The interactions that take place between individuals, and the reciprocity networks and trust that people negotiate daily, are important assets that reduce socioeconomic vulnerability and increase opportunities. However, the pressures of economic change can exert opposing forces on social capital—strengthening it, as reciprocity networks are increasingly called into play, and eroding it, as households' ability to cope deteriorates and trust breaks down. Drawing on the above, I examine the complex ways in which individuals in Koforidua, Ghana network for resources, identity, and space by using their social interactions. I focus specifically on how networks are employed as assets to guard against and alleviate the hardships of a changing socioeconomic landscape. Network interactions are explored through four key lenses: (a) household, kin, and neighborhood ties; (b) alumni ties; (c) occupational ties; and (d) religious associations. I conclude that the ongoing networks, symbolizing different scales of social space, are what guide individuals to appropriate forums. They make survival possible. They also encapsulate and communicate identity.
This paper analyses local level apprenticeship contracts and networks to highlight informal urban livelihoods within the context of socio-economic vulnerability and wider contemporary changes taking place in Koforidua, Ghana. It does so by specifically examining the complex entanglements of interpersonal relationships that characterize apprenticeship contracts within which home-based entrepreneurs and artisans in Koforidua engage in to sustain both current livelihoods, as well as to shore themselves against socio-economic vulnerability triggered in part by adjustment. As a result of the changing geography of the city, network entanglements, comprising resilient ties and egalitarian relations, have become vital to urban livelihoods in this community. However, apprenticeship contracts and the networks they engender can be a double-edged sword. For instance, demands of reciprocity or support from co-network members, neighbours and family, can be so taxing that some individuals opt out of the network. This tension notwithstanding, this paper contends that apprenticeship contracts and the network spaces they create have created a new social cohesion and community that transcend the traditionally known spaces of social support, i.e. ethnic ties, family ties or even institutional support.
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