Forging African unity in a globalizing world: a postcolonial challenge

Balkanized, fragmented and disintegrated are a few of the qualifiers of some anti-colonial, Africanist and postcolonial criticism of colonization and push for a unified Africa. Yet, was Africa ever a unitary whole or claim a unified past? My paper explores the dilemmas of ongoing African unity talks against the background of the plurality of political agendas. It examines this in the contest of the African Union and in relation to external political interests. Arguing that the ongoing unity efforts have been stalled by parochial interests, it asserts that progress can be made only when the unity talks are understood within the context of the complexities of the continent and its history. It shows that issues of statehood, ethnicity and colonialism, which confront Africa today, can only be understood within the context of the nationalist struggles, socio-economic realities and lessons from the radical ideological framings of the post-independence nationalist projects of the 1960

Determinants of Gender Relations among Educated Working Married Employees in Mbarara Municipality, Mbarara, Uganda

The question of gender relations among working educated married employees in developing countries has long been a concern among development practitioners and policymakers The study examined gender relations among educated working married employees in Mbarara Municipality Mbarara Uganda The study was guided by the feminist conflict theory The study employed a crosssectional and used a mixed-method approach It considered working educated married employees from Municipality with a study sample of 113 respondents consisting of 92 married educated working employees Purposive sampling was used to select key informants 21 i e LCs 1 6 2 6 and 3 6 mayor 1 probation officer 1 and legal officers 1 in the 6 divisions in the municipality was interviewed Qualitative data were analyzed using frequency percentages mean and ANOVA with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences SPSS software The study established that age marital status religion educational qualification years of marriage monthly income influence the relationship of working educated married employee

Restructuring education in Ghana : a case for reconceptualizing educational aims

This thesis examines three decades of educational reform in Ghana between 1970 and the present. Government reports and secondary literature reveal that Ghanaian reformers sought to democratize and transform education but largely failed in their efforts. I argue that this failure stems from their adoption of development and implementation strategies that did not encourage democratic negotiation. Drawing upon Miller, Freire, and Dewey, I present a conceptual analysis of democratic and transformative educational aims. I argue that reforms which are imposed externally and do not encourage genuine democratic participation among all actors do not lead to meaningful change. Democratic negotiations require that environments conducive to dialogue be created for all actors, that discourse reflects the characteristics and conditions of the participants' lives, and that all system actors be full participants to the process of change. Aims talk, the alternative discourse that I advocate as the basis of future educational reform in Ghana, would facilitate democratic negotiations by requiring that educational reforms become educational projects in the Freirean sense. As educational projects, reforms would encourage critical dialogue during which participants would problematize their socio-economic and political realities. Aims talk would connect democratic means with democratic ends. Aims generated as part of such projects would be seen as tentative; they would reflect the characteristics and conditions of the participants, and they would provide the grounds and foresight for periodic review. Finally, aims talk would require that participants commit to dialogue that is moral and transformative

Rights and Resources: The Effects of External Financing on Organising for Women's Rights

This report concerns the historical trajectory of women's rights organisations (WROs) in Bangladesh and Ghana within the changing national contexts as well as the shifting international aid landscape in the last two decades and identifies the influence of external financing on what the organisations do and how they go about it. The report offers a model for how to study the question in other contexts and it can be used by WROs in other countries to reflect upon the relevance of the findings in their own context and to respond accordingly. The influence of international aid, particularly in the 1990s and the early part of the last decade was in many ways beneficial for organisational effectiveness. Recently the funding landscape has become more hostile with funders' interest in rights and social transformation declining. Nevertheless in this environment maintaining the legitimacy of the discourse of women's rights as integral to gender and development policies has not been easy either for gender officers in aid organisations or for the WROs and although the organisations have managed to keep their identity, a sense of autonomy and a continued commitment, they are struggling to find their way. International funders are missing an important opportunity to support WROs in a manner that would optimise their capacity to mobilise women to formulate and voice their demands for gender justice.Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and UN Wome

The king's palace

No Abstract

Organizing labour in the informal sector: The conditions of rural agriculture in Ghana

No Abstract

Book Review: Confronting sexual harassment in Ghanaian Universities

By: AO Britwum and NA Anokye. Studies in Gender and Development in Africa Vol. 1 (1) 2007: pp. 141-14

Gender, vulnerability and the politics of decision-making in Ghana: The case of the Upper East Region

This paper examines the gender implications of vulnerability in relation to the politics of decision-making in Ghana with particular reference to the Upper East Region. Using concepts analysis, it situates the question of vulnerability within the context of the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS), which defines it as extreme poverty and in relation to exclusion. Examining the characteristics set out in the GPRS, it argues that the people of the Upper East Region are vulnerable but women are more vulnerable. This is demonstrated by the fact that women are affected by all but also have care responsibility of seven out of the thirteen-point characteristics of vulnerable people set out of the GPRS. An analysis of the decision-making structures of the household, community and district/regional levels reveals a pattern of exclusion, which is attributable to their vulnerability. Indeed, women's low participation and representation in the formal structures of the district and regional administration is a carry over from the informal structures of the household/family and community. Hence, it is argued that change is imperative and that such change can occur only if structures are transformed to promote not just access to but also opportunities for influencing the decision-making process. Ghana Journal of Development Studies Vol.1(2) 2004: 6-2

Diagnosing poverty in Northern Ghana: institutional versus community views

The paper attempts a diagnosis of poverty at institutional and community levels. This diagnosis entails an examination and comparison of various articulations of poverty in the formal, official and/or so-called high places of government and global institutions as well as at the grassroots such as households, individuals and communities within northern Ghana. The goal is to foster a better appreciation of the varying articulations of poverty while exploring pedagogical sites for initiating grassroots action. The diagnosis was facilitated through a desk review of institutional documents and as well, onsite interactions involving community discussions, focus group discussions and informal interviews in selected districts of northern Ghana. The diagnosis reveals that while institutions dwell on asset-based or economic analysis of poverty, communities include social, spiritual and physical dimensions in their articulations. Both differences and similarities are uncovered in the process suggesting that for effective poverty alleviation, efforts must involve the adoption of holistic approaches, complex analysis and practical programming as well as center human agency.Ghana Journal of Development Studies Vol. 2(2) 2005: 1-1