Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Politics Of Urban Design: Racist Agendas Built Into The Environment, Chassidy Titley

Senior Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

The Ghanaian War Against Malaria: A Geospatial Approach To Malaria And Healthcare Access In Ghana, Emmanuel Aklie

Theses

This geospatial research project aims to analyze the complex factors influencing malaria incidence in Ghana, including healthcare access, cultural beliefs, and preventive measures. Using GIS mapping and spatial analysis, the study examines malaria distribution and healthcare facility locations to identify hotspots and access inequalities. Combining quantitative data from sources like Demographic and Health Surveys with qualitative methods like surveys and interviews, the project analyzes the relationship between malaria prevalence and vaccination rates, bed net usage, and cultural views on treatment. By taking a comprehensive approach focused on evidence-based insights, the research seeks to inform targeted interventions by the Ghanaian government …

Assessment Of Industrial Policies In Ghana: A Case Study On The Current Policy Of One District One Factory Policy (1d1f), Ama Nyamekye Obenewa Otoo

Masters Theses

Industrialization has been the weakest link in Ghana’s economic development efforts. Import-substitution industrialization policy of the 1960s-1980s and the outward liberalized industrialization policy of 1990-2020 (Vision 2020), have failed to achieve the goals of industrialization. This is due to several reasons including the selfish interests of these political leaders and lack of technological advancement. In 2017, the elected New Patriotic Party (NPP), announced a new industrialization policy known as “one district, one factory" (1D1F), which was a political campaign promise to realign industrial strategies. The goal of this policy is to ensure that industries are spread equitably among the country's …

Fragmented Landscapes: An Archaeology Of Transformations In The Pra River Basin, Southern Ghana, Sean Hamilton Reid

Dissertations - ALL

This doctoral archaeological research examines the Pra River Basin in southern Ghana through lenses of landscape, temporality, and transformation. Drawing on the Annales school and the writings of Tim Ingold, this study moves away from binary constructions of natural and cultural landscape features toward a more integrated view of the landscape's long human history. The primary temporal focus of this research is the past three millennia but evidence recovered of even more ancient eras is also examined. The artifacts and features documented while surveying this landscape allow us to glimpse pre-Atlantic (pre-1450 CE) settlement patterns, subsistence, and technology, as well …

High Resolution, Annual Maps Of Field Boundaries For Smallholder-Dominated Croplands At National Scales, Lyndon D. Estes, Su Ye, Lei Song, Boka Luo, J. Ronald Eastman, Zhenhua Meng, Qi Zhang, Dennis Mcritchie, Stephanie R. Debats, Justus Muhando, Angeline H. Amukoa, Brian W. Kaloo, Jackson Makuru, Ben K. Mbatia, Isaac M. Muasa, Julius Mucha, Adelide M. Mugami, Judith M. Mugami, Francis W. Muinde, Fredrick M. Mwawaza, Jeff Ochieng, Charles J. Oduol, Purent Oduor, Thuo Wanjiku, Joseph G. Wanyoike, Ryan B. Avery, Kelly K. Caylor

Geography

Mapping the characteristics of Africa’s smallholder-dominated croplands, including the sizes and numbers of fields, can provide critical insights into food security and a range of other socioeconomic and environmental concerns. However, accurately mapping these systems is difficult because there is 1) a spatial and temporal mismatch between satellite sensors and smallholder fields, and 2) a lack of high-quality labels needed to train and assess machine learning classifiers. We developed an approach designed to address these two problems, and used it to map Ghana’s croplands. To overcome the spatio-temporal mismatch, we converted daily, high resolution imagery into two cloud-free composites (the …

Climate Change Vulnerability And Perceived Resilience Among Smallholder Farmers In The Upper West Region Of Ghana, Evans Sumabe Batung

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Globally, observed climate change has become a major barrier to agricultural productivity. At the same time, present and projected climate impacts are disproportionately affecting smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) where smallholder agriculture constitutes the predominant source of livelihood. Due to the vast agricultural potential of SSA, climate change resilience has been central in several multi-level deliberations over the past few decades. However, existing policies aimed at improving the effects of climate change on food security have overwhelmingly focused on the climatic dimensions of vulnerability, resulting in a lack of knowledge of the role non-climatic factors also play in shaping …

Impacts Of Climate Change On Food Security And Smallholder Livelihoods In Northern Ghana, Kamaldeen Mohammed

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Climate change and food insecurity threaten the livelihoods of smallholder communities in the Global South. In the Ghanaian context, climate change and food insecurity are particularly crucial challenges in the northern regions, where most people are engaged in diverse activities in the agricultural sector. Despite tremendous efforts to curtail food insecurity and climate change vulnerability of smallholder households in northern Ghana, food insecurity and climate change remain pervasive in the region, indicating that smallholder adaptive capacities and resilience to the impacts of climate change are not commensurate with the severity of the problems. Emerging literature has indicated that livelihood diversification …

Working Within Constraints: Examining The Effectiveness Of Local Network Governance In Addressing Complex Social Challenges, Merlin R. Chatwin

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Despite sustained efforts, the pervasiveness of complex social challenges continues to confound governments at all scales. While the local manifestations are unique to socio-political and geographic context, issues such as homelessness, poverty, and food insecurity are global in nature. The centrality of local government in identifying and addressing complex social challenges is at the forefront of global agendas like the New Urban Agenda (NUA) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). There is broad agreement on the importance of local governments, yet, how to equip them with the resources and autonomy required to meet complex social challenges remains contentious. Indeed, governance …

Tackling Access To Water And Sanitation, And Gender-Based Violence: A Parallel Case Study Of Ngos In Sub-Saharan Africa, Maurice Dogoli, Susan J. Elliott

Africa Western Collaborations Day 2020 Abstracts

No abstract provided.

Credit Access And Perceived Climate Change Resilience Of Smallholder Farmers In Semi-Arid Northern Ghana, Evans Batung

Africa Western Collaborations Day 2020 Abstracts

No abstract provided.

Intra-Household Decision Making Arrangements And Food Security In Semi-Arid Ghana, Kamaldeen Mohammed

Africa Western Collaborations Day 2020 Abstracts

No abstract provided.

Climate Change And Seed Security Among Smallholder Farmers In Northern Ghana, Michael Biwalib Madin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Smallholder agriculture is highly susceptible to climate variability and change. According to recent projections by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, this sensitivity would likely increase in the coming decades, with more erratic rainfall, prolonged dry periods, shorter growing seasons, and seed germination failures. In the African context, the mechanisms through which these ecological stressors would affect seed security are poorly understood. Drawing upon a case study of semi-arid Ghana, this study examines climate change impacts on seed security among smallholder farmers. It adopts a mixed-methods approach with intensive fieldwork in two farming communities. Conceptually, the study uses a political …

Examining Climate Change-Health Nexus In Ghana, Lucia Kafui Hussey

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Climate change is one of today’s most pressing global issues with its physical, biological and social impacts widely recognized. One area of concern is its potential health consequences. The postulated health effects from climate change are far-reaching that climate change induced health risks are signaled as the most pressing problems to public health in the 21^st century. Although developing countries such as Ghana had been suggested as a vulnerable hotspot for the health consequences of climate change, there is a paucity of empirical research on climate change and its health linkages in the country.

The purpose of this dissertation …

The Slave Trade Route: A Regional And Local Development Catalyst, Chukwunyere Ugochukwu

Geography and Planning Faculty Publications

The conservation of and focus on slave export points turned tourist monuments in Cape Coast and Elmina, Ghana, are incomplete without linkages to other complicit places in the interior that together completes the chain of darkness, the trade in humans along the Atlantic coast of Ghana, as well as in the interior. Completed, it will highlight the infrastructure of the slave business, the domestic, as well as the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. When the chain (route) of the different complicit communities in the interior to these export monuments along the Atlantic coast is conserved, it shall herald a completeness to the …

Assessing The Impacts Of Ghana’S Oil And Gas Industry On Ecosystem Services And Smallholder Livelihoods, Michael Acheampong

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Ghana discovered oil and gas within its shores in commercial quantities in the year, 2007. This discovery was hailed as a potential turn around for the country’s economic destiny. While this optimism may have been well-founded, there has been a relative lack of appreciation of the potential adverse implications of the industry on traditional smallholder livelihoods, and the critical ecosystems that form their basis. In many countries, discovery of natural resources results in negative environmental and social outcomes, due to the loss of local livelihoods and environmental degradation. Deterioration of local livelihoods occurs through several biophysical pathways, both simple and …

Vulnerability Of Protected Areas To Human Encroachment, Climate Change And Fire In The Fragmented Tropical Forests Of West Africa, Francis Kwabena Dwomoh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Upper Guinean region of West Africa is home to some of the most globally significant tropical biodiversity hotspots, providing ecosystem services that are crucial for the region’s socio-economic and environmental wellbeing. Nonetheless, following decades of human-caused destruction of natural habitats, protected areas currently remain the only significant refugia of original vegetation relics in landscapes that are highly fragmented. Aside from having strong geographic variation in land use, climate, vegetation, and human population, the region has also experienced remarkable biophysical and socio-economic changes in recent decades. All these factors influence the fire regime and the vulnerability of forests within protected …

Youth Engagement In Artisanal And Small-Scale Mining In The Upper East Region Of Ghana, Lydia Osei

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Youth unemployment remains a prevalent problem in sub-Saharan Africa and many of its governments are grappling with it. Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM), however, is gaining prominence in generating employment avenues for the youth. In fact, ASM provides jobs for thousands of youth and is considered to be ameliorating hardships in many rural areas. ASM has therefore been broadly acknowledged as a ‘poverty-driven’ activity. Given the sector’s contribution (both legally and illegally) to rural livelihoods, governments and development partners interested in poverty reduction are uncertain of how to deal with the growth of ASM. Policymakers and development partners seem confused …

A Gendered Perspective On Migrant Women Farmers’ Lived Experiences In The Brong-Ahafo Region Of Ghana, Jemima Nomunume Baada

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis examined the lived experiences of migrant women in rural areas of the Brong-Ahafo Region (BAR) of Ghana. Notwithstanding the depth of research on internal migrations in Ghana, little is known about women who have migrated from the Upper West Region to rural settlements in BAR to farm. Using 30 in-depth interviews, 5 focus group discussions and 10 key informant interviews, the study investigated migrant women’s productive and reproductive challenges, how they navigate these limitations, and the current state of livelihood improvement interventions. The findings revealed that migrant women’s livelihoods may not have improved as they had expected pre-migration, …

Community-Based Health Planning And Services And Women’S Access To Health Care In The Upper West Region Of Ghana, Joseph Asumah Braimah

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) policy was implemented in 1999 to improve access to Primary Health Care (PHC) services in Ghana, particularly in rural and remote areas as part of global efforts to achieve universal health coverage. Despite this initiative, health care access in the Upper West Region (UWR) remains poor with wide gender disparities. Yet, little is known about the impact of CHPS on women’s access to health care services in the UWR of Ghana. This study therefore examines the role of CHPS on women’s access to health care services in the region. Data were obtained from …

Usage Of Green Spaces At The University Of Cape Coast By Non-African Foreign Students, Yaw Asamoah, Ishmael Mensah, Osman Adams, Paul Baidoo, Akosua B. Ameyaw-Akumfi, Collins Adjei Mensah Dr.

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

Universities all over the world have green spaces (GS) as an integral part of their campuses because of the significant benefits derived from them. Aside enhancing the image of universities, GS influence the academic performance of students by reducing stress. This paper examines the preferences and uses of green spaces on UCC campus by Non-African foreign students (NAFS). Data was collected through in-depth interviews, observations and by the use of Arc-GIS 10.1 software. Sixteen NAFS were interviewed during the second semester of the 2013/2014 academic year. It was found out that the usage of GS was influenced by factors such …

Cocoa And Carbon: Remedying Forest Governance Through Community Participation In A Redd+Pilot In Ghana, Manali Baruah

Theses and Dissertations

Global loss and degradation of forests are well documented, and the potential role of forests in climate change mitigation is widely recognized. While forests are key to human well-being, forest resource management in the developing world is fraught with governance challenges. Despite policy discourses that emphasize the importance of local participation in the management of forest resources, it is rarely practiced. Many national governments and non-governmental organizations have set up efforts around the collaborative management of forest resources with local communities to tackle forest loss. However, the operationalization of participatory principles and the effectiveness of these collaborative initiatives are not …

Aiddata Gis International Fellowship: Ghana West-Africa, Jason N. Ready

International Development, Community and Environment (IDCE)

My internship, or fellowship as it was commonly referred to, was funded by a non-profit organization out of Williamsburg Virginia called AidData. This fellowship took place in in the country of Ghana, West-Africa beginning in May of 2016 and continued for 14 weeks with 40 hours each week. The objective of this internship was to provide in-depth training on the use of geographic Information Systems to Private and Public sectors within the country to allow for increased efficiency, and transparency through data visualization. In accordance with the requirement of Clark Universities GISDE master’s program this paper will delve into the …

Environment And Health Perceptions In The Vicinty Of Surface Mining Concessions In The Upper West Region Of Ghana, Roger Antabe

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The emergence of a gold mining industry and the influx of Artisanal Small Scale Mining following recent discoveries of gold deposits in Northern Ghana have posed new socio-cultural, economic, environment and health challenges for residents in a dry savannah zone that is already facing negative consequences of environmental change. Yet, knowledge of the impact of this emerging industry on the health of local population, and the extent to which it makes such a stressed environment more uninhabitable, has been lacking. In addition, studies elsewhere, mostly in the southern part of the country where mining predominates, have largely concentrated on assessing …

Relationship Between Household Food Insecurity And Health In The Upper West Region Of Ghana, Kilian Nasung Atuoye

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Although the importance of food as a social determinant of health has been elucidated, it remains underexplored in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where a significant population is faced with challenges of accessing food, largely from a combination many factors including low economic power, poor livelihoods, political instability and policy gaps. Despite tremendous improvement on food security in Ghana, the northern part of the country including the Upper West Region still experience disproportionally high levels of deprivation and food insecurity. Research has tends to explain the dynamics and complexities of food insecurity in the Region, yet variation of the incidence of food …

Living Care-Fully: Labor, Love And Suffering And The Geographies Of Intergenerational Care In Northern Ghana, Kelsey B. Hanrahan

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

Care is socially constructed, shaped by expectations embedded within particular relationships and the culturally-specific understandings of what it means to work, love and suffer. In this dissertation, I conceptualize care as a fundamental component of everyday life in which individuals are oriented towards the needs of others. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in a rural Konkomba community in northern Ghana, I explore the geographies of care shaping the everyday experiences of women engaged in intergenerational relationships as they encounter emerging dependencies associated with ageing. Dependencies emerge when an individual requires support and care from another, and in turn the struggles for, …

Hungry Farmers: A Political Ecology Of Agriculture And Food Security In Northern Ghana, Hanson Nyantakyi-Frimpong

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Whilst Ghana has made momentous strides in national food security over the last decade, peasants in the rural north, indeed, those who produce the bulk of the country’s food, are also the hungriest population. This paradox immediately raises profound questions for research in human-environment geography. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate some of these questions, with particular emphasis on why Ghana’s food system is failing precisely those who produce food. The research combines insights from agrarian political economy and political ecology, and is informed by nine months of intensive fieldwork. Three carefully selected case studies uncover the full …

Women's Navigation Of Maternal Health Services In Ghana's Upper West Region In The Context Of The National Health Insurance Scheme, Andrea C. Rishworth

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In 2008 the sub Saharan African country of Ghana implemented a Maternal Exemption Policy (MEP) within its National Health Insurance Scheme. This policy provides coverage for free antenatal, postnatal, and facility delivery to all pregnant women for a one year period. By removing the fees associated with maternal health services, the MEP was intended to reduce maternal mortality and provide equitable health care for pregnant women. While the MEP is generally regarded as beneficial to the women of Ghana, challenges remain, especially in the poor, marginalized and rural communities of the Upper West Region. Given that access to a skilled …

Determinants Of Health Insurance Enrolment In Ghana's Upper West Region, Jenna Dixon

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis aims to explore the determinants of enrolment in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in Ghana’s Upper West Region (UWR). While studies on the theoretically “pro-poor” NHIS have thus far focused on wealth as driver of enrolment, the high rates of enrolment in the poorest and most deprived region of the country (the UWR) suggest that other factors underpin health insurance acquisition and maintenance. This study uses mixed methods that combine quantitative and qualitative techniques in order to better understand patterned differences between enrolled, never enrolled and dropped out members of the scheme.

Results of a quantitative analysis …

Credit Card System In Ghana: An Investigation Of Why Credit Cardsare Not Widely Used In Ghana And How Widespread Use May Be Implemented, Emmanuel Andoh

Masters Theses

Credit card systems offer economic advantages to many families and individuals across the globe. In economically developed countries and most emerging ones, the credit card system helps individuals, businesses, and even government agencies, speed up business transactions and access to short term loans. However in developing countries such as Ghana this is not the case. The result is that many people find it very difficult to buy goods and services without having cash at hand. Moreover a vast majority of people have to carry bags of money to travel across cities, towns and villages in the country to trade and …

Extractive Industries, Livelihoods And Natural Resource Competition: Mapping Overlapping Claims In Peru And Ghana, Nicholas Cuba, Anthony J. Bebbington, John Rogan, Marco Millones

Geography

Taking the cases of Perú and Ghana, this paper examines overlaps between the extraction of minerals, oil and gas on the one hand, and river basins, agricultural land use, and protected areas on the other hand. In particular the paper considers how far such overlaps can be revealed and analyzed on the basis of (relatively) accessible and affordable data, without having to use more expensive data generated by remote sensing or fieldwork. We use concessions as our indicator of the presence of extractive industry activity, focusing on both mineral and hydrocarbon concessions, and areas of exploration and of active resource …