KMMF GRANT RESEARCH PROGRESS REPORT ID: 15-218
RESEARCH PROJECT: A Study Of Social Systems And Spatial Practices In
Informal Communities In Accra, Ghana.
1. Introduction
This report provides a brief overview on the above mentioned study title thathas benefit from the generous support of KMMF to execute this study in Ghana.
Specifically, the purpose is to present the activities and outputs of the research. It
also considers the opportunities and challenges encountered in the course of thestudy.
2. Background and Scopein line with the original objectives of this research, the study was conducted La
District of the Metropolitan Area of the capital of Ghana—Accra. Specifically,
Abese and Nmati informal communities within the La city council were surveyed.
The study focused on social activities (resident practices) and spatial practices inthe two selected informal settlements. The study started from November 3, 2015
to December 1, 2015.
3. Activities undertaken
Table 1 illustrates the main activities undertaken during this period of research.
Table 1: Research activities in relation to original proposalSN
Proposed stages of field research
Status1.
Preparation of questionnaire for field survey
Done
2.
Travel to Ghana, meeting with local chiefs and Returned to Japan on
people and community entry
December 4, 2015.
3.
Start of field survey and administration of Donequestionnaires
4.
Focused group discussions with local NGOs Doneand community leaders5.
Field review and filling data gaps
Done
6.
Return to Japan and collation of field work and Donedata organization
7.
Analyses of field data
Done
8.
Formulation and design of proposals and Donestrategies for community improvement
9.
Submission of final report to foundation
Not yet4. Opportunities
 The grant from KMMF provided an important opportunity to collectempirical data for my research to help understand positive social
practices in informal settlements. It provides an empirical basis to begin
to think and discuss how efforts can be made to improve the life of poor
urban residents in informal settlements in Accra.
 Secondly, the field research promoted social networks and connections topeople who can be helpful in the future development of informal1settlements. During the field survey, my supervisor and myself cameseveral people who were deeply interested in our research and werewilling to assist future research in the future.
Our research has encouraged some Japanese students in the mastercourse to contribute to the development of human settlements in Ghana
through research. Currently, one Japanese student is planning her
research in informal communities in Ghana in November 2016. She
became deeply interested in informal communities after she read part ofour research output from the field survey.
Several people have also become interested in the KMMF. Many of mycolleagues from Ghana who are studying in other countries started
reading about the KMMF and were appreciative of their initiative toprovide funds for research in Ghana.
There study has also provided the beginning of an important cooperationin the future, in terms of research between Japan and Ghana. My
professor is currently thinking about such plans between my department
and another university in Ghana.

5. Challenges
The main challenges during the research survey were Lack of proper accounting. Getting receipt for transactions in Ghana isvery difficult. Many commercial services do not give receipt after sales. It
makes recording keeping very difficult and affects accountability. For
instance, taxi drivers, translators, chiefs, some restaurants and evenguests’ houses offer no useful receipts for transactions.
 The worsening economic conditions also meant that it as becoming
expensive to do research in Ghana, many households who wereinterviewed requested for money or some sort of support after theinterviews. It was a very delicate situation. Some people were not willingto grant interviews if they were not given some money or reward.
6. Conclusion
In summary, the research was successfully done. Data from the field has beenanalyzed and organized into an academic article that is under review forpublication. The results of the research have been very insightful andacademically revealing. The results of the research will also be presented to thecommunity in December 2016. This will begin community discussions about
how to improve the community based on findings from the study.

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1. Community meeting during the field survey

2. Picture with community leaders33. After an interview

4. This woman wanted to show Ghana culture to Japan (women’s leader inthe community)

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