EXPLORING THE USAGE OF INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY TOOLS AND THEIR BENEFITS IN BASIC SCHOOLS IN GHANA: A CASE OF AGORPKO D.A. JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL IN THE SOUTH TONGU DISTRICT, GHANA

This paper seeks to identify the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools available for students. It also investigates how Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools benefits students’ in learning in a basic school in Ghana. A total of 60 students from Agorkpo D.A. JHS in the South Tongu District were surveyed. A descriptive design was used for the study. A set of questionnaires was used to collect data from the respondents. The entire questionnaires were retrieved and IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 22.0 in combination with the Microsoft excel were used to analyse the data. Simple frequency tables were used to present the data. The study discovered that laptop was the most used ICT tool in the school investigated and the benefits students derive from the use of the ICT tools in the school included support for classroom teaching and learning, facilitation of skills learning, helps in contacting other people (building network) and assisted in vocabulary building. The study recommended that government and other stakeholders should support the school with ICT tools in order to promote teaching and learning

Millennium Villages Impact Evaluation, Baseline Summary Report

This report presents the baseline findings from the Department for International Development (DFID)-commissioned impact evaluation of the Millennium Village Project (MVP) in Northern Ghana.1 The project will run from 2012 until 2016, with interventions targeting a cluster of communities with a total population of approximately 27,000 people. The MVP has been designed to demonstrate how an integrated approach to community-led development can translate the international Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) into results. It is an approach that has been previously piloted in Kenya and Ethiopia and in 2006 launched at scale to reach nearly half a million people across 10 countries throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. The new Millennium Village (MV) in Northern Ghana is the first to be accompanied by an independent impact evaluation. Details of the conceptual approach and methodology for the evaluation are presented in the Initial Design Document (IDD), with appendices containing the tools used for data collection.2DFI

Millennium Villages Evaluation: Midterm Summary Report

This report presents the midterm findings from an impact evaluation of the Millennium Villages Project (MVP) in northern Ghana. The MVP has been designed to demonstrate how an integrated approach to community-led development can translate the international Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) into results. The project in northern Ghana is one of several instigated over the past 10 years, and is set to reach nearly half a million people across 10 countries in Africa. Central to the MVP approach is the synergistic value of integrated community-based investments, focused on scientifically proven interventions, delivered simultaneously rather than as one-off investments. The premise is that a critical platform of basic needs must be reached before economic development can really take off. The project in northern Ghana has been running in three districts since May 2012, investing over £11 million on health, education, agriculture and infrastructure interventions in 35 communities, and reaching around 30,000 people

Impact Evaluation of the SADA Millennium Villages Project in Northern Ghana: Endline Summary Report

The Millennium Villages Project (MVP) aims to demonstrate how the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) could be achieved locally through an integrated approach to development. While the MDGs have now been superseded by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs, 2016–30), there remains a consistent thread to the MDGs around issues such as eradicating poverty, preventing avoidable deaths and improving education. Furthermore, the interconnected nature of the SDGs means the MVP model also has relevance for those seeking to address extreme poverty by taking an integrated approach to sustainable development. This report summarises the findings from what we believe to be the first independent impact evaluation of the MVP approach. It is hoped that the evidence and analysis will be of relevance to a wide range of actors in international development.Department for International Development (DFID

Fluid-particle energy transfer in spiral jet milling

Spiral jet milling is a size reduction process driven by the fluid energy of high velocity gas jets. Inter-particle and particle-wall interactions are responsible for size reduction. The process is energy intensive, but inefficient. The underlying mechanisms for size reduction in the mill are also not very well understood. The optimum grinding conditions are still currently found by trial and error experimentation. In this work, the Discrete Element Method coupled with Computational Fluid Dynamics is used to investigate the effects of different parameters on the particle collisional behaviour in a spiral jet mill. These include the particle concentration in the grinding chamber, the particle size, and the fluid power input. We report on our work analysing the efficiency of energy transfer and how it can be improved by changing the milling conditions and particle properties

Status quo of chemical weed control in rice in sub-Saharan Africa

If future rice production is to contribute to food security for the increasing population of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), effective strategies are needed to control weeds, the crop’s fiercest competitors for resources. To gain better insights into farmers’ access to, and use of, herbicides as part of weed control strategies, surveys were conducted in key rice production locations across SSA. Farm surveys were held among 1965 farmers across 20 countries to collect data on rice yields, farmer’s weed management practices, herbicide use, frequencies of interventions and information sources regarding herbicides. Markets were surveyed across 17 countries to collect data on herbicide availability, brand names and local prices (converted to US$ha−1). Herbicides are used by 34$17 ha−1). They are also the most popular herbicides among farmers. For advice on herbicide application methods, farmers primarily rely on their peers, and only a few receive advice from extension services (<23%) or inform themselves by reading the product label (<16%). Herbicide application timings are therefore often (38%) sub-optimal. Herbicide technologies can contribute to reduced production losses in rice in SSA. However, through negative effects on crop, environment and human health, incorrect herbicide use may unintentionally counteract efforts to increase food security. Moving away from this status quo will require strict implementation and monitoring of national pesticide regulations and investment in research and development to innovate and diversify the currently followed weed management strategies, agricultural service provision and communications with farmers

EXPLORING THE USAGE OF INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY TOOLS AND THEIR BENEFITS IN BASIC SCHOOLS IN GHANA: A CASE OF AGORPKO D.A. JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL IN THE SOUTH TONGU DISTRICT, GHANA

This paper seeks to identify the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools available for students. It also investigates how Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools benefits students’ in learning in a basic school in Ghana. A total of 60 students from Agorkpo D.A. JHS in the South Tongu District were surveyed. A descriptive design was used for the study. A set of questionnaires was used to collect data from the respondents. The entire questionnaires were retrieved and IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 22.0 in combination with the Microsoft excel were used to analyse the data. Simple frequency tables were used to present the data. The study discovered that laptop was the most used ICT tool in the school investigated and the benefits students derive from the use of the ICT tools in the school included support for classroom teaching and learning, facilitation of skills learning, helps in contacting other people (building network) and assisted in vocabulary building. The study recommended that government and other stakeholders should support the school with ICT tools in order to promote teaching and learning

On going school based inset for Ghanaian primary teachers

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