Mining versus Farming: An Analysis of the Farmers’ Livelihood System

The implementation and main objective of the community compensation package program for farmers in the Prestea mining area is to deal with some of the grievances emanating from the operations of Golden Star Resource Limited (GSR) in the Prestea community. Some of these reservations of the local farmers relate to the impact on the local people’s farmlands by the large-scale mining company’s operations. This has consequently led to violent conflicts sometimes resulting in the loss of life and property. There are well-known complaints including the destruction of farms and homes of local people through expansive activities of GSR and the digging of mining pits close to farms. The large-scale mining company has a compensation package that is normally given to the farmers for affecting their farms. It is therefore crucial to assess the livelihood system of local farmers including the community compensation program for farmers since the farmers appear not to be content with the program. This paper contends that many indigenous farmers have been deprived of their livelihoods and the farmers perceive the community compensation package program as a bad initiative in Prestea with many of them regarding it as mere public relations gimmick that does not take the welfare of the local people into consideration

Mining versus Farming: An Analysis of the Farmers' Livelihood System

The implementation and main objective of the community compensation package program for farmers in the Prestea mining area is to deal with some of the grievances emanating from the operations of Golden Star Resource Limited (GSR) in the Prestea community. Some of these reservations of the local farmers relate to the impact on the local people’s farmlands by the large-scale mining company’s operations. This has consequently led to violent conflicts sometimes resulting in the loss of life and property. There are well-known complaints including the destruction of farms and homes of local people through expansive activities of GSR and the digging of mining pits close to farms. The large-scale mining company has a compensation package that is normally given to the farmers for affecting their farms. It is therefore crucial to assess the livelihood system of local farmers including the community compensation program for farmers since the farmers appear not to be content with the program. This paper contends that many indigenous farmers have been deprived of their livelihoods and the farmers perceive the community compensation package program as a bad initiative in Prestea with many of them regarding it as mere public relations gimmick that does not take the welfare of the local people into consideration

Living with conflicts in Ghana's Prestea mining area: Is Community engagement the answer?

Large scale mines acknowledge that their continuous existence in indigenous communities is threatened without the cooperation and support of local people. In recent times, large-scale mines have attempted to secure Social License to Operate (SLO) and ensure sustainable development (SD) by reconciling business interests with local needs and aspirations. Accomplishing local cooperation and support without threatening business interest remains a top priority for the large-scale mines. Community engagement forms part of the broader Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy initiatives which are often promoted as a way of enhancing sustainable development. This paper examines the local perceptions of the design and application of Golden Star Resources' (GSR) community engagement program. This paper contends that this community engagement model has a positive impact on conflict management regardless of age, sex, education, marital status and occupation of participants. However, presently the model remains symbolic and has not yet attain the status of a real functional strategy since many of local grievances that result in clashes are unresolved. Furthermore, it is believed that GSR's community engagement program is not adequately developed, systematic or moulded to achieve the exact or intended community relation. This paper further contends that the dominant sources and causes of conflict in Prestea is land use conflicts and environmental impact issues

Precarious work or sustainable livelihoods? Aligning Prestea's Programme with the development dialogue on artisanal and small-scale mining

Alternative livelihoods programmes (ALPs) are extensively executed in mining communities, often as models of development dialogue on artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM). This paper assesses whether Prestea's ALP aligns with the development dialogue on artisanal mining. The conceptual design of ALP in Ghana's Prestea is based on the notions of substitution, homogenous community, and impact scalability. This paper argues that the Prestea ALP is not aligned with the development dialogue on artisanal mining, and therefore it is difficult to understand the role and function of environmentally-damaging behaviours within livelihood strategies. The paper contends that it would be appropriate to concentrate on improving the existing artisanal miners’ operation of those most susceptible to resource access restrictions. Further, it may be more prudent to utilize livelihood-centered interventions that create strong connections with sustainable development as a way of creating regular community engagements. Additionally, this paper argues that the term for the intervention programme on artisanal mining should be replaced with the broader term ‘livelihood-centered intervention’. The replacement of the term ‘ALP’ avoids the tacit belief that ALP can adequately replace artisanal mining operations. Livelihood-centered intervention should not necessarily utilize alternative livelihoods as direct behavioural change instruments

Communal conflict versus education : Experiences of stakeholders in Ghana's Bawku conflict

Notwithstanding the 1992 Constitution of Ghana’s affirmation of the right of every child to free compulsory universal basic education, conflict obstructs basic educational access and outcome in Ghana’s Bawku. This paper examines the impact of communal conflict on basic educational access and outcomes in Bawku. The study employed a qualitative investigation using interviews of key informants on the nature of the Bawku Conflict in the data collection procedure. Evidence of stakeholders indicate that conflict and poverty operate in a simultaneous fashion to impede basic education access and outcome. Authors find evidence of a significant decline in average basic educational access and outcomes with estimated effect on both boys and girls which further suggests that the communal conflict has triggered substantial regional and generational inequalities between Bawku and other parts of the country. The evidence suggests that this finding may be somewhat due to family trade-offs between education on one hand and insurgence activities for boys and work for girls on the other hand

Transition support for new graduate nurses to rural and remote practice: A scoping review

Calleja, P ORCiD: 0000-0001-5674-1404© 2019 Background: New graduate nurses undertaking transition to practice encounter enormous challenges in their first year, and this is expounded in rural and remote locations. In rural and remote settings where geographical isolation and inadequate resources impact health care delivery, there is a perceived shortage of support systems to assist new graduate nurses to transition smoothly, with reported negative effects for all staff and on recruitment and retention. Objectives: To investigate what transition support was reported for new graduate nurses to function effectively in rural and remote settings. Design: A study protocol was developed using principles for scoping reviews that have been developed over the past fifteen years. Data sources: CINAHL, Medline, Proquest, Embase, Informit, PubMed, and Science Direct were systematically searched according to a predetermined search strategy. Review methods: Search terms included New Graduate AND Rural OR Remote AND Education. Studies were selected according to an inclusion and exclusion criteria. Three reviewers were involved in independent screening of articles. The degree of agreement for an article to be included was based on a Kappa score calculation for inter-rater reliability. Results: Of the 662 articles searched, 13 met the inclusion criteria and their findings synthesised to form this review. Three overarching themes (and a number of subthemes) were identified within the context of rural and remote nursing workforce development, and included: new graduates’ support needs, multifaceted support strategies and recruitment and retention strategies. Conclusions: Challenges faced by new graduate nurses when transitioning to practice are exacerbated in most rural and remote settings due to resourcing, lack of structured support programs, lack of training for support staff to mentor and give feedback and this impacts on recruitment and retention as well. Structured, well supported transition programs that provide flexible support are urgently required in these settings