts the Ubuntu-based decisions of the entrepreneur with the individualistic economic rationalism expected of an entrepreneur in a typical market economy. It presents a peculiar case of a young entrepreneur who started a business in 2013 which has gone through lots of experiences and trajectories that are relevant to Ubuntu philosophy. The study is underpinned by grounded theory research design which enabled us to analyze Ubuntu values and motivation through the entrepreneur's actions and stories. The research provides insights into the "contours" of the business journey and how social capital helps to sustain the firm. The nuances of economic rationality and humanity feature in this study as the business reached critical moments where the owner was torn between folding up and thinking about the potential impact of this decision on the employees. The research draws policy implications for entrepreneurs in Africa and encourages scholars to interrogate Westernized approaches to the concept of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change, increasingly recognized as a hurdle to achieving sustainable development goals, has already begun impacting the lives and livelihoods of people around the world, including on the African continent. Vulnerability is a concept often employed in the context of climate change to identify risks and develop policy and adaptation measures that address current and projected impacts. However, it is situated in a broader social context, driven by factors such as land tenure and access, livelihood diversification, and empowerment, which single out historically marginalized groups like women. This paper applies a vulnerability framework to a case study of cocoa farming in the Central Region of Ghana, depicting not only the variety of factors contributing to climate change vulnerability but also different narratives on vulnerability that emerge based on a woman's relation to cocoa production itself. The paper conveys how homogeneous representations of women farmers and the technical focus of climate-orientated policy interventions may threaten to further marginalize the most vulnerable and exacerbate existing inequalities. This has implications for both climate change policy design and implementation, as well as the broader social development agenda that has bearing on vulnerability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation of computerized health information systems (HIS) across the African continent has had mixed success over the past 20 years. Many countries have been left with non-functional systems which cannot be adapted to meet current health information demands because funding is exhausted, the source code for legacy systems is not available and the challenge of maintaining complex and distributed systems in resource-poor environments has simply proved too great. The expansion of Internet connectivity in Africa has enabled a new model of provisioning systems using the web which may prove to be more robust and scalable. This paper uses the case of a new web-based HIS in Ghana to illustrate the opportunities and challenges of this new model. We discuss how the HIS in Ghana was materialized through an act of “improvized outsourcing” according to Ciborra [(1999). Notes on improvisation and time in organizations.Accounting, Management and Information Technologies, 9(2), 77–94], improvization is called upon in urgent situations “when plans and procedures fail” (p. 77). Such an urgent situation took place in Ghana when the data center intended for hosting of the HIS server was not operational in time for the national rollout. Through an act of improvization, hosting of the server was outsourced to a private company in Accra. Silva (2002) [Outsourcing as an improvisation: A case study in Latin America.The Information Society, 18(2), 129–138] argues that power is essential in understanding why outsourcing improvizations succeed or fail, and in light of this we discuss what empowering factors that enabled the successful improvization in Ghana and the role of improvization and outsourcing for the long-term sustainability of system. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study explores the complex relationships among organizational learning capability (OLC), innovation, market dynamism, market responsiveness, and the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in African emerging economies. Our research investigates the role of innovation as a mediator in the OLC-performance relationship, the moderated mediation impact of market dynamism, and the mediated moderation effect of market responsiveness in the indirect relationship. Using data from 225 SMEs from Ghana, and Hayes's PROCESS bootstrapping procedure the findings confirm that innovation mediates the OLC-performance. Although, market dynamism does not moderate the OLC-innovation relationship, it moderates the indirect relationship between OLC and performance through innovation, with a stronger effect at high levels of market dynamism. Additionally, market responsiveness negatively moderates the innovation–performance relationship, but it amplifies the OLC-performance relationship via innovation, with a more pronounced effect at low levels of market responsiveness. The findings indicate that the OLC-performance relationship is not only complex but depend in firm-specific and external factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The British withdrawal from the Atlantic Slave Trade fostered the expansion, rather than retrenchment of slavery within Africa. It also spurred a shift in the pre-nineteenth-century gendered pattern of slaveholding. This paper examines the extent to which radical economic changes altered the gendered structure of slaveholding in post-abolition Ghana. It argues that the British prohibition liberalised slaveholding conditions and resulted in a reconceptualisation of the value of slaves which breached the tradition of restricted female proprietorship of slaves, and also led to increased women's earning capacity, slave acquisition and use, as well as the scale of their holdings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the actions and motivations of members of African elites who are involved in football and the influence they have on the game itself. Many so-called Big Men sponsor and run football clubs or take up key positions within one of the various football associations, special committees or ministries of sports. In this paper, I limit myself both to those Big Men who occupy key positions within clubs and to the economic side of football (e.g., the trade in footballers), as opposed to the obvious prestigious and political motivations such Big Men may have. Many of these men of means and power have taken an interest in football to (further) enrich themselves. Football, in their eyes, is a lucrative business and their objective is to unearth talented players and sell them to big clubs, both locally and abroad. As a result, several clubs have been founded or taken over purely for business purposes, and there is often unrest within the management ranks of traditional clubs due to the infighting of their members. The Big Men use their influences to get players recruited for clubs or selected into the squads and in many cases they employ “age-cheats” to get their players fielded and sold. Extensive networks among these Big Men make sure such illegalities linger on without punishments for the perpetrators. The focus of this paper is on the situation in Ghana, with references to Cameroon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When Ghana became independent in 1957 it had one of the most developed education systems in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Over the next forty years its education system expanded to provide places for most, but not all, of its children. Since the education reforms of the late 1980s enrolments have grown steadily; this contrasts with some SSA countries with universal free primary education policies, which have experienced short periods of rapid growth. Education reforms in Ghana, however, have fallen below expectations. The Free and Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) programme introduced in 1995 promised universal education by 2005. This paper revisits Ghana's FCUBE policy for clues as to why it did not achieve the target goal and especially why poorest households seem to have benefited least from it. One disappointment with FCUBE is that its input did not go far enough to offset the opportunity costs of schooling for the poorest households by abolishing all forms of fees and reducing significantly the indirect costs associated with attending school. The incidence of late entry, overage attendance and poor households' need for child labour also posed a further threat to the benefits FCUBE promised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiplicative and mediating variables are combined with a demographic variable, in non‐linear multiple regression models to assess the effect of population growth on agricultural land use in two agro‐ecological zones of Ghana. The paper uses data from a retrospective household survey (conducted among 1568 farmers in 504 households in 24 communities), population census reports of Ghana, for 1960, 1970, 1984 and 2000, agricultural census data for 1992 and 2000 and a land suitability map. Predictions of cropped area required to meet anticipated population growth are computed for 2010, based on multiple regression models and projected populations. Required cropped area is matched with actual arable area that would be available, based on a land suitability analysis. Predictions show that three and two districts in the dry and derived savannah zones, would, respectively, experience agricultural land shortfall. The rest of the districts in the two agro‐ecological zones would have agricultural land available to support future population growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper, originally given as an address to an African audience of students and academics, examines the functions of education in Africa and argues that the western-oriented approach at tertiary level is injurious to the intellectual development of students!. It sets out an analysis of the processes at work in the University of Ghana which alienate students from their own cultural and socio-economic experiences. Using the example of social work education since its inception in 1958 at the University of Ghana, this paper considers the nature of western-oriented curricula, detailing their impact on student learning and African scholarship. Finally, it is argued that the psychological legacy of the colonial era perpetuates the failure of African academia to effectively confront the dominance of Anglo-American paradigms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the implications of ‘social difference’ for schooling in African contexts. It highlights theoretical and philosophical engagements with ‘difference’ that could help explore and search for viable educational options in Africa. The paper engages voices of university students interviewed in a longitudinal ethnographic research study on schooling done in Ghana. Issues and questions about knowledge production, identity development and representation in pluralistic schooling contexts are raised. Insights about local knowledges, individual agency and resistance as they relate to possibilities for rethinking schooling and education in Africa are also explored. The students' narratives reveal how dialogues about school and educators' practices about difference and diversity are [not] addressed with respect to the students' schooling. Lessons on the possibilities of inclusive schooling environments are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heritage planning in Ghana is mainly governed by the idea of sustainable pro-poor tourism, but is only marginally integrated with general planning programmes and fragmentally addressed by policy-makers. Motivated by the general lack of research on heritage policy in Ghana, this paper examines the role of heritage planning in national socio-economic, cultural and tourism policy and highlights various ambiguities in terms of concepts, objectives and approaches. The major findings show gaps between rational and communicative planning ideals, between informal management systems and wider democratic concerns, and between delimited and comprehensive planning perspectives. The central argument is that the lack of coherence among different development planning perspectives is an issue that future heritage policy-making needs to consider in order to balance tourism development with concerns such as social stability, community development and local pride of place. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents the author's accounts on the development of science education in Ghana, Africa, as based from a working paper prepared for the Fourteenth Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs. These accounts are being derived from the author's observations during the six months he spent in 1963-64 as a visiting professor of physics at the University of Ghana. The author said that his length of stay in Ghana was long enough to gain an impressive view of people's great efforts to overcome their difficulties, of their optimistic belief in progress through education, and finally of their openmindedness and warm hospitality.

How does unethical behavior of employees manifest in organizations? We answer this question using strain, interest, and ethnos oblige theories in four studies based on data from Ghana and Botswana. We find support across the three theoretical perspectives of a mediated model where strain, interest, and obligation influence unethical behavior via affect and strategies. We also conducted robustness checks using bribery and corruption criterions which support the findings and show more robust effects with ethnos oblige theory than strain and interest theories. We make novel theoretical, empirical, and practical contributions by providing a parsimonious explanation for why employees engage in unethical behavior in Africa. Overall, our studies extend the unethical behavior literature by proposing an integrative model that recognizes the syncretic experiences of employees in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a two-sided ethnographic study in Accra, this paper analyses Chinese–Ghanaian employment relations from the perspectives of psychological contract, cross-cultural equity expectations and foreignness. Reaching beyond racially framed allegations of each other that are informed partly by politicized media discourses, structural analysis shows that mutually contradictory, culturally grounded expectations regarding their employment relationship are central to the understanding of conflict between Chinese employers and Ghanaian employees. Central to the frictions of mutual equity expectations is the feeling of existential vulnerability that – although particular for each group – is shared by both Chinese migrant employers taking high financial risks in an unfamiliar and potentially hostile environment and their local employees recruited almost exclusively from economically marginalized groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several African countries instituted education reforms in the 1980s and 1990s. Yet, there is only little evidence on the effectiveness of these programs. Additionally, most previous studies of the determinants of literacy and numeracy have considered the proficiency in only one language and, possibly, numeracy. This paper examines both of these issues for the case of Ghana, analyzing the trends in and determinants of four different literacy skills and numeracy. A comparison of outcomes before and after the 1987 Education Sector Reform indicates that literacy and numeracy skills levels increased following the Reform, and more so for English literacy skills than for Ghanaian literacy skills, thus confirming prior expectations. The results from linear probability models of literacy and numeracy outcomes indicate that, consistent with the objective of the Reform, the productivity of primary education in terms of literacy and numeracy increased, while the productivity of other levels of education remained constant or decreased. Additionally, the results highlight the importance of school quality and other community level factors in the creation of literacy and numeracy and therefore also the importance of incorporating these factors in empirical analyses. The results indicate that the focus of the 1987 Education Sector Reform might have been too narrow, so that future education policy in Ghana may want to focus on strengthening the quality of education above the primary level, also. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores the impact of mining on the everyday lives of people in the Wassa West District, Western Region, Ghana. It is based on an interpretative methodology involving focus group discussions and in-depth interviews, complemented with an analysis of policy documents. The results reveal an extensive geographic transformation of livelihoods at various scales as a result of the local people being displaced from their lands that have become contested economic spaces. Monetary compensation for farmers who have lost their lands to mining companies remains a contentious issue, with farmers reporting that they are always at the losing end of any contestation for land and compensation. Furthermore, the local public perception is that there is hardly any trickle down of mining benefits to the local communities to improve their lives. After more than two decades of operation of various minerals and mining laws, our findings point to a conflicting and confused mining sector policy environment that disadvantages local communities. There is therefore a need to revise the country’s mining laws to reflect international best practices, to help make Ghana a sustainable mining investment destination in Africa, and to facilitate sustainable economic development in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Colonial literature often assumed that Africans belonged to tribes and could be organised in orderly fashion. Concepts of ethnicity and identity have replaced the colonial paradigm and propositions of ‘pots as people' are considered fallacies. Nevertheless, analogies continue to be employed, thereby overlooking the diversity of historical experiences, the fluidity and the strategic character of ethnicity, rather than stressing similarities across time and space. This case study cautions against the validity of simple analogies used to address identity formation and its direct relationship with material culture. It focuses on ceramics produced in the Banda area of west-central Ghana during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that are characterised by their seeming lack of meaning as emblems of identity, while intangible cultural aspects play a central role. When analysed at the micro-level identical vessels used by different ethnic groups in their daily life show variability in manufacture among villages. This paper examines how contexts and choices in production can be entangled with cultural identity, taking us beyond formal aspects of ceramics as markers of identity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article describes and explains the impact of the donor-driven Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) and the aid modalities surrounding it in Ghana. It focuses on the period in which the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government was in power from 2001 until 2008, but places this within the broader context of aid dependence in Ghana since the 1980s. It is argued that the PRSP documents produced by the government had little impact on implementing policy actions, but rather their function was to secure debt relief and the continuation of foreign aid from official donors. The article examines what was actually implemented during the NPP government and the factors that influenced those actions. More generally it highlights the constraints Ghanaian governments have faced in pursuing economic transformation within contemporary domestic and international contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores three main issues in the context of Ghana: constraints on the delivery of effective special educational needs (SEN); the range of information and communication technologies (ICT)-based needs identified by teachers, pupils and organizations involved in the delivery of SEN; and existing practices in the use of ICTs in SEN in the country. It concludes that people with disabilities continue to be highly marginalized, both in terms of policy and practice. Those involved in delivering SEN nevertheless recognize that ICTs can indeed contribute significantly to the learning processes of people with disabilities. Governments across Africa must take positive action to ensure that such experience with ICTs can be used to enable those with SEN to achieve their full potential, whether in special schools or included within mainstream education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on the experience of Ghana, which the World Bank itself proclaimed as an African success story in the early 1990s, this paper sheds important light on why neoliberal policies have had limited success in Africa and what strategies are likely to be necessary to foster growth and industrialisation in Ghana and elsewhere in Africa. In 2001, a few short years after being proclaimed as an economic miracle, Ghana joined the growing ranks of highly indebted poor countries (HIPC) - an especially humbling development for this once proud nation. Why did Ghana's economy collapse after recovering so well? Ghana's experience highlights both the promise and limitation of neoliberal reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Girls' enrolment in primary schools has achieved significant increase and parity with male enrolment in many countries in Africa since the 1960s. Some of these countries include Botswana, Namibia and Tanzania. However, in most Sub-Saharan African countries, female enrolment still lags behind male enrolment. This paper examines some of the reasons for the persistent gender gap between females and males in the three African countries of Ghana, Nigeria and Togo within the West Africa sub-region. It discusses gender relations, cultural practices such as early marriage, child slavery, and child fostering/trafficking, poverty and multiple household duties for girls as some of the contributing factors. It is argued that unless these cultural beliefs and attitudes are changed and mandatory measures such as holding parents accountable and responsible are put in place, gender parity and quality education for all, especially for females, will not be achieved in Africa. A number of additional strategies for improvement in school attendance and retention for females are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the past and present of the approximately 80 slave trade-related structures erected by Europeans on the shores of the Gold Coast (now Ghana). Built between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, these monuments bear testimony to a shameful commerce in human beings, one that served to inextricably link the fate of peoples of three continents: Africa, the Americas and Europe. The meaning of these monuments remains powerful, bringing to Ghana and the slave forts a stream of tourists, primarily from Europe and the Americas, on a pilgrimage to view the virtual history of buyers, sellers and victims of the Atlantic Slave Trade. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There is an alarming tide of cardiovascular and metabolic disease (CMD) sweeping across Africa. This may be a result of an increasingly urbanized lifestyle characterized by the growing consumption of processed and calorie-dense food, combined with physical inactivity and more sedentary behaviour. While the link between lifestyle and public health has been extensively studied in Caucasian and African American populations, few studies have been conducted in Africa. This paper describes the detailed methods for Phase 1 of the AWI-Gen study that were used to capture phenotype data and assess the associated risk factors and end points for CMD in persons over the age of 40 years in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We developed a population-based cross-sectional study of disease burden and phenotype in Africans, across six centres in SSA. These centres are in West Africa (Nanoro, Burkina Faso, and Navrongo, Ghana), in East Africa (Nairobi, Kenya) and in South Africa (Agincourt, Dikgale and Soweto). A total of 10,702 individuals between the ages of 40 and 60 years were recruited into the study across the six centres, plus an additional 1021 participants over the age of 60 years from the Agincourt centre. We collected socio-demographic, anthropometric, medical history, diet, physical activity, fat distribution and alcohol/tobacco consumption data from participants. Blood samples were collected for disease-related biomarker assays, and genomic DNA extraction for genome-wide association studies. Urine samples were collected to assess kidney function. The study provides base-line data for the development of a series of cohorts with a second wave of data collection in Phase 2 of the study. These data will provide valuable insights into the genetic and environmental influences on CMD on the African continent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses Kenya and Ghana as case studies to analyse the construction of children, information and communication technologies (ICT) and the internet in Africa. The article discusses the interaction of girl-child protection and media risk discourses and the implication for children, girls, and women in Africa. It highlights the positioning of children in relation to ICT and the internet in terms of gender, age, class, and other demographic factors. It further examines whether, how and which children are constructed as agents or victims, and the ways in which their agency/victimhood is discussed. The article finds dominant child protection and media risk discourses focusing on the risk posed by the internet for children, particularly girls, as the main drivers of the representation of the problem. It also offers a critique of the solutions proposed to addressing the problems presented by the internet for children for taking a homogenising as well as a legalistic and regulatory approach. The article concludes by problematizing these problem representations and solutions, as well as the silences and the ways in which the in problems can be approached differently. Prior State of Knowledge: A lot of research documents the realisation of children's rights provided by the UN Convention on the rights of the Child. However, there is a dearth of research on the digital rights of children particularly in Africa. Novel Contributions: Through analysis of policy and institutional perspectives relating to children, ICTs and the internet in Kenya and Ghana, this article offers a critical approach to the construction of children and ICTs in policy and practice. Practical Implications: The article counters dominant narratives that may affect children's ability to access and benefit from the internet. It advocates for policies and programs that seek to understand children's online experiences and support children to engage constructively with the internet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With a rapidly growing population, Africa faces a significant job creation challenge. One solution to this is to encourage local entrepreneurship. Yet, entrepreneurs are facing an environment where resources are scarce. A way to enact entrepreneurial opportunities in such a penurious environment is to use bricolage and create products or services by making do with what is at hand. We support the notion that bricolage can to some extent be learnt at the individual level. We examine this viewpoint in an empirical study in Ghana with 353 actual and aspiring entrepreneurs. We examine the direct effects of informal learning in the workplace on bricolage, while investigating the moderating effects of higher-level formal education and unemployment. Our findings show that bricolage can be fostered at the individual level through informal learning, and thereby enables individuals in Ghana to form opportunities through bricolage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dominant theoretical framework for analyzing migration in Africa rests on the assumption of cooperative intrahousehold decision making regarding the mobility of household members. This framework, applied to women's migration, overlooks the varied decision-making processes underlying their mobility, and obscures their ability to act as purposeful agents in making decisions about migration. Drawing on a study of women's rural–urban migration in Ghana, this article argues that women's migration decisions exist on a continuum defined by the presence or absence of intrahousehold contestation and the degree of agency exercised by the migrants themselves. Consequently, household models of migration may not always be the appropriate theoretical framework for the analysis of women's migration in this context. The findings presented have implications for economic analyses of women's migration and remittances, for our understanding of migrant women's capacity for agency, and for the design of effective policies to improve migration outcomes for women. HIGHLIGHTS The study directly elicits information from women about their migration decisions. Women's migration is the outcome of complex decision-making processes. The dichotomy between household and individual models of migration ignores these complexities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using time-lagged primary data from entrepreneurs in two developing countries (Ghana, N = 261 and Ethiopia, N = 166), we examine how institutional voids drive entrepreneurs' advice seeking behavior. Our findings show that higher levels of institutional voids in these developing countries are negatively related to internal advice-seeking but positively associated with external advice-seeking. The results also show that a heightened perception of environmental dynamism negatively moderates the relationship between institutional voids and internal advice-seeking but positively moderates the effect of institutional voids and external advice-seeking. Furthermore, we find that the negative relationship between institutional voids and internal advice-seeking is positive when entrepreneurs develop ties with politicians. The positive relationship between institutional voids and external advice-seeking is amplified when political network connections are stronger. Implications and direction for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rice yellow mottle virus (RYMV) disease is the leading biotic stress affecting rice (Oryza sativa L.) production in Africa, causing yield losses ranging from 10% to 100%. In Ghana, most of the leading aromatic rice varieties are susceptible to RYMV disease. In this study, two resistant genotypes (Gigante and K150710) were crossed to a leading aromatic variety (CRI-AgraRice), which is susceptible to RYMV, to determine the mode of inheritance of RYMV disease using both Mendelian and quantitative methods. While the Mendelian segregation pattern suggested a single recessive gene is responsible for resistance to RYMVD in Gigante, the quantitative methods indicated that up to two genes could be responsible for RYMVD resistance in the CRI-AgraRice × Gigante cross. Resistance to RYMVD in the AgraRice × Gigante cross was explained by duplicate epistasis. The inheritance of resistance to RYMVD in CRI-AgraRice × K150710 was polygenic, with up to five genes being responsible and with the gene action fitting into an additive-dominance model. Heritability and genetic advance for the two crosses were high, indicating that breeding for resistance to rice yellow mottle virus disease is feasible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores whether the use of imported intermediates has a moderating impact on the productivity effects of export market destinations using data from Ghanaian manufacturing firms over the period of 1991 to 2002. The results show that the use of imported inputs in the production process helps firms that export outside Africa alone to enhance productivity compared to non-exporting firms. In contrast, firms that export outside Africa alone, but do not use imported inputs in the production process have lower productivity compared to non-exporting firms. Policies that promote trade in intermediate inputs across borders can help to enhance productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New and emerging infectious diseases such as the Ebola virus and the recent coronavirus create ideal conditions for cross-border disease outbreaks. The need to undertake comparative studies across contexts in affected regions becomes important for health communication and policy decision making. The purpose of this study is to compare the differences in knowledge, risk perception, affect, and self-efficacy about Ebola between respondents in an affected and an unaffected but proximate country in West Africa. This study used a survey with multi-stage sampling of community members in two peri-urban districts in Ghana and Liberia. Transmission knowledge lowered comparative vulnerability and perceived risk, while knowledge about signs and symptoms and knowledge about prevention increased self-efficacy. But knowledge was not a predictor of self-efficacy. Affective imagery analysis presents distinct affective profiles of respondents in the two countries. Different kinds of knowledge relate to risk perception and self-efficacy differently and this should be considered when developing health communication campaigns. Health and risk communication should no longer be just a context specific affair but must have a regional or sub-regional component that considers unaffected but at-risk countries. Finally, risk and health communicators need to consider the affective states of community members because affective states may indicate the basic feeling (individual and societal) profile of the audience, which will be beneficial for determining the level and type of messaging likely to be effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since its emergence in Africa in 2016, fall armyworm (FAW) has spread rapidly and poses a severe threat to the food security and livelihood of millions of smallholder farmers in the continent. Using survey data from Ghana and Zambia, we examined FAW prevention and control methods implemented by farm households and their impacts on maize output and household consumption of self-produced maize. The main control methods used included pesticide application and handpicking of larvae, while access to information on FAW was a key driver behind the implementation of the control methods. Results from an endogenous switching regression showed that the implementation of a FAW management strategy significantly enhanced maize yield and households' own maize consumption. When disentangling the impacts of the main control methods, we found that the combination of pesticide application and handpicking of larvae produced the highest yield gain of 125%. We concluded that the current interventions put in place by farmers to tackle FAW infestations are providing positive outcomes, but successful management of the pest will require more actions, including raising awareness to enhance the adoption of control interventions and exploring other control options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study tests the validity of Lussier model in predicting success or failure of small businesses in Ghana, Africa. The study uses logistic regression to analyze 101 failed and 107 successful small businesses. The results of the study support the model validity in Ghana and three variables (capital, economic timing, and marketing skills) were significant in predicting small businesses success or failure. The model also predicted 86.5% of the businesses accurately with a high R-square value. This study is the first to test the Lussier model in Africa and reinforces the validity of the Lussier model as a global success or failure prediction model that contributes to theory and practice. Implications for future and current entrepreneurs; government agencies that train, advice and assist small business owners; public policy makers; educators; suppliers; lenders; and consultants are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined associations between individual and community socioeconomic status (SES) and childbirth in a health facility in West and Central Africa using data from the 2009–2011 United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey for women in seven countries (n = 34,487). Individual SES measures were education and wealth; community SES was low or high poverty index. In adjusted results, women residing in communities with high poverty had significantly lower odds of facility delivery than those who lived in more affluent communities in five countries (all p < 0.001). Reducing out-of-pocket healthcare costs may improve women's access to delivery in health facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobile phones have become an important constituent of backpackers' travel experiences—reconstructing their ideology and sociality in the virtual world. Though backpacking is increasingly becoming popular in Africa, it remains unexplored in that context. The study used a concurrent embedded mixed methods design in which 567 backpackers were studied using a questionnaire and 15 others using in-depth interviews. The results show that both positive experiences relative to social interactions and entertainment and adverse experiences relative destination infrastructure, safety and security and mobile service quality and cost characterized backpackers' experiences of using their smartphones abroad. The theoretical and managerial implications of the study are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence wielded by international development actors in Global South bureaucracies remains enormous. These actors actively shape the policy-making practices and funding of local state bureaucracies. Nevertheless, local bureaucracies have become adept at strategically appropriating that influence to their own benefit and to appear legitimate in order to exact development funds for their everyday tasks. Empirical data from two local self-governing areas in Ghana show that attempts towards gaining legitimacy are not only influenced by self-interest but also by external development funds seeking to promote the performance of the local state. Despite numerous institutional changes to enhance participation, the daily tasks of the local political structures tend rather to focus on assessments and qualification for development funds. Although these funds add to the local resource pool, at the same time they inhibit the realisation of the local state's grandiose promise of reforms promoting participatory development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research explores manifestations of ‘diploma disease’ in distance education (DE) upgrading programmes for basic school teachers in Ghana. A survey design which included document analysis was used to explore the emphasis in the contents of the DE programme and the experiences of teachers who took the programmes. The study involved a sample of 230 students (140 males and 90 females) who were all teaching in public schools (66% in primary and 31% in junior high schools). The findings indicate that the programme was fulfilling its purpose of upgrading a large number of teachers so they acquired a diploma and/or degree qualification for teaching in Ghanaian basic schools. In spite of their average satisfaction with their experiences of several aspects of the DE upgrading programme, a substantial proportion of the participants indicated that they had great difficulties in carrying out such activities as ‘teaching large classes’ and ‘teaching new content areas introduced into the syllabuses’ because the programme provided little opportunity to develop these skills. Finally, since the DE programme is based on the official curriculum designed for the traditional face-to-face programme, the failure of the former to increase teachers’ capacity to deliver as envisaged by the initiators of the programme can be attributed largely to inefficiencies in the official curriculum. The study concluded that the DE programme’s inability to increase teachers’ capacity to deliver better teaching is a manifestation of a ‘diploma disease’ resulting from inefficiencies in the nation’s teacher education system. Suggestions are made for improving the quality of DE upgrading programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Political parties are generally thought of as agents of democracy that fulfil a range of functions, such as policy formulation, interest aggregation and articulation, social integration, and elite recruitment. However, given the weakness of many African parties, are they able to contribute positively to democracy? This article seeks to answer this question by using Ghana – one of Africa's most successful democracies – as a case study. It is found that parties in Ghana are comparatively strong and do indeed mobilise large numbers of voters. They even expose a degree of ideological competition and have successfully adapted their strategies to the local context. On the other hand, they expose serious weaknesses in the field of social integration and interest representation. Against this background it is argued that even in procedurally well-functioning democracies like Ghana, political parties can be instruments of elite competition that contribute to the exclusion of the poor from decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]