ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Assesment of credit risk management of Agricultural Development Bank

The recent global financial crises should make everyone concerned about recent significant levels of bad debts on the books of banks in the Ghanaian financial sector. It calls for thorough assessment of the structure and components of the credit risk management frameworks and practices of banks by regulators, analysts and financial watchers from time to time, to ascertain the adequacy of the systems, policies and procedures for managing credit risk as well as conformity to current best practices. As a contribution to this exercise, this study is focused on Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) with the aim of evaluating the bank’s credit risk profile as well as assessing its credit risk management frameworks to ascertain the soundness and conformity to international best practises. Due to the aims and objectives of this research, the research design that was adopted for the study was the descriptive survey method. The study applied analytical tools such as ratios and tables to the bank’s 2013 financial statements, and those of 2012 and 2011 serving as references for comparison. The study revealed that more than fifty percent (50%) of ADB total maximum credit exposure is derived from loans and advances. However, the high level of loan portfolio concentration to few large corporate clients was the weak point in the bank’s credit risk condition. The bank’s asset quality as well as their capacity to absorb credit losses had not improved. The study also revealed that ADB has adequate risk management structures to ensure sound management of credit risk as put forward by the Basel Committee for Banking Supervision.

Source: KNUST
Assessing bank services in Ghana: perspective of the physically challenged people in the Kumasi Metropolis

This study aimed at analyzing the bank customer services from the perspective of the physically challenged in the Kumasi Metropolis. Banks usually have large number of customers which includes persons who are physically challenged. The initial motivation for this research came from the experiences shared of difficulties supporting the physically challenged access to banking services. The study was based on both qualitative and quantitative approaches using questionnaires and interview protocol as instruments of data collection. Questionnaires were administered to 115 persons who were physically challenged, and interviews were conducted with two physically challenged persons as well as the chairman of the physically challenged association in Kumasi. Findings from the study indicated that most persons who were physically challenged managed and operated their own personal accounts. It was also revealed that most banking halls were disability unfriendly and this to them was their greatest barrier to accessing banking service. However, some banks in the likes of CAL bank, ACCESS bank, HFC bank and Ghana Commercial Bank had disability friendly banking halls. The study also brought to light from the perspective of the physically challenged association that most bank buildings in the Kumasi Metropolis were disability unfriendly as result of poor implementation of the acceptable standards for construction projects. The Regression analysis results (R = 0.891) from the study also shows a strong relationship between the difficulty in assessing banking services and service dissatisfaction among the physical challenged in the Kumasi Metropolis which also statistically significance. Also, 79% variance of customer dissatisfaction is explained by the difficulty of the physically challenged in assessing banking services. As a result, this study provided some recommendations towards improving the bank customer service relation for persons who are physically challenged and to make banking more accessible and easy for them.

Source: KNUST
Assessement of the primary health care referral practices at Sekyere West District of Ashanti

An integrated health system in which the different elements that provide health care are intimately linked with each other by a functional referral system is the ideal if the task of reaching the entire population with effective health services is envisioned. This could not be achieved by either the hospital or other local health services acting in isolation, independent of each other. The services have to be integrated and the referral system is an important element for this integration. The conceptional focal point of this integration is the district health system, encompassing the district hospital, health centres, maternity homes and private clinics. s Sekyere West district has a district hospital and seven health centres providing health services. Against this background the study on analysis and appreciation of actual referral practices was planned, to generate information which could be used for further planning to improve the referral system in the district. The principal concern of the study, therefore, was to study the prevailing referral practices and factors affecting these practice. It also aimed to assess the comprehensiveness of the services being provided by the district hospital. Specific areas of interest in the study include determining the existing referral practices in the district assessment of health workers knowledge on referrals; identifying the problems related to the referral system; determining whether services provided are referral level services. In order to answer the study question a qualitative descriptive study design was chosen. Face validation method was applied to check the validity of the collected data. The study population consisted of health care providers at the health centres and the hospitals. Five of the health centres were visited. At the health centres the Medical Assistants in charge and at the hospital, both the Chief Medical Officer as well as the Nurse in charge were interviewed. Records at the health centre and hospital were also analysed. The problem of incorrect se]f referrals and the failure by the hospital staff to provide adequate information to their primary health care colleagues (Health Centres) was a hindrance. Referrals letters were not sent neither was there counter referrals, thus the services were not comprehensive and there was no continuity of care. There were no clear guidelines on referral and supervision and monitoring which has been identified as an important element for referral system was completely lacking. On providers knowledge on referrals it was found out that health workers understand what referrals is and cases to be referred. Problem identified by the health care providers were poor communication between the hospital and the health centres, transportation and poverty, as most patient could not bear the cost of treatment at the district hospitals. On range of services it was assessed that the services being provided were adequate for a district hospital.

Source: KNUST
Assessing audit practices at kwabre east municipal assembly

This study sought to examine the audit practices at kwabre east municipal assembly in ghana. Specifically, areas to examine include the extent of implementation of audit report recommendations, nature of audit queries from 2015 - 2019, and challenges faced by the assembly (kema) and its audit practices. The study adopted mixed method descriptive research design. Qualitative and quantitative research data were gathered using questionnaires and interviews. A single case study approach was used by applying purposive sampling technique in selecting nine (9) respondents. Data analysis tools like excel and sppss data analysis were used for the questionnaires’ analysis. The study found that lack of auditors’ rotation among internal and external auditors within the five (5) year period which had resulted in familiarity of auditors with management, insufficient time devoted by audit committee members towards their affairs and couples of challenges needed to be considered in improving audit practices at the assembly (kema). Therefore, the study suggested that auditors (internal and external) should be rotated randomly by the human resource department at least within every five (5) years to minimize the extent of familiarity threats faced by auditors during the conduct of their audit. Other recommendations were made by the researcher to help address all the other challenges.

Source: KNUST
Assessing barriers faced by pupils with disabilities in inclusive and non-inclusive schools in the Cape Coast Metropolitan area

Inclusive approach to education has been accepted as the solution to the years of discrimination and marginalization experienced by children with disabilities but it implementation has come at an unacceptably slow rate. This study was designed to shed light on the plight of pupils with disabilities and to recommend measures to combat discriminatory practices and attitudes to achieve education for all. The study focused on the physical environment of inclusive and non-inclusive schools, the performance of teachers handling pupils with disabilities as well as the perception of pupils on the importance of inclusive education. A comparative social research design was used for the study. Seven (7) purposively selected inclusive schools and seven (7) randomly selected non-inclusive schools were chosen. In all forty one (41) pupils with disabilities were purposively selected for the study. Structured questionnaire was used for data collection and augmented by an audit of the school structures and the general environment. Finally, face-to-face interview was organized to further explore issues emerging from the survey. The research revealed that the physical environments of inclusive schools were more accessible and had better facilities than non-inclusive schools. The research found that, teachers handling pupils with disabilities in non-inclusive schools were better than teachers in inclusive schools in terms of the professional practice of the teaching field and commitment to students and student learning. However, teachers in both schools had limited knowledge in the development of children with disabilities. The study recommended that Colleges of education should incorporate practical disability issues into their programmes in order to equip teachers with the skills and knowledge needed to handle children with disabilities. The physical environments of all schools should undergo serious modification in order to provide universal access to all children.

Source: KNUST
Assessing and Strengthening African Universities’ Capacity for Doctoral Programmes

Universities can make a major contribution to good policy-making by generating nationally relevant evidence, but little is known about how to strategically support universities in poorer countries to train and nurture sufficient internationally competitive researchers. N It is difficult for universities to develop a coherent strategy to identify and remedy deficiencies in their doctoral training programmes because there is currently no single process that can be used to evaluate all the components needed to make these programmes successful. N We have developed an evidence-based process for evaluating doctoral programmes from multiple perspectives that comprises an interview guide and a list of corroborating documents and facilities; we refined and validated this process by testing it in five diverse African universities. N The strategy and priority list that emerged from the evaluation process facilitated ‘‘buy-in’’ from internal and external agencies and enabled each university to lead the development, implementation, and monitoring of their own strategy for remedying doctoral programme deficiencies.

Source: KNUST
Assessing career progression among female health workers in the Ghana health service in the Kumasi Metropolis.

The career development of women over the years has seen several consistent limitations. This paper assesses the career progression of female health workers in the Ghana Health services. The research was guided by four specific objectives; effects of social roles on career progression, impact of social support on career progression, effects of perceived organizational support on career progression, and lastly the effects of personality on career progression. The study was basically quantitative and it sought to explain the relationship among the variables. A total of two hundred (200) selected from five (5) hospitals and Metro Health Directorate answered the questionnaire. Primary data was gathered through questionnaire whiles secondary data was collected through other researches among others. The data collected was analyzed using statistical package for social scientist (SPSS). Correlation and Linear Regression were used to analyze the data. The results showed that while the effect of social role (B=-0.014; p=0.783) is not significant and as such cannot be used to predict career progression all the remaining factors, social support (B=-0.377; p=0.000), perceived organizational support (B=-0.189: p=0.007) and personality (B=- 0.342: p=0.000) are statistically significant and can be used to predict career progression. The study recommended that the society must offer support to women in the form of husbands and in laws helping them in taking care of their children and discharging their household duties since it helps them to get time to progress in their career. Organizations should create the enabling environment to help the female worker progress as well as organize workshops and refresher courses for their female workers periodically. Lastly the study recommends that women should have a positive attitude towards themselves by avoiding inferiority complex.

Source: KNUST
Assessing cancellation of elective surgery and its impact on patient and facility at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), Kumasi.

Background: Surgical operations constitute a significant aspect of treatment administered in hospitals. The situations where patients’ surgical appointments are cancelled are an unfortunate occurrence within medical practice. Objective: The main objective of the study was to assess cancellation of elective surgeries on the day of operation and its effect on patients and the hospital in KATH, Kumasi. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study involving a self-administered questionnaire and face-to-face interview were conducted at the surgery department of KATH over a period of three months from May, 2018 to July, 2018. Total population (purposive sampling) was combined with convenient sampling technique in the selection of patients and health professionals for the study. Data analysiswas done with the aid Nvivo software. A sample size of 278 patients was used for the study with response rate of 97.12%. Results: During the study, 1078 elective surgical operations were booked and 74.2% elective operations were performed over the study period. 278 cases were cancelled representing 25.78%. The study found the lowest rate of 3.0% for cardio-thoracic and the highest (28.1%) for trauma orthopaedics. Medical/work-up, patient-related, administrative-related and others accounted for 16.3%, 54.1%, 30.7% and 18.9% of the cancelled surgeries respectively. The most common patient-related reason for cancellation was patients not turning up (40.7%). Majority of the patients (47.8%) expressed the feeling of disappointment while 23.7% indicated prolongs their staying thereby increasing their bill. Regarding, hospital related effects, 25.2% indicated lost confidence in the hospital. Conclusions: The study demonstrates a low cancellation rate compared to reported rates in Africa with trauma experienced the highest cancellation rate. However, the vast majority of cancellations could be avoided by improving the hospital administrative procedures and protocols.

Source: KNUST
Assessing cash management practices of small and medium scale enterprises: a survey of SMEs in the Kumasi metropolis.

This study was conducted to assess Cash Management Practices of SMEs in the Kumasi Metropolis. Specifically, the study sought to establish the extent of cash management practices, effectiveness of cash management practice and the challenges to effective cash management practices among SMEs in Kumasi Metropolis. In doing this, the researcher employed the descriptive research design to ascertain the Cash Management Practice of SMEs in Kumasi Metropolis in the Ashanti region of Ghana. Questionnaire was designed to this effect. Consequently, with the aid of descriptive statistical tools, using SPSS (version 20.0). The analysis of the questionnaire after its administration made it clear that Cash Management Practices of SMEs was poor due to the varied challenges posed by economic conditions and lack of good management skills. In the main, the findings of this study revealed that the extent of cash management practice among SMEs is low. The study also found that the cash management practices among SMEs are generally not effective. Finally, key among the challenges that SMEs face in practicing cash management practices are unstable economic conditions; inventory control; obtaining a loan; impact of bad debts; and cash flow difficulties. The study further recommended that SMEs put emphasis on proper cash management practices by ensuring proper financial recordings; encourage stringent cash budget and cash collection mechanism which would oversee profit maximization; and accentuate appropriate cash management practices to ensure optimum performance.

Source: KNUST
Assessing church leadership and pastor job satisfaction: a case at Aworowa district of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church

The act of achieving and accomplishing organizational goals and objectives rests greatly on the leader of the organization and his/her style of leadership. The employee‟s job satisfaction, commitment, and high productivity is seen when an appropriate leadership style is adopted. This research investigated the correlation between the church leadership and pastor job satisfaction at Aworowa District of the Seventh-day Adventist church. A qualitative data obtained from the selected interviewees; senior pastors, junior pastors, church elders, and some workers in MidNorth Ghana Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist church were analysed. The outcome of the research indicated that, pastors and elders as leaders within the scope of study exhibit autocratic leadership attributes rather than servanthood-leadership. The research found that, there was limited level of job satisfaction among pastors. The pastors were not satisfied with coworker relationship and others also complained bitterly on issues of their payment. Those who work with the pastors, also, complained about some behaviours of some pastors that make them dissatisfied about their noble work. It was, also, found that servanthood-leadership, all-inclusive leadership, mentorship leadership and stewardship leadership when combined in pastoral work, have positive influence on the job satisfaction of the pastors and the entire leadership set up. It is being recommended that, there should be combination of different leadership styles to improve the wellbeing of the employees because the impact of leadership style could cause either job satisfactionor dissatisfaction.

Source: KNUST
Assessing Climate Driven Malaria Variability in Ghana Using a Regional Scale Dynamical Model

Malaria is a major public health challenge in Ghana and adversely affects the productivity and economy of the country. Although malaria is climate driven, there are limited studies linking climate variability and disease transmission across the various agro-ecological zones in Ghana. We used the VECTRI (vector-borne disease community model of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste) model with a new surface hydrology scheme to investigate the spatio-temporal variability in malaria transmission patterns over the four agro-ecological zones in Ghana. The model is driven using temperature and rainfall datasets obtained from the GMet (Ghana Meteorological Agency) synoptic stations between 1981 and 2010. In addition, the potential of the VECTRI model to simulate seasonal pattern of local scale malaria incidence is assessed. The model results reveal that the simulated malaria transmission follows rainfall peaks with a two-month time lag. Furthermore, malaria transmission ranges from eight to twelve months, with minimum transmission occurring between February and April. The results further reveal that the intra- and inter-agro-ecological variability in terms of intensity and duration of malaria transmission are predominantly controlled by rainfall. The VECTRI simulated EIR (Entomological Inoculation Rate) tends to agree with values obtained from field surveys across the country. Furthermore, despite being a regional model, VECTRI demonstrates useful skill in reproducing monthly variations in reported malaria cases from Emena hospital (a peri urban town located within Kumasi metropolis). Although further refinements in this surface hydrology scheme may improve VECTRI performance, VECTRI still possesses the potential to provide useful information for malaria control in the tropics

Source: KNUST
ASSESSING CHURCH-BASED PRISON MINISTRY AND PRISONERS’ REHABILITATION IN GHANA: THE CASE OF NSAWAM MEDIUM SECURITY PRISONS

The study is based on the premise that recidivism in Ghana is on the rise despite programmes aim at rehabilitating offenders in prisons. Christian activities have played crucial roles in these rehabilitation programmes in the Nsawam Medium Security Prison. However, there is a widespread notion that Nsawam Medium Security Prison’s prison ministry operations are limited to caring for the basic demands of prisoners. The rehabilitation of detainees is thus a lesser priority for the majority of church-based prison ministries in Nsawam Prisons. The researcher focused on Nsawam Medium Security Prison to examine the relationship between prison ministry and convicts’ rehabilitation. The research relied on the mixed method approach to solicit the perceptions and experiences of inmates, prison ministers and prison officers on the subject matter. It was discovered that there are several non-religious programmes aim at rehabilitation offenders as well as religious programs. Religious programmes and activities of prison ministry at Nsawam Medium Security Prison have been found to have a good influence on the lives of certain inmates, however they are restricted within the prison walls and do not include any aftercare programmes to assist ex-convicts reintegrate into society. Ex-convicts may not be provided with these services by the prisons ministry in Nsawam due to lack of resources and clear-cut policy from the criminal justice system in Ghana on activities of prison ministries and prisoners’ rehabilitation.

Source: KNUST