Community radio in rural development in Northeastern Ghana: the experiences of radio Gaakii in the Saboba district

This research paper draws on the theory of development communication to explore the relationship between community radio broadcast and community development in Northern Ghana. It traces the history of development communication practice in Ghana and its application in Ghana’ s rural development efforts. The study draws attention to the special role of radio in development work by analysing the programming styles and formats of Radio Gaakii and its impacts on the community’s development drive. The paper also explored areas of community concern most addressed by radio Gaakii broadcast. The study adopted the qualitative approach in its design and employed in-depth interviews in its data collection. One significant findings of this study is that, the general programming style and format of Radio Gaakii’s broadcast contents are practically aimed at responding to the felt needs of the communities it serve. Socio-cultural issues were found to be the primary concern of the listening community that the Station has addressed most since its inception in 2011. The station also made giant strides in the areas of agriculture, health and sanitation, women and youth empowerment. A key recommendation the study made is that, Ghana’s Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development should take steps at mainstreaming CRB model into Ghana’s local government system by supervising the setting-up of CRS in every district capital (especially those considered rural and without community radio stations) in a non-partisan manner, with coverage reaching all communities within the district. This, it is believed will facilitate social communication and development among rural populations of Ghana

Community Access and Participation in Community Radio Broadcast: Case of Radio Gaakii, Ghana

This paper draws on the theory of participatory development communication to understand the nature and philosophy of community participation in development processes. It explored the symbiotic relationship between Carpentier (2011) and Arnstein’s (1969) theses on participation to propose four major indicators in evaluating the levels of community participation in Radio Gaakii’s broadcast. The paper also investigates the frequency of community members’ participation in the stations broadcast and ascertained the levels of satisfaction (or otherwise) of their participation in the radio broadcast. The study was based on cross sectional survey design. Multistage sampling was used in the sampling processes and 150 respondents across five listening communities were recruited for the purposes of data collection and analysis. The study found out that community participation in Radio Gaakii’s broadcast is limited to the radio programme listening stage and community members mostly participate through the use of mobile phones during specific programme phone-in segments of the broadcast. The study recommends establishing Radio Gaakii Listening Clubs to facilitate community’s participation in management, governance, programming and financing decisions to give true meaning to participation, create a sense of community ownership and ultimately, ensure sustainability of the Station

Energy-Poverty Nexus: Conceptual Framework Analysis of Cooking Fuel Consumption in Ghanaian Households

This paper analysis energy-poverty relation based on household access to energy for cooking in Ghana. The Ghana Demographic and Health Survey data for 2014 was used with multinomial logistic regression. The results show that the so-called energy poverty ladder hypothesis holds for household energy consumption, and wealth status of Ghanaians was found to be a full determinant of household energy adoption for cooking purposes. Generally, a high status household (Middle, Richer & Richest) have an increase in the probabilities of adopting clean fuels (electricity, LPG, etc.) than a poorest home and this is an indication that energy adoption and level of poverty are related. Other variables such as the age of household head, sex of household head, educational level of household head, residence where household stays and the size of household were found to have influence on the energy adoption behaviour of household. Efforts to reduce general poverty should be geared towards, but not limited to, the making of clean fuels available to households and individuals. Keywords: Cooking fuel consumption; Energy-poverty nexus; Ghana; Household. JEL Codes: O13, P28, Q4

School Corporal Punishment In Ghana And Nigeria As A Method Of Discipline: A Psychological Examination Of Policy And Practice

The paper examined the concepts of discipline, indiscipline and effective discipline.  The use of the cane in behaviour modification was rampant in traditional African society.  Teachers use the cane a lot in order to maintain discipline in schools and control antisocial behaviour of pupils and students.  The paper further x-rayed the concept of corporal punishment, identified its three main divisions and the fourteen different forms of corporal punishment.  It explained why teachers in Ghanaian and Nigerian public and private schools administer corporal punishment.  The paper employed an analytical approach to x-ray the danger that corporal punishment poses to pupils and students in the schools of Ghana and Nigeria. International concern for the danger that the administration of corporal punishment poses to the right and well-being of pupils and students has long been established.  In 2001, the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment was launched.  The campaign is about preventing all forms of violence against children in schools, including corporal punishment.  The paper presented the position of professional associations in Western Europe and Africa. Finally, arising from the above, the paper generated implications for teachers and school administrators, proposed general guidelines that the school authorities may apply in responding to incidents of misbehaviour, examined mental hygiene perspective to discipline and offered alternative therapeutic strategies that can be used in Ghanaian and Nigerian primary and secondary schools. Keywords: Discipline, Indiscipline, Effective Discipline, Corporal Punishment, Ghana, Nigeria

Edu-Communication Strategies of Cashew Production in a Rural Ghanaian Community

This study examined the edu-communication strategies that agriculture extension service agencies use in the dissemination and promotion of innovation adoption among cashew farmers in the Kpandai district agricultural zones in Northern Ghana. A total of 140 cashew farmers were sampled using simple random sampling technique. Three District Agricultural Officers (DAO) and twenty-one satellite Agriculture Extension Officers (AEO) were also drawn into the sample. The results of the study show that, face to face interaction, field demonstration, entertainment-education through community radio broadcasting and Farmer Group Discussions (FGDs) were extensively and efficiently used by the AEOs to promote adoption of improved production technologies among cashew farmers. The study discovered that EduCom strategies contribute to higher rates of adoption and partly accounts for increased cashew yields in the study area. The indigenisation of agriculture extension services approaches using local language in the design and dissemination of adoption process is, highly recommended as a core tenet of technology dissemination if higher adoption rates are expected

Public–Private Partnership: countries' attractiveness and the risk of project failure

The primary objective of this thesis is to analyse the public private partnership (PPP) framework for infrastructure development in developing countries across the six regions of the world. The thesis utilises the World Bank's private participation in infrastructure (PPI) dataset for the period 1980–2014, and examines three thematic areas. The first comprises of an exploratory analysis of the PPI dataset. The second research area focuses on the relationship between countries' attractiveness for PPPs and the characteristics of the countries, including: macroeconomic and market; fiscal constraints; regulatory and governance; and experience in PPPs, by utilising the Zero-Inflated Negative Binomial and Cragg's Double Hurdle models in an attempt to model private investors' decision to engage in PPPs as separate participation and consumption decisions. The third research area employs the methodology of survival analysis to investigate the risk of failure of PPP projects based on the allocation of residual facility ownership between the partners. The thesis's primary contributions include the utilisation of a wider and more informative range of econometric methodologies which have not been previously applied to the PPI dataset, and for the first time also, provides a framework to select an appropriate structure for PPPs that will enhance project survival. A key finding of the thesis is that private investors prioritise macroeconomic and market variables, such as price stability over regulatory and governance variables, such as corruption, in their determination as to which country to engage in PPPs. Contrary to previous research, corruption was found to be of no consequence to private investors who wish to engage in PPPs even for developing countries. Another key finding is that PPP projects which confer residual ownership on the public sector have lower risk of failure than those for which such ownership is conferred on the private sector. Evidence also suggests that the size of the project and the participation of multilateral institutions in PPPs also affect the risk of project failure

Access to Improved Sanitation Facilities and Female School Attendance: A study of Savelugu Municipality of Ghana

The study investigates the extent to which access to adequate and improved sanitation influence school attendance of female students in public senior high schools in the Savelugu municipality of Ghana. A cross sectional survey design using both qualitative and quantitative methods was used to collect data in Savelugu Senior High School and Pong-Tamale Senior High School, all in the Savelugu Municipality. A total of 345 female students and two headmasters and six assistant headmasters from the two senior high schools were interviewed. The data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics of Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The study established that the availability of improved and adequate sanitation facilities was significant in determining the extent of use, and school attendance of females in such schools. The study established that lack of privacy and insecurity caused by substandard sanitation facilities contributed to female student absenteeism. The study further revealed that the availability of improved sanitation facilities could account for 38.3% percent of the change in the level of sanitation use and its impact on female school attendance. We recommend that school management teams should ensure adequate provision of improved sanitation facilities in every public senior high school as part of efforts to improve female students school attendance