The study investigates corporate social responsibility (CSR) theory to contribute to knowledge about CSR within the setting of a developing economy. In this thesis, the specific opportunities and challenges of financial institutions pursuing CSR are examined in depth. This study presents a portrayal of CSR, addressing its role and insight into how CSR is understood and practised. The study draws on an interpretive approach and investigates within a multiple case study context. The choice of cases is based on theoretical sampling, to advance knowledge in the phenomenon by looking at it in non-Western settings. The three cases are selected purposefully within the context of a developing economy: Ghana. The data collection and analysis use multiple data sources from semi-structured interviews of key management informants and archival documents which are analysed according to qualitative data protocols. The data is interpreted via thematic analysis within and across the cases to generate rich insights into the nature of CSR and its practices within their setting. The study recognises the emergent divergent and convergent issues of CSR across the cases with relation to enfolding the literature which involves inquiring with different literature the similarities and contradictions with the research findings. This process helps to link the study with the existing body of knowledge, as well as advance knowledge in CSR. Based on the analysis, this study suggests that there is a strong orientation towards philanthropy on what is classified as CSR. It reveals that the context in which CSR is practised is complex and situationally dependent, with particular influencing factors such as social welfare issues and culture driving societal expectations and business decisions on CSR. This study offers a revised model of CSR, suggesting a non-linear relationship with the integrated and porous dynamics between the various CSR components which thus provides insight into the nature of CSR in the banking sector in Ghana. The findings of the research can provide both academics and managers with valuable information on CSR practice in a developing country context.

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ABSTRACT The main objective of this master's thesis is to investigate the relationship between cash crop exports to the European Union from Ghana and its impact on the economic performance of Ghana. It is also aimed at investigating the aftermath of the European Union Directive 2000/36/EC on the Economic development of Ghana by investigating and observing the trend in GDP to access the economic performance of Ghana by looking at cocoa export to the European Union. The study then provides an insight of Ghana and European Union trade relation and then also an overview of Ghana's cash crops with focus on cocoa. It is followed with comparison of the trend in economic growth before and after the implementation of European Union Directive. Econometric and Statistical analysis of secondary data from sources such as International Financial Statistics, International Monetary Fund and the World Bank countries indicators is done. This is followed by analysis of the results, discussion of the results and recommendations based on the results. A brief summary of the thesis is given in the conclusion.

This diploma thesis aims to analyse the possibilities of processing the mangoes that farmers in Ghana regularly discard. Furthermore, it demonstrates, that by adding a value to the mango processing industry, the income of a farmer in Ghana could be considerably increased, leading to higher standard of living. The practical part of the thesis is based on literature research and introduces a business plan for the mango jam production in the Eastern Region, using simple and technologically undemanding processes. The study also provides economic calculations and overall project assessment. The estimated socioeconomic impacts of processing the mango surplus on the farmer can be found at the end of the thesis.

EU Forest and Conservation NGOs activities in Ghana from the perspective of public relations has been investigated. The methodology involved mixed research methods (qualitative and quantitative). Under the qualitative research approach, primary data were collected through unstructured questionnaires from the wood base and non-wood base small-scale forest enterprises, interviews were solicited from key informants including private logging companies and finally, forest fringe communities were visited and interviewed. Under the quantitative research approach, secondary data were collected through content analysis of EU institutions organisational press release, and an in-depth interview was conducted among all investigated institutions, content analysis of media houses was also collected to understand the sources of their news articles. Finally, official bulletins, published thesis, books, research articles, and journals were also consulted and used as a secondary data source for this research study. The result emanated from the administered questionnaires, in-depth interviews and focused group discussions reveals that public relations strategies and tactics can be used as a tool to enhance conservation education, manage forest crisis, empower local involvement, support livelihood programs and finally help reveal inefficiencies and bureaucracies in the state forestry sector, thereby contributing to sustainable forest management.

In recent years there have been reports on increase of illegal mining activities and several factors contribute to the influx. Although illegal mining to an extent is a source of job for the unemployed folks in Ghana, their activities have dire effects on crops production and environmental health. This study investigates effects of illegal mining of crop production in the Amansei Central district of Ghana. The major primary source data for the study were farm and galamsey household survey and interviews. The study revealed that 83% of males and 17% of females are engaged are engaged in galamsey operations whereas 45% of males and 55% of females are engaged in farming. The contribution of men and women in crop production were not significant (p>0.05). The contribution of men and women engaged in galamsey operation were also not significant (p>0.05). The portion of change in cultivated farm land size showed 53% of no change in farm size, 21% decrease in farm size and 26% increase in farm size. The difference between initial farm size acquired and current farm size under cultivation is significant (p< 0.05). Regarding pollution of water for food cropping, 84% of farmers indicated in-land water source is polluted whereas 16% of farmers have not had problems with illegal mining polluting their agricultural water sources. For the portion of natives and non-natives engaged in farming, the study revealed 68% of natives are engaged in galamsey activities whereas 32% are non- natives. Major crop produced in Ghana over ten years production appears differently. The study observed that maize, cassava and plantain production significantly change over every decade. Effective political and communal wills stemmed from policies need to be exercised to eradicate galamsey activities in rural communities of Ghana. And efforts to train and create jobs in rural communities of Ghana for the rising youth population should be prioritised.

This study examines the household socio-economic characteristics and food security status of of small scale farmers in the Nanumba North District of Ghana. 150 households were sampled for this study from five communities in the Nanumba North district of Ghana. The multi-stage sampling technique was employed to select the households. The data obtained was analysed using the Household Food Security Survey Module (HFSSM), the Binary Logit Regression Model and the Garret ranking technique. The study identified that 58% of the small scale farm households were food secure while 42% were food insecure. Estimates from the binary logit model showed that having access to credit increases a farm households probability of being food secure. It further identified unfavourable climate to be the most important food security constraint for farm households. Purchasing cheaper food was also identified as the most relevant food security coping strategy used or likely to be used by farm households. The outcome of the study has policy implications for food security programmes focused on rural agricultural households.

Knowledge management (KM) is regarded as a strategic asset and a source of competitive advantage for organisations. While the issues of KM have been widely discussed by many researchers, there is a paucity of studies pertaining to the role of KM in enhancing the performance of universities, especially Ghanaian universities. Similarly, there is the lack of formal strategy that would provide an appropriate framework for these systems to ensure maximum utilisation of available knowledge for competitive advantage. Due to this, Ghanaian universities have been continually reinventing the wheel each time they lose knowledge through expertise leaving the universities. This loss of knowledge through expert staff exiting raises the need to have systems and strategies in place that will help the universities to capture that relevant knowledge. The research thus set out to address these problems by assessing the implementation of KM systems in Ghanaian universities and the strategies that could be adopted to manage and safeguard knowledge as a competitive advantage and for future use. A survey and a mixed method research approach, which encompasses a questionnaire and interview schedules, were used to collect data from the stratified sampled respondents. One hundred and eighteen (80.27%) questionnaires were successfully received from the respondents, while all nine interviewees successfully responded to the interviews. Pattern matching, content analysis and explanation-building were used to analyse the qualitative data. The Microsoft spreadsheet and SPSS software were used to analyse the quantitative data and descriptive statistics in the form of tables, pie charts and histograms were used to present the findings. The findings of this study showed that: the concepts of KM was universally understood by the respondents; KM processes were effective; systems and facilities such as internet, intranet, e-mails, mobile technology and DVD/VCD/CD were used to facilitate KM at the universities; leadership, culture, technologies and strategies were the KM enablers; e-learning, coaching and mentorship, communities of practice, and storytelling were the main strategies used to manage and safeguard knowledge; and KM systems had a positive impact on the universities. The study finally formulated an integrated KM framework to guide the implementation of KM systems in universities. / Information Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Information Science)

In recent years, interest in the relations between government and NGOs and the implications of these relations for service delivery in developing countries has surged. This results from the increasing role of NGOs in many facets of development, especially in service delivery and poverty reduction. However, the focus of attention especially among researchers has been on the relations between central government and NGOs. Relations between local government and NGOs have received limited research attention, especially in developing country contexts. To contribute to opening the black box created as a result of the limited research interest, this study investigates the nature, driving forces and the implications of the relations between local government and NGOs for poverty reduction programme implementation in Ghana. The study adopts a qualitative research methodology, a multi-dimensional classification regime and a New Institutional Theoretical lens to investigate the phenomena. The study was conducted adopting semi-structured interviews and mini focus ground discussions; documentary reviews; and participant observations as the key data collection tools to document the nature, driving forces and the implications of local government and NGO relations in Ghana. This study establishes that the relations between local government and NGOs in Ghana are complex but fit into a four-dimensional classification typology of superficial and suspicious cordiality; tokenistic collaboration; friendly foes; and convenient and cautious partnerships. This typology is novel as previous studies have not classified the relations in this way. Further, it finds that a complex mix of forces drive the relations but in different directions - constraining and facilitating directions - contrary to conventional arguments that institutional isomorphic forces drive organisation into homogenisation. It adds that both the positive and the negative forces can be either beneficial or detrimental for poverty reduction programme implementation. In addition, the study establishes that the relations have more diverse implications for poverty reduction programme implementation than just the economic and efficiency arguments dominant in the extant literature. The relations have implications which are social, cultural, organisational, personality and political.

This study investigated the contribution of staff training and development programmes to effective library and information services in selected university libraries in Ghana. The rationale of the study was to establish the relationship between training and development of library staff and work performance of individual library staff, university libraries and the institutions as a whole, which should reflect in effective and efficient provision of library and information services. The researcher reviewed extensively literature on relevant subject areas related to staff training and development including: the concept of training and development, training needs analysis and assessment, staff training and development, monitoring and evaluation of training, effects of training on job performance, measuring return on investment in training and effectiveness of library and information services. The researcher adopted a survey research method because of the large geographical areas over which the university libraries are located and therefore dispersed population. The researcher adopted mixed methods research approach and thus data was collected using interviews, observations and questionnaires. The researcher also used a mixed sampling method where the researcher combined both probability and non-probability sampling methods in sampling the population. The population for the study comprised library staff, faculty and students from five selected universities in Ghana. The total population from the five universities was 139,463 based on which a sample of 860 was chosen. Thematic content analysis technique was use to analyse qualitative data, while statistical package for service solution was used to analyse quantitative data. The main findings of the study were that staff training and development programmes contributed to the improvement of the knowledge, skills, abilities and experiences of library staff in the universities in Ghana, thereby made university library staff in Ghana more effective and efficient in the provision of library and information services to the university community. However staff development practices alone did not contribute to job performance. Staff development practices were supported with human resource management strategies such as rewards, promotions, bonuses, salary increase and other motivational strategies. Finally the study identified inadequate funding and short falls in the training policies as some of the challenges facing the implementation of staff training and development initiatives in the university libraries in Ghana. It recommends the establishment of training units within the university libraries and adequate budgetary provisions to invest in staff training and development programmes for library staff as well as the adoption of train the trainer concept where staff who participated in training and development programmes are asked to train colleagues and submit a report for the benefit of colleagues as a way of improving staff development practices in the university libraries in Ghana. This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge on staff training and development and work performance in university libraries. / Information Science