Capital assets: a community research intervention by the African Forum in Redbridge and Watham Forest

Duration: September 1999 - November 2000 This was a community-led initiative in which over 1000 Africans resident in Redbridge and Waltham Forest were asked about their assets and health needs. The survey was instigated by Redbridge & Waltham Forest African Forum, and undertaken by community groups themselves in collaboration with Sigma Research. The survey was designed both to gather information from the communities and to provide information to them. The information sought was not simply about the participants needs but also about the assets within those communities to address those needs. The project sought information about the relationship between Africans living in Redbridge or Waltham Forest, their assets, health needs and the potential for interventions. It did so by: providing all stakeholders with clear and accessible information about the demography of the local African communities. mapping the priorities and needs of the groups. assessing knowledge about HIV and its prevention. mapping linguistic assets and social structures of participating community groups that may contribute to meeting these needs. identifying acceptable, culturally appropriate methods of intervention. Questionnaire content was led by the members of the African Forum as was the structure and content of the report. Members of community groups did all the interviewing. Between them, 41 interviewers talked to 1008 residents. The majority of African women and men living locally were at an age when people can be at their most active physically, mentally and economically. Mental health and HIV and AIDS were the major health concerns although health concerns were associated with country of birth. Many respondents lacked basic knowledge of HIV transmission. There is a need for more awareness of clinical sexual health services. Language ability and social networks are common assets for health. English is spoken by 78% of participants and 88% of the entire sample mentioned at least one person they were close to. The survey provides information that helps to identify key areas where community organisations and statutory services working in partnership can improve quality of life and access to services. The final report was called Capital assets: a community research intervention by The African Forum in Redbridge and Waltham Forest

Capital assets A community research intervention by the African Forum in Redbridge and Waltham Forest (London)

Jointly produced with the Waltham Forest Family Service UnitSIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:m00/45992 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Developing flexible care The East London Childcare Initiative 1994-1996

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:q97/25899 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Making neoliberal states of development: the Ghanaian diaspora and the politics of homelands

For impoverished African states the attraction of inward flows of capital is vital and migrants are one such source of finance. Some governments actively encourage this, which brings out tensions between national affiliation and more particularistic forms of identification. This paper examines this in the context of Ghana. Between the mid-1970s and the late 1990s there was large-scale out-migration from Ghana, creating what has been termed a ‘neo-diaspora’. The migrants have mainly settled in cities in Western Europe and North America where they have developed institutional networks linking them to other diasporic locations and to Ghana. These migrants have complex identities forged from multiple meetings in numerous places. Some of these are rooted in hometown, clan, and family attachments and the obligations this brings. The current government (in line with many developing countries) is making a major play to ‘harness’ the diaspora for political support and inward investment. Tensions are being played out about dual citizenship and whether the migrants’ economic commitments to Ghana are matched by rights as full citizens. The Ghana government has to tread a careful path between attracting investment and garnering the right sort of political support, since people in the diaspora often have an ambivalent relationship to domestic politics. One of the vehicles through which the Ghanaian state seeks to square this is through encouraging hometown associations in various cities in the global North to fund development at the local level through various local – local partnerships. Hence, the nation, the national good, and development are being promoted through particularistic ethnic and locality-based organisations, which brings to light multiple and overlapping political communities