S. (2011) 'Mobility, education and livelihood tra jectories for young people in rural Ghana : a gender perspective.', Children's geographies., 9 (3-4). pp. 395-410. Further information on publisher's website:http://dx.doi.org/10. 1080/14733285.2011.590705 Publisher's copyright statement:This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor Francis Group in Children's geographies in 2011 available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10. 1080/14733285.2011.590705 Additional information: Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. AbstractThis paper examines the gendered implications of Africa's transport gap (the lack of cheap, regular and reliable transport) for young people in rural Ghana, with particular reference to the linkages between restricted mobility, household work demands, access to education and livelihood potential. Our aim is to show how mobility constraints, especially as these interact with household labour demands, restrict young people's access to education and livelihood opportunities. Firstly, the paper considers the implications of the direct constraints on young people's mobility potential as they travel to school. Then it examines young people's (mostly unpaid) labour contributions, which are commonly crucial to family household production and reproduction, including those associated with the transport gap. This has especially important implications for girls, on whom the principal onus lies to help adult women carry the heavy burden of water, firewood and agricultural products required for household use. Such work can impact significantly on their educational attendance and performance in school and thus has potential knock-on impacts for livelihoods. Distance from school, when coupled with a heavy workload at home will affect attendance, punctuality and performance at school: it may ultimately represent the tipping point resulting in a decision to withdraw from formal education. Moreover, the heavy burden of work and restricted mobility contributes to young people's negative attitudes to agriculture and rural life and encourages urban migration. Drawing on research from rural case study sites in two regions of Ghana, we discuss ethnographic material from recent interviews with children and young people, their parents, teachers and other key informants, supported by information from an associated survey with children c. 9-18 years.
Background Education on exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) practices is usually given in the form of health talks by health workers (HWs). The need for HWs to be well-informed about cultural practices and misconceptions that act as barriers to EBF has been documented in literature. This information can guide HWs in developing interventions such as health talks which are culturally sensitive. However, this has not been explored from the perspectives of HWs in Ghana. In this paper, we report mothers' and grandmothers' misconceptions and cultural practices that are barriers to EBF in two rural districts in Ghana from the perspectives of Community Health Workers and Community Health Volunteers. Methods We used qualitative data collected in the Kwahu Afram Plains South and North Districts of Ghana through nine focus group discussions (FGDs) among HWs and followed the data saturation principle. All FGDs were audio-taped, transcribed verbatim and translated from local dialects to English. The emerging themes were used in writing a narrative account, guided by the principles of the thematic analysis. Results Our main findings included mothers' and grandmothers' perceptions that HWs themselves do not practice EBF. Mothers had the perception that grandmothers did not practice EBF but their children grew well, and gestures of babies suggested their readiness to start eating. Misconceptions revealed included beliefs that breastmilk is watery in nature and does not satisfy infants. Another misconception was that babies gain weight faster when not exclusively breastfed but fed on infant formulas. A custom of giving corn flour mixed with water or light porridge during the first few days after birth to welcome newborns was also reported.
SummaryA growing body of research suggests that orphanhood and fostering might be (independently) associated with educational disadvantage in sub-Saharan Africa. However, literature on the impacts of orphanhood and fostering on school enrolment, attendance and progress produces equivocal, and often conflicting, results. This paper reports on quantitative and qualitative data from sixteen field-sites in Ghana and Malawi, highlighting the importance of historical and social context in shaping schooling outcomes for fostered and orphaned children. In Malawi, which has been particularly badly affected by AIDS, orphans were less likely to be enrolled in and attending school than other children. By contrast, in Ghana, with its long tradition of ‘kinship fostering’, orphans were not significantly educationally disadvantaged; instead, non-orphaned, purposively fostered children had lower school enrolment and attendance than their peers. Understanding the context of orphanhood and fostering in relation to schooling is crucial in achieving ‘Education for All’.
In the face of protracted refugee situations worldwide, peaceful co-existence with host populations is necessary to ensure a meaningful life for refugees. Refugees need assistance to survive, especially in the emergency phase of their arrival in host communities. However, establishing refugee camps in predominantly rural communities with poor living conditions questions the type of assistance that should be offered in order to avoid resentment from rural hosts. The article explores the implications of humanitarian assistance to refugees in Krisan Refugee Camp in Ghana for refugeeÁhost relations. Where assistance to refugees is perceived to be above average living conditions in the host communities, there is likely to be resentment among hosts. This may create antagonism between refugees and hosts, thereby jeopardising peaceful co-existence. It is concluded that assistance should also take the needs of local populations into consideration in order to create a congenial atmosphere for co-existence.
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