This volume describes written archival material relating to what is now southern Ghana (formerly the Gold Coast) in the Basel Mission holdings of Mission 21. It covers mainly the period 1828- 1914, but also includes some more recent material.

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Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) has emerged as a concept to address the multiple challenges and interdependencies of agriculture and climate change. Within CSA debates, equity and agroecology are especially contested. In Ghana, the concept of climate-smart cocoa (CSC) has emerged to simultaneously respond to high rates of deforestation, climate change pressures and low productivity of cocoa – Ghana’s principal agricultural export. Since CSC in Ghana is a nascent concept, it has received very little academic or critical appraisal. By applying a meta-discourse framework, this study aimed at gaining insights into local CSC discourses in Ghana and how these reflect global environmental meta-discourses. The adoption of certain discourses can reveal insights into subsequent policies and their implications for already marginalised cocoa smallholders. My findings are based on 37 qualitative interviews with cocoa smallholders, extension officers as well as governmental, non-governmental and private sector representatives of Ghana’s cocoa sector. Overall, my results suggest that an ecological modernisation discourse was the most pronounced meta-discourse reflected within CSC. A sustainable intensification discourse was the most common CSC practice to achieve a win-win between environment and development aspirations. Agroecological practices within CSC were mainly adopted to serve ecological modernisation discourses and are thus diametrically opposed to those promoted by more radical meta-discourses. Issues of contextual equity, especially regarding tree tenure, were ubiquitous, and discussed by a large majority of cocoa stakeholders. I caution that an overly simplistic win-win approach risks side-lining contextual equity issues and complexities regarding shade cover and agrochemical input. Community Resource Management Area Mechanisms (CREMAs) and other local governance mechanisms represent promising ways to balance trade-offs within the dominant CSC discourse by giving cocoa smallholders a stronger voice. However, given the dominance of large agricultural actors – such as foreign chocolate companies – within the current political economy of Ghana’s cocoa sector, this study cautions not to overestimate the potential of these local governance structures.

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The enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation success rate is as low as 30%. Researchers have shown that ERP system implementation could cause both system and organization failures, affecting operations and stakeholders, alike. The technology-organization-environment conceptual framework was used to ground this qualitative single-case study. The purpose of the study was to explore strategies that a manufacturing firm in Ghana used to implement ERP systems successfully. The population of this case study comprised 5 stakeholders from a manufacturing firm in Ghana who had success in implementing an ERP system. Data were collected using face-to-face semistructured interviews and review of various corporate documents. Data analysis consisted of reviewing interview transcripts, compiling and organizing the data using an open-coding system, grouping the data into themes, and interpreting the meaning of the themes and data. Triangulation was used to strengthen the validity of the case study design. The primary themes that emerged from data analysis included critical strategies that organizational leaders can use to implement ERP systems successfully in Ghana-based manufacturing firms. Significant findings were that leaders who engage in ERP implementation should focus on managing human and technological infrastructure resources, seeking the support of top management, and designing and executing comprehensive change management plans. Implications for positive social change include the potential to increase funding for local schools, after-school youth programs, and philanthropic donations based on increased organizational profits generated from successful ERP leader implementation strategies.

Abstract The deteriorating financial performance of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) has been an increasing concern for the government of Ghana. The contributions of SOEs to the gross domestic product (GDP) of the Ghanaian economy have declined, leading to the loss of job opportunities because of the unprofitability and rising debt levels. SOE managers need to adopt strategies to improve the financial performance of their organizations so they can contribute to the GDP and generate employment opportunities. Government, SOE management, and employees will benefit from profitable and sustainable SOEs that have the ability to contribute to the national development agenda. The purpose of this single-case study was to explore strategies Ghanaian SOE managers may use to improve financial performance and reverse unprofitability and unsustainability of SOEs. Transformational leadership theory was used to guide this study. Data were collected through semistructured interviews with 10 Ghanaian SOE managers and SOE documents. Analysis of data generated themes, which included performance management strategies, hindrances to financial improvement, leadership strategies, and core business strategies. By implementing strategies reported by participants, SOE managers may improve the financial performance of SOEs and contribute to the GDP growth of the Ghanaian economy. Findings may be used to promote growth and sustainability of Ghanaian SOEs and thereby increase employment opportunities to improve the social conditions of unemployed youths.

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The purpose of this thesis is to investigate some of the contending issues associated with economic underdevelopment in sub-Saharan African states. Specifically, this thesis focuses on the combined effects of World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) economic austerity programs, the increased spread of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and the continuous democratic deficit on the sluggish economic performance within four sub-Saharan African countries – Ghana, Kenya, Botswana and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The research questions are: are there any unique political, cultural, and economic issues that underscore and determine the path of sub-Saharan African development? What are the potentials for sub-Saharan Africa going beyond its present state of socioeconomic and political underdevelopment? Can sub-Saharan African nation-states truly claim the 21st century? It is hoped that what is learned from examining the situation in these four countries may be generalizeable to other sub-Saharan African states. This thesis has been written with the conviction that sub-Saharan Africa, although it has missed opportunities over the past thirty years, has not completely closed the door on economic development. Although sub-Saharan African conditions have not favored development and there is no simple solution for sub-Saharan Africa's economic and social ills, there are a number of 'common sense' approaches toward sustainable economic and social development. This thesis examines why sub-Saharan Africa's economic crisis has persevered for three decades, and why efforts to establish and uphold more effective economic policies and functioning public institutions have been so much more difficult in sub-Saharan Africa than elsewhere. My account concentrates on political and institutional factors: I explore how the predicament has progressed over the last thirty years, and the repercussions of the long-term nature of this predicament. The focal purpose is to identify and explain the causes which have kept sub-Saharan Africa for several decades mired in an ostensibly permanent crisis. The general theme of the thesis emphasizes that politics and economics are interconnected in sub-Saharan Africa. Moreover, the thesis focuses on the changing role of politics and markets in the process of economic development since the 1970s – and prospects for the future of this region.