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The two purposes of this study are first, to provide an evaluation of an after-school basic mathematics program at the Demonstration School for the Deaf Junior Secondary School (DemoDeaf) in Mampong-Akuapim, Ghana. Second, it provides an ecological discussion exploring why DemoDeaf students do not have access to quality education. I designed and piloted the math program in 2005 and 2007 as an action researcher and volunteer with the Non-Government Organization (NGO), Signs of Hope International. The program was developed after finding six students in one JSS class could not count to one-hundred and all other students struggled with addition and/or subtraction. The program has been shown quantitatively and qualitatively to have statistically significant and positive effects on DemoDeaf students. In 2007, the number of students proficient in counting increased from thirty-four to forty-four. An analysis of the addition achievement test results indicate students advanced a total of twenty-nine levels; four students learned to add single-digit numbers together, eleven students learned how to add double-digit numbers together, and fourteen students learned how to add triple-digit numbers together. An analysis of the subtraction achievement tests indicate students advanced a total of nineteen levels; six students learned to subtract single-digit numbers, eight students learned how to subtract double-digit numbers, and five students learned how to subtract with triple-digit numbers. Sample-t-tests showed that the increase of students proficient in counting, addition, or subtraction (except for triple-digit subtraction) was statistically significant at the p-value of < .01 or < .05. The stigma and negative stereotypes embedded in the normative culture in Ghana and the majority/minority relations and power dynamics between hearing and deaf groups influence the socializing institutions of the family and deaf schools. The normative hearing culture influences the language choice parents/guardians give their deaf child and how they treat them. The perspectives and values of hearing educators and administrators influence deaf school design and create a hidden curriculum for deaf students. These separate forces meet in the classroom and not only prevent students from receiving a quality secular education, they also reinforce the low status ascription of deaf students in Ghana.

Yes / This empirical research explores local skill capacity gap in the petroleum industry in Ghana using a mixed method approach to study four public organisations. Matched samples of employees (226) were surveyed, while HR directors (9) were purposively sampled and interviewed. The findings suggest a wide local skill gap. Originality, this is one of the very few studies to explore the shortcomings of local skill capacity in public sector organisation. Research implications, more matched-sample studies are necessary to understand IOC’s local skill capacity further. Practically, the study is of significance to the policymakers. The main contribution of the research amongst others is to conceptualise the concept of HRM in Ghana’s context.

The study examines the contestations and conflicts over land access between smallholder settler farmers and nomadic cattle herders in the Kwahu Afram Plains South District. Current studies on the farmer-herder conflict in Ghana have emphasised the conflict between indigenous farmers and nomadic herders. This study has contributed to existing knowledge by highlighting the conflict between two migrant groups. As migrants, both settler farmers and nomadic herders are renting land and, in the process, come into conflict. The tension in the area is that both migrant groups have no ownership of land, which exposes their vulnerability to the landowners in the sense that they have no firm land rights. The study's main objective is to examine the root causes of the conflict between crop farmers and nomadic herders in the case study area of the Afram Plains. The environmental scarcity and political ecology theories were utilised to analyse the conflict in the study area. The study adopted the qualitative approach with the purposive and snowball sampling methods used to select participants for the research. The study's findings reveal that increasing land scarcity due to population growth, climate-induced migration, and large-scale land acquisition is a major cause of the land conflict. The study further reveals that, aside from the core issues leading to land scarcity, what instantly ignites conflict between farmers and herders includes crop destruction, burning of grasses, and alleged vices perpetrated by the herders. The findings of the study also reveal that the mitigation measures put in place to address the conflict have been ineffective because of corruption, poor land governance, and greedy chiefs. The study concludes that the farmer-herder conflict is complex and needs to be examined from diverse perspectives to appreciate the nuances of the conflict.

The aim of the study is to examine professional social workers experiences of legitimacy in conducting social work in Ghana’s capital Accra and to discuss possible sources of legitimacy. The idea is to problematize social work as a profession developed and constructed in Western contexts and exported to Ghana during the British colonization. The issue of legitimacy is examined from Ghanaian professional social workers subjective experiences of their meetings with clients and traditional authorities that historically been conducting social work in Ghana. The study is structured around three broad themes intending to explore the Ghanaian social workers experienced legitimacy as professionals in different sequences of the social work; the social workers experiences of legitimacy to (1) classify social problems, (2) to reason about social problems and (3) to take action on social problems. These themes are also basis for the fourth theme that provides a more explanatory discussion of the social workers experiences; (4) possible sources of legitimacy. The analysis conclude that the social workers experiences of legitimacy differ between whether the social work is conducted on an individual level or a community level, towards nuclear families or extended families and whether it is conducted in a social domain or institution that historically and traditionally been in the jurisdiction of traditional authorities or if it is a domain or institution that is recently introduced in the Ghanaian contexts due to modernization.

Exclusive breastfeeding has been recognised as an important public health tool for the primary prevention of child morbidity and mortality. Consequently, the WHO and UNICEF have recommended exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months after delivery, followed by introduction of complementary foods and continued breastfeeding for 24 months or more. Even so, however, efforts to promote exclusive breastfeeding have either achieved limited successes or run into severe problems due in part to poor understanding of the several influences on the practice. As a social institution and more importantly the basic unit of society, the aim of this study was to seek an in-depth understanding of family influences on exclusive breastfeeding in rural Ghana. Using a qualitative method with unstructured interviews as data collection instrument, a total of fourteen respondents comprising breastfeeding women and family from Moglaa in the Savelugu/Nanton Municipality in Ghana participated in this study. All Interviews were audio taped, transcribed, and analysed using seven analytic procedures. Four themes emerged in relation to the forms of family influences on exclusive breastfeeding: family knowledge of exclusive breastfeeding; collective sense of duty; family beliefs and practices; and learning to breastfeed. Given how the family participate and influence infant feeding practices, it is suggested that public health education must aim at increasing the familiarity of family members on breastfeeding recommendations and also endeavour to work with traditional and religious leaders so as to modify and/or discourage practices that involve feeding newborns with herbal teas and ritual concoctions.

Cape Coast once a national capital of Ghana and its environs in recent years have constantly suffered perennial acute water shortage. The Brimsu dam which takes its supplies from the Kakum River with current production capacity of 1.4 × 104 m3/day cannot meet the water needs of the study area. The operating levels of the dam during crisis have reduced from 7.3 meters to 4.7 meters over the years with subsequent reduction in water production by 35%. Recently, the operating level has reduced further to about 3.5 meters with 60% reduction in water supply. This study evaluated alternative water resources to augment water supply and mitigate the impact of perennial water shortage. Among the alternatives considered are surface water from Twifo Prasso on the Pra River, groundwater supplies, and the desalination technology. Mean annual streamflow of Pra River at Twifo Prasso was used to evaluate the continuous availability and reliance on surface water. Hydrogeological assessment of geology underlying the study area vis-à-vis the existing borehole and their yields was used to evaluate groundwater potential. Desalination technology which is not currently in existence in the study area was considered based on available literature. Since the implementation of projects of this magnitude are the responsibilities of the central government through grants and loans, the study focuses on the cost implications of water from these alternatives to the final consumer in terms of affordability. In considering the cost of water from the various alternatives to per capita per day consumption in rural and urban settlements within the study area for a household of five, the cost of surface water remains the most affordable means of water supply, followed by groundwater. Borehole yields indicate that intensive exploitation of groundwater even though more expensive than surface water sources could minimize the effect of perennial water shortage and over dependence on surface water. The cost comparison analyses have shown that the cost of desalination using reverse osmosis is still expensive and could not compare favorably with the existing water supply alternatives. The analyses have thus confirmed the long held perception that "desalination is expensive and cannot be used in study area".

Human activities are a major driver of biodiversity degradation and loss, especially in tropical forest areas, where forest-fringe towns and villages depend on the forests for their livelihoods. In order to reduce threats that human activities pose to biodiversity, livelihoods support programs are employed as economic incentives for biodiversity conservation. These programs support the livelihoods activities of local communities, with the aim of triggering favorable attitudes and behaviors towards conservation, and ultimately reduce biodiversity degradation. Their effectiveness as conservation tools has not been evaluated. I investigated the effects of livelihoods programs on conservation attitudes and the consequent effects on biodiversity in the Afadjato-Agumatsa and Atewa forest areas in southeastern Ghana. The study areas are coupled human and natural systems, which are excellent for research in the theoretical framework of biocomplexity in the environment. Using literature reviews and field visits, I documented the specific livelihoods support activities (LSAs) used for biodiversity conservation, their historical trend and geographical distribution in Ghana. I used ex-post costbenefit analysis to determine socio-economic estimates of the LSAs in the two forest areas. Since communities were not randomly assigned to the interventions, I employed quasi-experimental design to evaluate the effects of LSAs on environmental attitudes. I evaluated the effect of conservation attitudes on biodiversity at two levels. These levels included 1) functional biodiversity at the landscape level represented by mean Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) of forest; and 2) compositional biodiversity at the species level represented by species diversity of fruit bats. iv The earliest record of LSAs used for biodiversity conservation in Ghana was in 1993. I identified 71 different activities belonging to eight categories. Some of these activities are beekeeping, animal husbandry, crop farming, and snail rearing. Most LSA programs have been in northern Ghana. There was an increasing tendency to make LSAs part of every conservation program in Ghana and this satisfies the current policy of collaborative conservation. The socio-economic estimates of LSAs included: 1) capital investment; 2) net socio-economic benefits; and 3) the benefit-cost ratio. The per-community values of the three estimates were not different between the two study areas. The per capita values of capital investment and net economic benefit were not significantly different between the two study areas. However, benefitcost ratio per capita was higher in Afadjato-Agumatsa than in Atewa. Estimates of economic returns from LSAs were marginal but the perceptions of success were relatively high. Environmental attitudes in LSA communities and non-LSA communities were not significantly different, and this was confirmed by an estimate of infinitesimal effects of LSAs on forest conservation attitudes. Among LSA communities, benefit-cost ratio of LSAs predicted favorable forest conservation attitudes; and change in pro-conservation attitudes were significantly higher in communities that had active LSAs than in communities which had no active LSA. Mean NDVI of the forests decreased from 1991 to 2000 and decreased further but at a slower rate to 2010. Higher forest conservation attitudes predicted higher mean NDVI in 2010. Higher change in mean NDVI from 1991 to 2000 predicted higher change in mean NDVI from 2000 to 2010. Eleven of the 13 fruit bat species in Ghana were recorded in the study areas. Longer v distances between a local community and its forest predicted higher species diversity of forestspecialist fruit bats. The results indicate that LSAs have become a major contribution to Ghana’s current collaborative forest policy. The fact that perceptions of LSA success were moderate even though the economic returns from them were marginal suggest that other factors such as provision of employment, training in new skills and community cohesion played a part in how communities viewed the success as LSAs. Evaluations of conservation attitudes suggest that just participating in LSAs did not improve attitudes; but higher benefit-cost ratio predicted favorable conservation attitudes, and conservation attitudes were higher in communities that sustained their LSAs. Therefore, it may serve biodiversity conservation to invest in LSAs that can be sustained and involve the least costs to local communities. Primary production of the forests, a proxy for a functional habitat, continued to decrease. Preventing communities from locating closer to forests could improve fruit bat diversity, which contributes to natural forest regeneration. Improving conservation attitudes should be an objective of conservation at the landscape scale. On the basis of the results, I developed a conceptual model for forest biodiversity conservation in a biocomplexity framework. This model could be useful for evaluating conservation in tropical forest areas. Lessons from this study can be applied in other incentive-based conservation programs such as payments for ecosystem services systems and carbon market schemes. I suggest that this study be repeated after a decade and that other socio-political and biogeochemical variables be integrated into future studies.

Ever since Ghana gained independence, its policy makers have identified education as a tool to foster economic growth and development. In recognition of the vast potential for national development that education presents Ghana, various governments have invested considerably in the sector. These investments have been in the form of educational sector reforms, as well as yearly reoccurring expenditure. Despite these massive investments however, very little work has been done to empirically investigate the impact of such expenditure on the nation’s economy. This paper uses data from Ghana to empirically assess the nature of the relationship between education expenditure (a proxy for human capital development) and GDP growth (a proxy for economic growth). The Granger Causality Test is applied to education expenditure and GDP growth data, from 2003 to 2018. Using data from this same time frame, separate Granger Causality tests are also implemented to test the relationship between Gross Enrollment Rates/ Total Completion Rates, at some levels of education, and GDP growth.   Interestingly enough, the analysis shows no Granger causal relationship between our main variables of interest (Total Education Expenditure and GDP growth). Results also show that none of the education variables Granger cause GDP growth, if the test uses 1 lag and also if the test uses 3 lags. Additionally, results show that whether the test uses 1 lag or 2 lags, GDP growth Granger causes the percentage of total government expenditure that is dedicated to education. Results for tests that use 2 lags also shows that the only education variable that Granger causes GDP growth is enrolment rate at the primary level, with GDP growth also not Granger causing any education variable apart from the percentage of government expenditure dedicated to education. In the case of the test using 3 lags, results show that GDP growth Granger causes only one education variable which is expenditure on the Senior High School level. / Ända sedan Ghana blev självständigt har dess beslutsfattare identifierat utbildning som ett verktyg för att främja ekonomisk tillväxt och utveckling. Som ett erkännande av den enorma potential för nationell utveckling som utbildning erbjuder Ghana, har olika regeringar investerat avsevärt i sektorn. Dessa investeringar har varit i form av reformer av utbildningssektorn, såväl som årliga återkommande utgifter. Trots dessa massiva investeringar har dock mycket lite arbete gjorts för att empiriskt undersöka effekterna av sådana utgifter på landets ekonomi. Denna artikel använder data från Ghana för att empiriskt bedöma karaktären av sambandet mellan utbildningsutgifter (en proxy för utveckling av mänskligt kapital) och BNP-tillväxt (en proxy för ekonomisk tillväxt). Granger Causality Test tillämpas på utbildningsutgifter och BNP-tillväxtdata, från 2003 till 2018. Med hjälp av data från samma tidsram implementeras även separata Granger Causality-tester för att testa sambandet mellan bruttoinskrivningsfrekvenser/Totala slutförandefrekvenser, på vissa nivåer utbildning och BNP-tillväxt. Intressant nog visar analysen inget Granger-kausalt samband mellan våra huvudsakliga intressevariabler (Total Education Expenditure och BNP-tillväxt). Resultat visar också att ingen av utbildningsvariablerna Granger orsakar BNP-tillväxt, om testet använder 1 tidstidsfördröjning och även om testet använder 3 tidsfördröjningar. Dessutom visar resultaten att oavsett om testet använder 1 tidstidsfördröjning eller 2 tidsfördröjningar, Granger orsakar BNP-tillväxt andelen av de totala offentliga utgifterna som är dedikerade till utbildning. Resultat för tester som använder 2 tidsfördröjningar visar också att den enda utbildningsvariabeln som Granger orsakar BNP-tillväxt är inskrivningsgraden på primärnivå, där BNP-tillväxten inte heller Granger orsakar någon utbildningsvariabel förutom procentandelen av de statliga utgifterna som är avsatta till utbildning. I fallet med testet med 3 tidsfördröjningar visar resultaten att BNP-tillväxt Granger orsakar endast en utbildningsvariabel, vilken är utgifter på gymnasienivå.

This thesis draws on an ethnographic research in Ghana to question mainstream views on decentralisation that local level institutions can be consciously crafted to enlist the participation of marginal actors in governance thereby leading to efficiency and equity in development. The research explores the everyday practice of local governance in Ntonaboma, a resettlement community in the Eastern region of Ghana by using participant observation and interviews. Evidence from the study reveals that first decentralisation is not a technical or managerial exercise but rather a societal practice taking place among heterogeneous actors with diverse interest and values. Secondly, the interactions occurring among these diverse actors are mediated through the interplay of a variety of institutions at the local level. Thirdly, the complex and dynamic character of decentralisation at the community level make the specificities of context very relevant in understanding the transformative potentials of decentralisation especially how it impacts on people and their social organisation. The study places emphasis on the application of agency, institutions and authority in local governance approaches. Evidence from the study suggests that institutionalised decentralisation inadequately provides possibilities for ordinary people to transform the nature of their interactions within the community. The thesis raises further questions about the simplistic and instrumental use of institutions in local governance approaches. The study notes that institutions are not static and do not determine outcomes but are informed by the prevailing conditions at the community level. Thus, the actions of actors and specificities of the locality do shape institutions. The study emphasises the role of existing institutions and socially embedded principles in village governance. It thus suggests that, the process of decentralisation is a political process mediated through diverse institutions and with varied outcomes for different individuals. The study concludes by exploring implications for local governance and decentralisation to making local governance pro-poor.