Youth Unemployment Challenges in Mining Areas of Ghana

Ghana, like the rest of West Africa is experiencing tremendous human migration both internally and across international boundaries. Rural-urban migration has assumed uncontrollable dimensions in the sub-region and the social consequences have become major development challenge. In Ghana the mining communities have been at the receiving end for some time now. This study on the Obuasi Municipal Assembly (OMA) in the Ashanti region of Ghana explores the tremendous socioeconomic changes, especially demographic patterns as a result of the inflows of migrants into the Obuasi Township and its catchment area in search of non existing jobs especially in mining. A major outcome is the serious unemployment problem in the township with all the attendant social vices. A three-month socio-economic study of the municipality was carried out to determine the scope of unemployment. The study showed that there is acute unemployment situation in the municipality which is due to the fact that AngloGold Ashanti, a mining giant in Ghana, the major employer, has limited job openings especially for menial workers who flock to the company. Other income generating opportunities are few. Agriculture which has the capacity to employ majority of the unemployed youth does not appeal to them because it is considered not lucrative. The acute unemployment situation has contributed significantly to the high crime rate, prostitution and widespread illegal mining activities with their attendant problems. The study explores options that are feasible for a typical mining setting especially for the youth who are very vulnerable and susceptible to crime and other social vices. Job creation, through the development and implementation of sustainable programmes aimed at training the youth to acquire the necessary employable skills is one of the options considered by the municipal managers and their partners. The study also looks at broader policy implications for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).Illegal Mining, Unemployment, AngloGold Ashanti, Social Vices, Agriculture, Mining Communities, Migration

Marketability and sustainability of food security programmes: products and productivity of agricultural projects

This paper addresses the marketability and sustainability of food security programmes in Limpopo Province. Food security features prominently because poverty and inequality remains a huge challenge in South Africa’s rural sector. Thus the Government has initiated the establishment of agricultural community projects as part of interventions for creating jobs and improving income levels. However, lack of monitoring mechanisms in established projects create a challenge of nonsustainability of these projects. The study has used formative evaluation approach to determine the effectiveness of the established food security programme. A mixed model approach was used to collect data from key informants and project members. Descriptive statistics were computed using SPSS. Most projects were on vegetable, poultry and piggery production. The study has found that 64.1% of the respondents reported that access to inputs was not a challenge. Project products are sold to community members who accounted to 79%, and few (1%) to individuals owning business, clinics and outside the community. Project members advertised their produce mainly verbally (47.2%). Marketing strategies for project products were lacking and this creates a negative impact on income generated and sustainability of projects. The paper concludes by suggesting that project members should be advised on appropriate marketing strategies.S.Afr. Tydskr. Landbouvoorl./S. Afr. J. Agric. Ext., Vol. 40 2012: 1 – 1

Evidence-based practice in local public health service in Ghana

While the role of evidence-based public health in improving health outcomes is frequently touted, there remains a dearth of research examining the use of evidence in public health service particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Therefore, the aim of this research was to examine the use of evidence in local public health service in Ghana, a lower middle-income country. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with local health managers from 11 District Directorates of Health in Ashanti Region. Three organising themes emerged from the interview transcripts: understanding of evidence-based public health; the process of using evidence; and the value of evidence in public health practice. The study suggests that though evidence-based practice was not new to the local health managers, its application was very low. The process of using evidence commenced with making a decision about the direction of a programme which had been already prioritised and planned by other high-level actors and then various sources of information, including available research evidence, were used to justify the decision. The study has revealed that there is an urgent need for pre-service and in-service training programmes that build and maintain common skill sets and language among local public health practitioners in Ghana to accomplish evidence-based public health goals. Similarly, giving local health managers flexibility to prioritise and make decisions would result in increased uptake of evidence in local public health service

Livelihood trends in Response to Climate Change in Forest Fringe Communities of the Offin Basin in Ghana

The livelihoods of forest fringe communities in Ghana depend, largely, on the renewable natural resources that they can find in the forests and any activities that impacts on the integrity of the forest disrupt the livelihood of the dependent communities. Forest fragmentation continues to take place in Ghana, mainly in response to a growing demand to feed an ever increasing population and for timber exploitation for export. One of the forest fringe communities in Ghana where the rural livelihoods of the people have been compromised due to deforestation and climate change is the Offin basin. The removal of forests impacts on local climate, water availability, and livelihoods due to influence of forests on precipitation and water balance. Fluxes in the quantity and frequency of rainfall contribute to decreasing food production and water availability. This study examines forest loss, precipitation and ambient temperature patterns in the forest fringe communities in the Offin river basin over the past four and a half decades and assesses current impacts and trends on rural livelihoods and coping strategies by the communities. The forests provide the communities with fuel-wood, fish and game, medicinal plants, food sources, and recreation. Between 2000 and 2005 deforestation rate in the basin was 2%. Mean annual precipitation decreased by 22.2% between 1960 and 2000 in response to a 1.3\ub0C rise in ambient temperature over the same period. Considerable changes in the frequency of rainfall and its unpredictability impacted negatively on the livelihood of the fringe communities who are predominantly cocoa and subsistence crop farmers. The livelihood resources of the community are severely constrained leading to reduction in food security and economic losses. In response to deforestation and associated climatic changes, several coping strategies for sustenance of livelihoods have been adopted by the forest fringe communities. @ JASE

Impure Public Goods and Technological Interdependencies

Impure public goods represent an important group of goods. Almost every public good exerts not only effects which are public to all but also effects which are private to the producer of this good. What is often omitted in the analysis of impure public goods is the fact that – regularly – these private effects can also be generated independently of the public good. In our analysis we focus on the effects alternative technologies – independently generating the private effects of the public good – may have on the provision of impure public goods. After the investigation in an analytical impure public good model, we numerically simulate the effects of alternative technologies in a parameterized model for climate policy in Germany