‘I Should Have Married One Woman’: Bargaining Dynamics in Polygamous and Monogamous Households in Tamale, Northern Ghana

Sen (1990) indicates that when a person is perceived by household members to be making significant contributions to the overall wealth of the household, agreed solutions are more likely to favour that person. However, perceived contributions have to be distinguished from actual contributions. He notes that the perceived contributions of a person can be important in predisposing cooperative outcomes to favour the perceived contributor. In fact, the ‘winner’ in one round would not only gain greater immediate benefit but also be better placed and have greater bargaining power in the future (Sen, 1990). Sen’s ideas about perceived and actual contribution response are used as an analytical tool to investigate the gender implications of women’s and men’s contributions to family welfare in both polygamous and monogamous households in Tamale, in the northern region of Ghana. Sen (1990), it should be noted, places emphasis on monetary earnings in his cooperative conflict model. However, perception biases against non-monetary earnings, which shall be referred to here as ‘reproductive roles’ will be explored in this study. Keywords: actual, households, informal, monogamous, perceived, polygamous

Are Traditional Health Care Practices for Children with Mental Health Problems in the Tamale Metropolis in Ghana as Effective as Psychological Interventions?

This study investigates the extent to which traditional Health Care practices for children with mental health problems in the Tamale Metropolis in Ghana are as effective as psychological interventions. The study reviews existing work on traditional health care practices, psychological interventions for mental health patients and coping strategies for parents and/or family members of children with mental health problems to build a conceptual framework that is appropriate for examining health care practices for children with mental health problems in Tamale, in northern Ghana. The study details the traditional health care practices that children with mental health problems receive from especially traditional healers who believe that issues of mental health are caused by the activities of witches and wizards. The findings of this study suggest that the burden of care for children with mental health problems solely rests on parents, family members, and traditional healers and to a lesser extent the psychiatric hospital. Some coping strategies, however, have been adopted by parents of children with mental health problems, the major strategy being the ‘God motif’ by which parents are able to ‘survive’ stigmatization and stress. Keywords: care, children, health, mental, psychological, traditiona

Women’s Informal Water Vending as An Economic Activity and Its Effects on Household Bargaining Dynamics in Northern Ghana

This article elaborates the importance of informal women’s work in northern Ghana in general and specifically in Tamale with particular attention to water vending. Particular attention is paid to an examination of the different forms of water vending and the ways in which they are gendered as well as their seasonal variations. The bargaining strengths of women who are engaged in water vending as an economic activity is also highlighted in this article. A combination of secondary and primary data is employed in the analysis of data for this article, to identify the opportunities and challenges that water vending poses for married women and to show how looking at wet and dry season water vending, offers an opportunity to examine how variations in the significance and value of women’s informal work in this sector influences gender bargaining within households. Keywords: Bargaining, Informal, Seasonal, Water vending, Wome

Mapping flood prone and Hazards Areas in rural landscape using landsat images and random forest classification: Case study of Nasia watershed in Ghana

Floods are hazard which poses immense threat to life and property. Identifying flood-prone areas, will enhance flood mitigation and proper land use planning of affected areas. However, lack of resources, the sizable extent of rural settlements, and the evolving complexities of contemporary flood models have hindered flood hazard mapping of the rural areas in Ghana. This study used supervised Random Forest (RF) classification, Landsat 8 OLI, and Landsat 7 ETM + images to produce flood prone, Land Use Land Cover (LULC), and flood hazard maps of the Nasia Watershed in Ghana. The results indicated that about 418.82 km2 area of the watershed is flooded every 2–3 years (normal flooding) and about 689.61 km2 is flooded every 7–10 years (extreme flooding). The LULC classification produced an overall accuracy of 92.31% and kappa of 0.9. The flood hazard map indicated that land areas within hazard zones of the river include the Nasia community, Flood Recession Agricultural (FRA), rainfed and woodlands. When compared with a Modified Normalized Difference Water Index (MNDWI), the RF supervised classification had an edge over the MNDWI in estimating the flooded areas. The results from this study can be used by local administrators, national flood disaster management and researchers for flood mitigation and land use planning within the watershed

Coagulation factors and natural anticoagulants as surrogate markers of preeclampsia and its subtypes: A case-control study in a Ghanaian population

Preeclampsia (PE) is associated with endothelial injury and hemostatic abnormalities. However, the diagnostic role of coagulation parameters and natural anticoagulants in predicting PE has not been explored in Ghana. This study assessed plasma levels of these factors as surrogate markers of PE and its subtypes. This case-control study included 90 women with PE (cases) and 90 normotensive pregnant women (controls). Blood samples were drawn for the estimation of complete blood count and coagulation tests. The prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), and the calculation of the international normalized ratio (INR) were determined by an ACL elite coagulometer while the levels of protein C (PC), protein S (PS), antithrombin III (ATIII), and D-dimers were also measured using the solid-phase sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. All statistical analyses were performed using the R Language for Statistical Computing. Results showed significantly (p \u3c .05) shortened APTT (28.25 s) and higher D-dimer levels (1219.00 ng/mL) among PE women, as well as low levels of PC (1.02 g/mL), PS (6.58 g/mL), and ATIII (3.99 ng/mL). No significant difference was found in terms of PT and INR. From the receiver operating characteristic analysis, PC, PS, and ATIII could significantly predict PE and its subtypes at certain cutoffs with high accuracies (area under the curve [AUC] ≥ 0.70). Most women with PE are in a hypercoagulable state with lower natural anticoagulants. PC, PS, and ATIII are good predictive and diagnostic markers of PE and its subtypes (early-onset PE [EO-PE] and late-onset PE [LO-PE]) and should be explored in future studies

Women's water vending in Northern Ghana : What implication for household bargaining

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Effficiency of Rural Community Banks in Ghana: An Application of Data Envelopment Analysis

Rural financial markets in Ghana remain underdeveloped, largely because of the legacy of glaring failures in government-led programs. The basic functions of rural banks in Ghana are the mobilization of savings and the extension of credit to deserving customers in their areas of operation. Through their financial intermediation roles, rural banks act as catalysts for economic development in rural Ghana. Despite their role in the Ghanaian context, these banks have not been the subject of academic studies. The purpose of the study is to measure the efficiency and performance of the rural banks using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The use of DEA is demonstrated by evaluating the management of 137 rural community banks in Ghana for the period 2004 to 2014. The estimation process explicitly, modelled for all the parameters especially efficiency using the non- parametric Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). ROA was used as a performance measurement. The study pleaded in favor of investment to total asset, the total operating expenses to total asset and loan to total asset; and to be the main drivers to rural banks profitability measurement in Ghana since they were significant.  The study registered liquidity (LIQ), total asset and inflation to be insignificant. The DEA results reveals 92.70% of RCBs to be inefficient. For RCBs to be more efficient and profitable the  RCBs must strengthen effective credit administration by way of credit appraisal, monitoring the progress of loans and their efficient recovery. Important policy implications of these findings include the need to enhance confidence in the Ghana’s rural banking system, to encourage savings in regional rural banks, and to ensure efficient transfer of resources from savers to investors

Forecast probability, lead time and farmer decision-making in rice farming systems in Northern Ghana

Rice farmers in Northern Ghana are susceptible to climate variability and change with its effects in the form of drought, water scarcity, erratic rainfall and high temperatures. In response, farmers resort to weather and seasonal forecast to manage uncertainties in decision-making. However, there is limited empirical research on how forecast lead time and probabilities influence farmer decision-making. In this study, we posed the overall question: how do rice farmers respond to forecast information with different probabilities and lead times? We purposively engaged 36 rice farmers (12 rainfed, 12 irrigated and 12 practising both) in Visually Facilitated Scenario Mapping Workshops (VFSMW) to explore how probabilities and lead times inform their decision-making. Results of the VFSMW showed rainfed rice farmers are most sensitive to forecast probabilities because of their over-reliance on rainfall. Also, an increase in forecast probability does not necessarily mean farmers will act. The decision to act based on forecast probability is dependent on the stage of the farming cycle. Also, seasonal forecast information provided at a 1 month lead time significantly informed farmer decision-making compared to a lead time of 2 or 3 months. Also, weather forecast provided at a lead time of 1 week is more useful for decision-making than at a 3 day or 1 day lead time. We conclude that communicating forecast information with their probabilities and at an appropriate lead time has the potential to help farmers manage risks and improve decision-making. We propose that climate services in Northern Ghana should aim at communicating weather and seasonal climate forecast information at 1 week and 1 month lead times respectively. Farmers should also adapt their decisions to the timing and probabilities of the forecast provided.</p

Diagnosing the potential of hydro-climatic information services to support rice farming in northern Ghana

Hydro-climatic information has a potential to improve agricultural productivity under climate variability. Recent developments in information sharing platforms (Environmental Virtual Observatories, EVOs) could make information provisioning more actionable. Here we present the results of a diagnostic study for the development of a hydro-climatic EVO that enables rice farmers in Northern Ghana to deal with climate variability and water shortage. The hydro-climatic EVO aims to combine data from scientific and indigenous forecast systems, facilitating information exchange using two-way interaction with stakeholders to co-produce knowledge. Data was collected through informal interviews with field practitioners, through focus group discussions with farmers and content analysis of documents. Results show that both the biophysical and socio-institutional circumstances need be taken into account for the development of the EVO. Existing governance and information exchange arrangements and lack of collaboration between actors were found to limit current hydro-climatic information flow, interpretation, and use. Our study reveals existing models of information exchange and their limitations in the study area. We discuss the proposed design of a hydro-climatic EVO from a responsible innovation perspective, considering possible future eventualities in a process that aims to be anticipatory, inclusive, reflexive and responsive. We conclude that such a hydro-climatic EVO has a potential to contribute to rice farmers’ adaptive decision-making in Northern Ghana, but there are challenges that need to be considered. The diagnostic study has helped to refine these challenges and offers concrete suggestions to improve both the design and implementation of the proposed platform in a responsible way.</p