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The thesis is a qualitative case study which examines how International Organizations promote democracy and the Ghanaians views and experiences of the process. The case study is a Minor Field Study conducted in Accra, Ghana during two months through semi-structured interviews and the collection of secondary sources such as literature, UN documents, journal articles and internet sources. The theoretical discussion has its starting point in a theoretical framework of democracy. The aim of the case study is to make visible the Ghanaians perceptions of IOs democracy promotion and the issues that are included in it. This study concludes that IOs need to revise their methods of democracy promotion and determination of democracies through more focus on the time between elections. Furthermore it highlights the importance to separate economic and democratic development and investigate the time between elections in the process.

Women have legendary roles as traders who financially dominate the sale of various market goods in West Africa. Head porters are young women from Ghana's rural northern region who work as human transporters in the various markets in urban areas throughout the country. Kayayei (female head porters) who work at these famed markets are the focus of this dissertation. The north of Ghana is the agricultural breadbasket of the country, with strong Islamic influences that thrive in dispersed, mostly rural ethnic enclaves. This contrasts sharply with the service manufacturing and trade economies that mark Christian influenced southern Ghana. As young women migrants arrive in Accra, this dissertation focuses on narratives of head porters as they confront the multi-ethnic, hierarchical social climates of the city, particularly Accra's largest shopping venue, Makola Market. This dissertation uses theories in phenomenology, informed by feminist anthropology, to consider the political economy of Ghana in order to examine how head porter's lives are grounded with the development history and the spread of capitalism in the nation-state. Throughout this dissertation, attention is given to the widespread informalization of the economy in the nation-state and the role of head porters in these processes. Using a methodology of collaborative photography with kayayei, this dissertation examines the politics of visibility and analyzes the kinds of skills these women develop in order to survive and negotiate the socio-economic hierarchies of urban space. By situating the theoretical and methodological concerns of this research within the social realities of rural-urban migrants, this dissertation explores migration as a sensibility that acts upon various social terrains at markets in Accra, Ghana. / Anthropology

Access to water is essential for every aspect of human life. Lack of water is a huge burden for people in low- and middle-income countries, directly linked to poverty, and considered a severe violation of human rights. Women are traditionally responsible for water collection and providing water for the household and consequently suffer from more burdens than men. This study aims to examine the gendered experiences of water scarcity in Gburimani, northern Ghana. By investigating the diversity of impacts of lived experiences, both within and beyond households, the purpose is to raise awareness of the community's situation and illuminate the importance of having an intersectional and gender-based perspective on the issue of water scarcity. This case study is conducted through the methods of work in the field, participatory method, and semi-structured interviews, and positions within the heart of decolonial feminism. The results are analyzed through insights and arguments from Feminist Political Ecology (FPE) and intersectionality. The results demonstrate that the social construction of gender and socio-cultural identities influences the diversity of experiences reflected in the community. The study concludes that gender division of labor, power structures, gendered responsibilities, and rights all determine that women are more vulnerable and face more burdens than men. However, the participants cannot be understood as a homogenous category with common submissions and oppressions. Gender, marital-and social status, age, and household positions are crucial variables influencing the extent of impacts and consequences. Therefore, the research stresses the importance of development actors to acknowledge the complexity of water and gender.

Yes / In accordance with the United Nations’ requirements for dealing with juvenile offenders, Ghana’s Children Act 1998 mandated local authorities to establish child panels to mediate minor offences committed by children. However, to date there has not been any research that has examined the functioning and effectiveness of the child panels. This research examined the operationalisation and effectiveness of child panels in Ghana. The study involved the use of semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with panel members of four local authorities. Findings showed that the child panels are not functioning effectively in Ghana. The relevance of the child panels has been questioned since it was found to be duplicating the roles of some other child welfare agencies. This article discusses the challenges impeding the effectiveness of the child panels and outlines recommendations to improve their effectiveness.

Understanding cage aquaculture adoption decisions and factors affecting adoption is necessary to ensure that fish production from cage aquaculture in Ghana is both significant and sustainable. The goal of this study was to provide a framework for understanding cage aquaculture adoption decisions and to identify factors affecting adoption, to inform decision makers as they formulate policies aimed at promoting cage aquaculture adoption in Ghana. I surveyed 122 respondents comprising current cage fish farmers, farmers who have abandoned cage aquaculture, and potential adopters of cage aquaculture such as, fish traders, fishermen and land-based fish farmers. Respondents answered questions related to knowledge, interest, constraints in cage aquaculture, and demographics. I used non-metric multidimensional scaling and discriminant function analysis to identify unique groups within the respondents, classify respondents according to their position in the innovation-decision continuum, and identify factors affecting cage aquaculture adoption. Based on their differences in knowledge and interests, I placed respondents into one of three stages of the cage aquaculture innovation-decision process model I developed: (1) Unawareness, (2) Knowledge, Persuasion, and Decision (KPD), and (3) Implementation (Confirmation and Abandonment). Respondents in the KPD and Implementation stages had knowledge, were more interested in cage aquaculture, and were aware of constraints in cage aquaculture, whereas respondents in the Unawareness stage lacked knowledge and interest in cage aquaculture, and did not clearly understand the constraints. Respondents who were males, belonged to the tribes Ewe and Akan, and who had fishing experience tended to be more interested in cage aquaculture. The lack of capital, high input costs, inability to adequately market fish, theft, lack of information sources, conflict over water use, and cage destruction by storms, were identified as the main constraints to cage aquaculture adoption in Ghana. The results of the study suggest that programs aimed at encouraging new entrants into cage aquaculture should focus on demographic characteristics such as gender, and tribe. However, demographic characteristics may affect adoption decisions and it may be important to consider them as such. Some recommendation to address the major constraints in cage aquaculture include: the Fisheries Directorate should (1) develop an efficient extension program that farmers can access regularly, especially, for farmers with no other information sources, (2) provide feed subsidy to enable farmers produce fish at competitive prices, (3) facilitate the formation of fish farmers' cooperative groups that would purchase large quantities of feed, (4) encourage local production of high quality fish feed, and (5) develop credit facilities that can be accessed by individuals interested in cage aquaculture to assist potential farmers who would, otherwise, not be able to adopt cage aquaculture . In addition, fish farmers should (6) be proactive in marketing their fish by identifying potential niche markets prior to production, and (7) join cooperative groups to ease the burden of accessing loans to increase production. / Master of Science

In 1995, Ghana’s education policymakers imposed a ban on all extra classes initiated and organized on school premises and public buildings, by individual teachers or groups of teachers, for which students were charged extra fees. The ban is referred to as the “policy on extra classes.” This study examined the genesis and justification of the said policy, including the current phenomenon of extra classes in Ghana. The study analyzed the policy’s impact on secondary education in the country, particularly Northern Ghana, using the lens of education stratification in a qualitative interpretive policy analysis approach. Interviews of leading Ghana education officials conducted in 2010 were the predominant source of data in this research, with corroboration from analysis of policy texts and review of the media. The conclusions and recommendations that emerged from this study included: accountability, the responsible use of school time and instructional time, and education equity and adequacy. Other issues concerned social justice, teacher remuneration and motivation, and the need for equitable national education policies that reckon with the disparities in the country. In particular, this study took issue with the culture of nonimplementation of education policies in Ghana, with particular reference to the policy on extra classes. The study contended that the partial or non-implementation of education policies deepens education stratification in the country.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / To describe the structural strains and cultural conflicts that take place when two social systems confront each other, the concept of Transitional Role was used to analyze the sociological adaptation in the social system, and the concept of Perceptual Distortion of Transitional Roles by different groups was usee to analyze the strain and conflict that continued. In order to locate, describe and analyze Transitional Roles in Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, the social science reserach in five categories of Husbands and Wives, Buyers and Sellers, Priests and Pastors, Administrators and Agitators and Servants and Masters was examined. In order to evaluate the Perceptual Distortion of the Transitional Roles described, the available social science reserach was compared with two samples of novels (those by West Africans and those by Europeans) about West Africa. The following were the findings: (1) Social strain and culture conflict affect both groups, West African and European. (2) Social strains exist in all the above aspects of colonial life. (3) Despite severe dual systemic strain, the colonial social system operated as one viable social system. (4) Not all social strains are resolved immediately by the creation of Transitional Roles and therefore, the historical development of Transitional Roles indicates that they continue to change. (5) Social circles formed around transitional roles and as these social circles proliferated, the basis of a new society was established. Thus a positive resolution of social strain has been located and described in the development of Transitional Roles. The findings of this study resulting from the application of Levels of Transition to culture conflict indicate that: (1) the European novelists see culture conflict as maladjustment existing with the individual African either in the form of reversion to an earlier evolutionary stage or in the form of poor imitation of British culture; and they do not see their own involvement in culture conflict; (2) the African novelists, in contrast, locate culture conflict between the various Levels of Transition or within social relationships between the numerous West African social circles, and secondarily between British and West African Transitional Roles. The findings of this study resulting from the evaluation of Perceptual Distortion suggest that (1) Transitional Role incumbents are more accurate observers than are stabilized role incumbents. (2) Perceivers observe members of their own social system of origin more accurately than they perceive a foreign social system. (3) Segregation, "Time Lag" and ideology distort perception. This analysis substantiates the proposition that novels are of limited value as sources of sociological insights unless they are compared with social science research and unless the orientation in terms of social membership of the novelist is known. The reading public in the est, to the extent that it has depended upon European novels as its source of information about West Africa, is inadequately informed. Americans who rely on this fictional material have looked at West Africa primarily through European eyes. / 2999-01-01