Electoral Violence and Women Political Participation in Ghana

Ghana’s strive to strengthen and consolidate its democracy is met by the incidence of electoral violence and low levels of women political participation. Having passed the ‘two turnover’ test prescribed by Samuel P. Huntington, Ghana became the beacon of hope for Africa’s democracy. However, elections in the country are marred by violence and the unbalanced participation of men and women. This paper investigates how electoral violence impacts women political participation in Ghana. Using a Case Study Research, qualitative interviews were conducted on sampled women who contested in Ghana’s 2016 elections from two cities; Accra and Kumasi. Contrary to the expected finding, it is interesting that, electoral violence minimally impacts women political participation in Ghana as they are willing to participate and contest in subsequent elections despite being assaulted, insulted, victimized, intimidated and threatened in the 2016 and previous elections. Lack of funds to finance political campaigns by women appears to be the most impeding factor for women’s optimum political participation in Ghana

Addressing Mining Sector Conflicts in Ghana

During the World Bank and IMF-led Structural Adjustments Program implementation in the 1980s, the extractive industry was also targeted in many developing countries, including Ghana. Although liberalization was envisioned to bring the needed development to the country and mining communities, the evidence on the ground proves otherwise. The outcome has been the prevalence of conflicts between mining communities and mining companies, mainly over issues of environmental pollution, competition over land use, unfulfilled promises, resettlement, and compensation. Using online sources/data and adopting the ‘developmental state’ approach, which advocates for state-induced development as a conceptual model, this research investigates the Ghanaian government's role in addressing conflict in the mining sector and the challenges therein. The results show that the state has implemented several initiatives consistent with the developmental state approach. However, emanating from competitive clientelism, various challenges impeded the government’s initiatives from producing the desired outcomes, hence the sector's persistent conflicts

Community-based participatory irrigation management at local government level in Ghana

Ghana has attempted to decentralise the management of irrigation schemes to communities at local government level. This study examines the existing local participatory management structures and the principles of the Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM) strategy designed to promote sustainable management of irrigation schemes in Ghana. Two community-based irrigation projects, Bontanga and Golinga in the Northern Region of Ghana were selected for the research. The study demonstrated that farmers’ participation was minimal and limited to the discussion of irrigation service charges at the expense of other issues related to the sustainability of the projects/schemes. The study also established that there was less participation of women, and more than half of all the crop farmers on the two irrigation projects were reluctant to assume additional responsibilities without remuneration. The study therefore concluded that the sustainability of the PIM strategy depends on the adoption of an integrated management approach involving all stakeholders including local government, with appropriate incentives

The Impact of Globalisation on the Provision of Social Welfare

It has been argued that the problems associated with the contemporary Globalisation process in relation to Social Welfare provision since the second half of the 20th Century can be traced to its Neo-liberal ideological dominance since Neo-liberalism privileges market provision that has limited redistributive effect. Indeed, the application of Neo-liberal policy approaches to the development process was modified since the latter part of the 1990s due to the realisation that markets need states and states need markets, and unless Neo-liberalism is regulated and supported by public policy, it cannot make a desired impact on development. This paper explores the impact of Globalisation on Social Welfare provision globally. The paper benefits from an extensive literature review data was conducted for the Authors Doctoral Thesis from 2006 to 2010 (Achanso 2014). The analysis suggests that Globalisation has a long history and has been driven by different ideological underpinnings at various points in history with the contemporary Globalisation process being driven by the neo-liberal ideology, which has been blamed for the negative consequences of Globlisation on social welfare provision. The paper concludes that there is a need for mutual collaboration between global institutions or market forces and nation-states to limit the negative consequences of Globlisation on social welfare provision in order to ensure desirable development outcomes globally. Keywords: Globlisation, Social Welfare, Neo-liberalism, IMF, World Bank, TNCs/MNC

Local Natural Resources Management in Ghana: The Role of Traditional Authority

Introduction: in Ghana traditional leaders are considered owners of all natural resources. In that vein, its management cannot be done without them

Partnership for Development: The Case of Savelugu Municipal Assembly and World Vision Ghana

This study explored the effectiveness of the partnership relationship between the Savelugu Municipal Assembly (SMA) and the World Vision Ghana (WVG) as a case study of how partnerships between MMDAs and NGOs contribute to development in the Northern Region of Ghana. The exploration was done within the context of Development Cooperation as espoused in the Goal 8 of the MDGs as a means of promoting aid effectiveness. A Mixed Research Strategy, the Case Study Design and the Purposive Sampling Technique were some of the research methodological techniques employed for the study. The study suggests that the partnership between the two organisations was a mutual and impacted positively on the development of the Savelugu Municipality. This included improvement in water supply, sanitation, as well as education and healthcare delivery. The study suggests that partnership relationships that thrive on cordiality or mutual respect are most likely to impact positively on development. Keywords: Partnership, MMDAs, NGOs, Development, Cooperation, Decentralisatio

Types and Channels of Internal Communication at Nanumba North Municipal Education Directorate, Bimbilla

Information dissemination in educational establishments is crucial and contribute largely for the sustenance of such organisations. The study interrogated the types and channels of communication at the Nanumba North Municipal Education Office. The study is a qualitative case study that sampled five personnel at the office for the study. Media Richness theory was adopted to examine the various issues that came up in the study. The study found that vertical, horizontal and diagonal communication are the official types of communication at the office. The study also showed that grapevine is also a form of informal communication at the Education Office. The study finally found that newsletters, bulletin boards, face-to-face, phone calls and sms are the channels of communication at the Education Office.

Prospects and Challenges of Developing Women Enterprises through Micro-Finance: The Case of the Nanumba North and South Districts of the Northern Region of Ghana

Women own a substantial percentage of small scale enterprises worldwide and play critical roles in rural development. They, however, remain disadvantaged in terms of access to financial support for starting and expanding their businesses. This paper examined the prospects and challenges of developing women-owned businesses through micro-finance as a strategy for poverty alleviation in the Nanumba North and South Districts of the Northern Region of Ghana. Applying the mixed research methodological research strategy to explore the subject, the paper suggests that women micro-enterprise development through micro-finance positively impacted on the lives of rural women entrepreneurs and their households regarding self-employment, better incomes, household food security, enrolment and retention of children in school, greater access to health care and access to information on reproductive health issues. In this regard, the paper argues that strategies that aim at boosting rural women’s productive capacity and enhancing their direct access to financial services ought to be encouraged as this lead to higher investment in human capital and greater impact on children’s health, nutrition and education, with tremendous long term positive implications for families and societal progress. Keywords: Micro-Finance, Micro-Enterprise, Women-owned Enterprise Developmen

Application of Geophysics for Quick Determination of Deposit in Mineral Exploration - A Case Study

The Balatindi Mineral Prospect, Guinea, is a multi-element mineral prospect that hosts commercial quantities of gold, uranium and copper. A major challenge for exploration activities within the area is the turnaround time for assay results due to the unavailability of a nearby assay laboratory and the high cost of analysis. This therefore delays assay results which are needed for quick decisions during field work. There is therefore the need to find a faster and cheaper way of delineating mineral anomalies. Magnetic and radiometric geophysical techniques were considered because of the rapid and cost-effective ways in which data is acquired and they yield substantial quantity of accurate data enhancing interpretation and deduction. Down hole drill data for 37 HQ size diamond drilled holes of about 9200 m were used for the analysis. Magnetic susceptibility data were secured from 24 drill hole data for the Central Polymetallic Prospect  area, whiles radiometric data were taken for the 23 drill holes in the other areas. The data were correlated with the laboratory assay results for gold and uranium respectively.  Strip logs and statistical analysis were used to interpret magnetic susceptibility readings against gold assay values, and radiometric readings against uranium assay values. Maximum and minimum values of -2.46 × 10-3 and 546.5 × 10-3 magnetic susceptibility were respectively recorded whiles 45 cps and 7250 cps were the maximum and minimum radiometric readings obtained. Magnetic susceptibility values did not show any preferential correlation with gold mineralisation.  Radiometric cps values showed a very strong direct correlation with uranium mineralisation. This is because the radiometric cps is a function of the radiometric mineral present and therefore, radiometric survey can be used as a faster and cost-effective way of delineating uranium anomaly within the Balatindi prospect. Keywords: Balatindi, Magnetic susceptibility, Radiometric count, Multi-element mineral deposit. DOI: 10.7176/JNSR/11-18-04 Publication date:September 30th 202