Part 1 New SME curricula

We began our work at the first residential meeting in Accra (January 2010) by discussing the nature of SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) and entrepreneurship in a Ghanaian context, clarifying our understanding of the informal sector, and identifying priority areas for curriculum development. At an early stage, we recognised that there was a need to develop more appropriate courses to support enterprise education within our universities and also entrepreneurial learning beyond the campus, particularly in relation to the informal sector. This work informed the first phase, in which we began to engage with SMEs and their associations and to establish their various requirements through dialogue and knowledge sharing. This information was brought back to the second residential meeting in Kumasi (July 2010) as the basis for designing new types of provision. At Kumasi, we worked on two projects that are reported in more detail in the following sections: ♦ A problem-based design for the informal sector: the Sokoban Wood Village Project (Section 1.2) ♦ Strategies for curriculum review and course design in Ghanaian universities (Section 1.3

Business development services and small business growth in Ghana

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Evaluating enterprise policy interventions in Africa: a critical review of Ghanaian small business support services

Enterprise policies play a central role in economic development across Africa, but more effective, evidence-based policy evaluation is required to inform future interventions. The paper aims to: (i) contribute to filling this gap; (ii) develop more rigorous and appropriate evaluation methodologies. It examines the issues through an empirical study into non-use of small business support services in Ghana. Survey evidence from 253 owner-managers was complemented by interviews with owner-managers and service providers. It concludes that policy evaluation in Sub-Saharan Africa would benefit from multi-method approaches to address the lack of official small firm datasets and facilitate more in-depth understanding

‘Should I Ignore the Promotion System and Stay or I Should Quit’: An Examination of the Experiences of Teachers with the Promotion Process in the Ghana Education Service

Promotion is a key determinant of employee advancement on the organizational ladder. However, in the Ghana Education Service, there are several reports of irregularities in the process which make the promotion less of a merit-based mechanism. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to examine teachers’ perception of fairness in the promotion process and how that affects their willingness to stay in the Service and teach effectively. Using a descriptive survey involving both close-ended and open-ended questions, the opinions and experiences of 342 randomly sampled teachers in the Ejisu-Juaben Municipality were examined using correlations and binary logistic regressions as well as thematic analysis. The results show that fairness in the promotion process was a significant contributor to teacher retention and effective teaching. However, the process is tainted with favoritism and partiality. Governments should, therefore, not be interested in incentivization only as a retention strategy but also come out with strategies aimed at ensuring transparency in the promotion process to make it a performance-based mechanism that sieves and preserves best talents.

Enterprise as socially situated in a rural poor fishing community.

We examine enterprise processes in a poor rural fishing village in Ghana, having become interested in why poverty persists in spite of considerable industry. Our case study uses the village as the unit for analysis because it offered a conceptually interesting place that is relatively economically, socially and spatially isolated. Most entrepreneurship theory failed to explain our observations about the absence of development. Accordingly, our socialised perspective looked at the social and spatial processes that configured enterprise. Our study allowed us to recognise that fishing and the associated processing and sales had developed as socially organised to enable a livelihood for many, rather than entrepreneurial benefits for a few. The socially situated nature of rural enterprise in Ocansey Kope is “mutual” and interdependent, and not individualistic in the western sense. Enterprise is individually enacted; but how business is conducted is hedged by social obligations, responsibilities and entitlements. The apparently economic “systems” of production, the buying and selling, lending and borrowing within the village can also be understood, and better explained, as social processes

Chronic Helminth Infections Protect Against Allergic Diseases by Active Regulatory Processes

Developed countries are suffering from an epidemic rise in immunologic disorders, such as allergy-related diseases and certain autoimmunities. Several studies have demonstrated a negative association between helminth infections and inflammatory diseases (eg, allergy), providing a strong case for the involvement of helminth infections in this respect. However, some studies point in the opposite direction. The discrepancy may be explained by differences in frequency, dose, time, and type of helminth. In this review, new studies are discussed that may support the concept that chronic helminth infections in particular—but not acute infections—are associated with the expression of regulatory networks necessary for downmodulating allergic immune responses to harmless antigens. Furthermore, different components of regulatory networks are highlighted, such as the role of regulatory T and B cells, modulation of dendritic cells, early innate signals from structural cells (eg, epithelial cells), and their individual contributions to protection against allergic diseases. It is of great interest to define and characterize specific helminth molecules that have profound immunomodulatory capacities as targets for therapeutic application in the treatment or prophylaxis of allergic manifestations

Promoting resilience and sustainability amongst informal sector artisans: the case of Sokoban Wood Village

Objectives: This paper examines potential approaches to improving the resilience and sustainability of informal sector enterprises in sub-Saharan Africa. It builds on the results of a recent educational initiative in an informal sector community of woodworking artisans. The pilot project examined how social and technological innovations, including open educational resources (OERs) might be used to create new learning experiences that responded to the artisans’ context-specific enterprise development needs. This paper reflects on this initiative, with a particular focus on promoting the resilience and sustainability of these enterprises and of the forest eco-system on which they depend. Prior Work: The paper draws on three main strands of research: (1) informal sector and artisanal enterprises (e.g. Debrah 2007; Chen 2008; Palmer 2007; Robson and Obeng 2008); (2) entrepreneurship and enterprise education, with particular reference to sub-Saharan Africa (e.g. Afenyadu et al. 2001; Higgins 2009; Paton 2011); (3) social-ecological resilience and socio-technical transitions, with an emphasis on the role of entrepreneurial actors (e.g. Folke et al. 2010; Geels and Kemp 2006; Blundel and Monaghan 2011). Approach: The problem is contexutalised with reference to recent evidence on the state of Ghana's forest eco-system and to the challenges facing its forestry industries, and to woodworking artisans in particular (Osei-Tutu et al. 2010; Nketiah and Owusu 2011). We then summarise the outcomes of the pilot study. This is linked to a broader discussion about the ways in which enterprise education initiatives might contribute towards multiscale resilience and a sustainable socio-technical transition in this sector (Folke et al. 2010; Smith and Sterling 2010). Results: The paper suggests that enterprise education initiative may help in building resilience and sustainability. It explores how such initiatives might be expanded, with reference to existing models and to approaches adopted elsewhere. The discussion section also extends the scope of the original study to consider resilience at higher levels, locating the woodworking artisans within a broader social-ecological system. Implications: There are a number of implications in relation to pedagogic practice for enterprise education in the informal sector. The findings on multiscale resilience also have implications for public policies involving informal sector artisans and in the role of enterprise support policies in promoting social, economic and environmental sustainability. Value: The study provides new empirical insights by reporting on a pilot study in enterprise education. It makes a contribution to theoretical development by providing examining and applying current conceptual frameworks on multiscale resilience and sociotechnical transitions to a concrete case in sub-Saharan Africa. It also identifies a number of implications for policy and practice

Enterprise education for small artisanal businesses: a case study of Sokoban Wood Village, Ghana

This chapter reports on a recent educational initiative involving academics from Ghanaian universities and members of an informal sector community of woodworking artisans. This pilot project examined how social and technological innovations, including open educational resources (OERs) might be used to create new learning experiences that were capable of addressing the artisans’ context-specific enterprise development needs. The concluding discussion identifies a number of practical lessons from the project. These findings are related to current debates regarding the potential role of education and training interventions in addressing the persistent policy challenge of transitioning enterprises to a more formal basis, and of promoting their growth and resilience