ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Chieftaincy succession conflict in Akuapem traditional area of Ghana

This study is a contribution to knowledge on the existence of succession conflict within the Akuapem traditional area. The study focused on the dynamics, actors and effects of the conflict. Methodologically, this study anchored on an interpretivist philosophical viewpoint and employed a qualitative approach with ethnographic research design. Thirty-four (34) adults who have lived in the area for the past five (5) years participated in the study. They included members of the traditional council, the Akuapem North Municipal Assembly, the royal gates to the paramountcy and others within the community. Using extreme case sampling, critical case sampling and convenience sampling techniques are techniques used to select participants. Data were collected with the use of interview guide while conducting interview and focus group discussions. Observation was also used as a technique to solicit data for the study. The data collected were analyzed thematically in line with research questions and emerged patterns from the dataset. The study found out that the dynamics of the conflict revolved around causes, nature and frames participants hold to the conflict. The findings showed multiple causes that resulted in the exacerbation of the conflict. The findings also revealed multiple actors who operated in different capacities, and engage in the conflict based on divergent interests. The findings indicated that the conflict has had multiple and complex effects on the society and her people. A major conclusion drawn from the study was that the conflict as hurled within the chieftaincy institution in Akuapem has complex dynamics and thus, has had multiple implications on the stability and development of the society. The study recommended that various measures must be in place by the government and various institutions concerned with the issue as well as the traditional area to address the succession issue and adequately ensure the full functioning of the institution and the society.

Source: UEW
Chieftaincy succession disputes in Navrongo traditional area of the Kasena-Nankana Municipality

The Chieftaincy institution has existed since ancient times in Africa and other parts of the world with a remarkable assumption of major developmental role. It is unfortunate to learn among other problems that, here in Ghana, the institution is tainted with succession crises and as a result the beauty of the institution is constantly depleting and subjects are being denied the developments they require. This research was conducted to examine the chieftaincy succession disputes in the Navrongo traditional area in the Navrongo Municipality in the Upper East Region of Ghana. A narrative design was used for this study. The population of the study comprised Royals, King Makers, the Elders, and Landlords. A sample of 50 respondents were selected through purposive and convenience sampling techniques. The instruments used for the collection of data for this work were focus group discussion and interview guide. The researcher employed qualitative approach in analyzing data that were gathered from respondents who were strictly the Landlords, Royals, Elders, and the King Makers. The findings revealed that, the process of selecting a chief does not only involve humans (Elders and King Maker), but the gods as well. Thus, “Kwara Yigino” (the keeper of the symbol of the throne) together with all Elders and King Makers go out to consult and perform all rituals to know who has been selected by the gods, upon which they (Elders) will vote to confirm what the gods have said. Again, it was revealed that political interference, rivalry and disunity among families were the major causes of Chieftaincy succession disputes in the Navrongo traditional area. It was, therefore, recommended that in order to avoid chieftaincy succession disputes in the Navrongo traditional area, must depend on the voices of the gods which must be done in a very clear and transparent manner such that no individual can dispute it.

Source: UEW
Child labour and its effects on child education in Bonia community in the Kassena Nankana Municipality

Education is the key element in the prevention of child labour, at the same time child labour is one of the main obstacles of education at the basic level. Child labour has assumed alarming proportion the world over and most especially in the developing world. Literature indicates that child labour is the main obstacle of human resource development which is a necessary ingredient of national development. Understanding the interplay between education and child labour will help to eliminate it and improve on school enrolment. According to the Ghana Child Labour Survey carried out in 2001, half of the rural and about one fifth of the urban children was economically active. The study examined child labour and its effects on child education in Bonia Community in the Kassena Nankana Municipality. The quantitative approach method was used in the study because of its relevance in contemporary developmental issues like the child labour. The study relied on data gathered from the primary data from the field to do the analysis. The results of the study indicate Child labour is considered as a normal practice and indeed healthy to the proper upbringing of the child. Children working on family farms and with family enterprises are seen as part of the process by which they are trained towards adulthood. The reasons given by the heads of households surveyed for allowing their children to work were categorized into four and they are as follows; to support family income (38.1%), as a form of child training (41.3%), to support child education 7.7%) and to help in household enterprises (12.9%). The results of the survey show that all children in ages 5- 17 years of households surveyed in the study area at least do household chores. In all, most of them apart from household chores also work to assist their parents in their enterprises and on the farms especially during rainy season. International NGOs such as CAMFED and FAWE are in the study area sensitizing girls on their rights including their right to education. The activities of these NGOs according to some of the beneficiaries have impacted positively on their education since they no longer depend on their parents for school fees and uniforms. There are no specific programmes by the municipal assemblies to fight the child labour problem though the officials admit child labour exist in their municipality. The study made a number of recommendations including the following; improving the local economy, tackling the broader socio-cultural and economic situation of farmers, increasing access, quality and relevance of education, motivating teachers to give their best, embarking on family planning campaigns, extension of social amenities to the area and making and enforcing laws on child labour. With the knowledge of what pertains on the ground about child labour would help to improve education if these suggestions are factored into the plans for the area.

Source: UEW
Child marriage in Tadze in the South Tongu District of the Volta Region, Ghana

The study was conducted at Tadze in the South Tongu District of the Volta Region. It examined the nature of child marriage vis-à-vis national and international legal frameworks on child marriage. This is a qualitative study that adopted descriptive design using the phenomenological approach. The concept “child” and “child marriage” were used in this context that “a child means every human being below the age of 18 years” and “child marriage” and “child brides” as well as “early marriage” as used interchangeably in this study, “as a formal marriage/informal union before age 18”.Ten (10) child marriage victims were sampled through snowball and purposive maximum variation sampling techniques. Data were gathered using a semi-structured interview, and focused group discussion guides. The qualitative data was transcribed and presented in themes as narratives, verbatim or direct quotations. The study revealed that child marriage in the Tadze community occurs through a forcibly arranged marriage between an adult man and families of the victim (usually after the girl is put in a family way) without the consent or will of the child. Traditional, customary, religious practices and social norms, poverty, and a poor educational or employment opportunities predispose girls to child marriage in the community. It was recommended that the South Tongu District Assembly with FBOs, NGOs, CSOs, as well as media institutions should intensify advocacy, education and awareness creation, improve access to quality primary and secondary education for girls, and in liaising with CHRAJ, DOVVSU of the Ghana Police Service, Social Welfare Department, and International Federation of Women Lawyers enforce existing laws that abolish harmful traditional practices such as child marriage.

Source: UEW
Child weaning practices among nursing mothers in Suhum municipality

The purpose of the study was to investigate Child Weaning Practices among Nursing Mothers in Suhum Municipality in the Eastern Region of Ghana. In line with the aim of the study, the objectives were to find out weaning foods mothers in Suhum give to their infants after 6 - 24 months, identify factors that influence the choice of weaning foods in Suhum, find out how mothers feed their infants with weaning foods and to find out mothers challenges during the weaning period, using the descriptive research design. Purposive and convenience sampling techniques were used to sample a total of sixty nine (69) respondents. Structured interview guide data gathering tools was used to document the findings. The instrument was pilot tested at the Kibi Government hospital in the Eastern Region of Ghana. The instrument was validated by two of my colleagues and my supervisor. After that it was pretested using five mothers, the Cronbach alpha yielded 0.732, showing reliability of the instrument. The University of Education,Winneba http://ir.uew.edu.gh xii Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 20 was used for the analysis. Statistics included mean, frequencies, percentages and standard deviations. Based on the research questions, the frequency tables were used to make summaries of respondents‘ responses and for drawing conclusions. The study revealed that weaning foods mothers in Suhum give to their infants are locally prepared dishes that the whole family eats. During feeding, these foods are mashed with fingers before given to them. It was also discovered that the factors that influence mothers‘ choice are availability and acceptability of food. Some challenges were that infants refuse to eat, cry, vomit, experience diarrhoea, and sometimes allergy. It was recommended that mothers should prepare weaning foods separately to meet the standard of infants and feed them 5 – 6 times in a day, also select weaning foods based on acceptability of the child.

Source: UEW
Child work and schooling among basic school pupils in Upper Manya Krobo District

The purpose of the study was to explore the effects of child work and schooling on their human capital development for nation building among basic school pupils in the Upper Manya Krobo District. The convergent parallel mixed method design was used for the study. The population comprised of basic school pupils in the Upper Manya Krobo District for the 2020/2021 academic year. Systematic random sampling was used to select 200 respondents for the quantitative data while purposive sampling was used to select 10 participants for the study. An open-ended questionnaire and an unstructured interview guide were used as the main data collection instruments. The criteria posited by Lincoln and Guba (1985) were used to ascertain the trustworthiness of the interview guide whilst the open-ended questionnaire after piloting yielded a Cronbach alpha coefficient of 0.83. The quantitative data was analyzed using frequency and percentages while the qualitative data was analyzed thematically. The findings of the study revealed that household poverty, poor health condition of parents and single parenting were the main factors pushing pupils to engage in child work. Also, the findings of the study indicated that the nature of work and the long hours of engagements resulted in pupils’ tiredness and absenteeism which had a direct impact on their academic performance. It is recommended that parents should find alternative coping and adaptation strategies to enable their wards stay in school. Moreover, the government through the District Chief Executive must ensure effective implementation of the livelihood programme to afford parents the opportunity to cater for their wards physical, academic and health needs.

Source: UEW
Children’s Imagination Through Creative Drawing Prompts

There are a myriad of problems confronting learners at the early grade of their drawing practice. These problems are mainly as a result of the underpinning issues with regards to the imaginative production and lull identified from the classroom performance of learners with regards to drawing. The bases of these problems highlights that, learners have a tendency to doubt their drawing ability, there is insufficient allocation of drawing materials and time needed for practical activities such as drawing and there is a lack of diversity found within the drawing approach. With that, the focus on exploring children’s imagination through the introduction of creative drawing prompts at the basic school level, primarily utilises prompts as a drawing aids, a guide or cue, crucial in promoting and nurturing imagination, originality, independence and the general positive outcome of drawing. The researcher relied on the action research design with various methods of diagnosis which provided the evidence to establish a cause of action. The diagnosis also aided in providing needed information for creating a baseline with the pre-test, to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the class and to intervene in certain aspects of the drawing approach by monitoring the progress made with the intervention of the drawing prompts. Assessment strategies based on the qualitative approach were also used to form a systematic plan of action for how the study was going to be approached when determining learners’ imagination. Interviews, observations and documents reviewed were the various instruments for collecting necessary data and information from the respondents. The data analysis plan based on the thematic and content analysis aided in transcribing codes from participants wording and drawing outcomes, as emerging themes and pictorial data were analysed on the criteria of vividness, originality and transformativeness. Previous empirical studies made on prompts also contributed in affirming the credibility of the study. Therefore from the data collected, the outcome of the study revealed that, drawing prompts enabled learners to easily conceptualise diverse ideas into drawings based on the type of instructions given. Learners demonstrated high levels of independence, composure and focus in the drawing activity and the signs of struggle and frequency of erasure was less in comparison to their previous experiences with drawing. The researcher therefore recommends that drawing prompts should be further explored in other areas and more research should be done by instructors and teachers in the field of creative arts when handling practical lessons and seeking alternative approaches to nurture imaginative thinking.

Source: UEW
Children’s literature as English as a second language material for young learners in the Akuapem-North Municipality.

The study examined children‘s literature as a material in the ESL classroom of young learners. The study adopted Coyle‘s 4C‘s as the framework where the interrelation between content, communication, cognition, and culture play a role in the selection of children‘s literature as a teaching material in the classroom of young learners. Utilising a convergent parallel mixed method design and census sampling, data were collected by means of questionnaire and focus group discussion from 330 teachers of young learners in the Akuapem-North Municipality, and analysed statistically and thematically. The analysis revealed that majority of the teachers have good motives for using children‘s literature in the classroom. Additionally, teachers have some specific types of children‘s literature they use in the classroom of young learners; these types are selected by teachers based on several factors. Also, teachers consider children‘s literature as a teaching material that affects young learners positively in acquiring the English Language. In spite, of the positive effects of children‘s literature in the classroom, the analysis identified some challenges that impede its use in the classroom of young learners. From the results, it is argued that teachers have good knowledge of children‘s literature, and select the children‘s literature they use in the classroom based on specific criteria such as the age of young learners to ensure positive effects on young learners. From this, it is recommended that teachers use of children‘s literature in the classroom of young learners since it benefits young learners in the ESL classroom. Also, based on the challenges, stakeholders and educators must take necessary steps to help minimize these challenges to ensure effective utilization of children‘s literature as a teaching material in the classroom of young learners.

Source: UEW
Children’s problem behaviour and classroom management strategies in early childhood centres of the Effutu municipality

The purpose of the study was to explore children’s problem behaviour and classroom management strategies in selected schools of the Effutu Municipality. The study looked at the types and factors that are responsible of children’s problem behaviour, the effect of problem behaviour and the management strategies adopted. The study adopted the explanatory sequential mixed method design. Data was gathered through a semistructured interview guide and questionnaire. The stratified random sampling technique was used to aid in the selection of 15 schools. Simple random sampling was used to select 45 respondents from each school to respond to the questionnaire. Purposive sampling was used to sample 15 participants for the qualitative phase of the data collection. Quantitative data was analysed using frequencies and percentages. Qualitative data was analysed thematically using Atlas.ti software. It emerged from the findings that the predominant type of children’s problem behaviour were related to aggression, non-compliance, hyperactivity, destructiveness, refusal to take instruction, intentional destruction of property, among others. The study recommended that Effutu Metropolitan Assembly, Winneba Educational Directorate and the headteachers from the selected schools for the study should organize programmes in collaboration with the early childhood unit on how to cope, prevent and deal with problem behaviour to ease the burden of parents and teachers

Source: UEW
Choice of public transport to work and drivers agitation for increase in transport fares in some selected towns in the Central Region

Traffic congestion has gained the attention of researchers and policy makers due to how common it has become in the cities of Ghana. This study sought to empirically investigate the factors that influence the choice of public transport to work and drivers‘ agitation for increase in transport fares in the Central Region of Ghana. The study employed quantitative research approach with structured questionnaire as the main instrument for data collection. With respect to choice of public transport to work, a sample of 210 household heads were selected from Kasoa using multi-stage sampling technique. On drivers‘ agitation for increase in transport fares, simple random sampling technique was used to select 200 drivers from Kasoa, Swedru and Mankessim. A double-hurdle model was used to analyse the factors that influence choice of public transport to work as well as households‘ expenditure on public transport. Probit regression model was used to examine factors that influence drivers‘ decision to agitate for increase in transport fares. The results revealed that the level of income, reliability, convenience and safety of public transport are the factors determining participation in public transport to work while gender, household size, employment type and affordability of public transport influence households‘ expenditure decisions on public transport. In addition, results of the study showed that cost of fuel, cost of spare parts and nature of road are the factors that influence drivers‘ decision to agitate for increase in transport fares. The study recommends that, public transport should be made safe, reliable and convenient to enhance choice of public transport to work and this will help reduce traffic congestion during peak hours. Also, though the introduction of import tax waiver on spare parts will help reduce cost of spare parts, steps need to be taken to rehabilitate and maintain roads and reduce prices of fuel, in order to minimise drivers‘ decision to agitate for an increase in transport fares thereby making public transport more affordable for households.

Source: UEW
Cholera-schistosomiasis coinfection dynamics

The present work investigates the coinfection dynamics of the cholera and schistosomiasis diseases. The steady states of the model are examined. We obtain results for the model in detail and present the stability results whenever the basic reproduction number is less than unity (R0 &lt; 1)). For each submodel, the existence of backward bifurcation is presented and for the coinfection model. Furthermore, we formulate an optimal control problem with an appropriate set of control variables. The optimal control problem and the associated results are derived and discussed. The optimal control problem and the suggested controls are utilized to obtain optimal control characterizations. Numerical results are presented by choosing various optimal control strategies for the early elimination of both infections from the population. It is suggested that appropriate uses and application to the population could significantly reduce the infection. Therefore, based on our findings, we suggest to the public health department that the only possible cost-effective strategy for the elimination of schistosomiasis and cholera coinfection is the combination of both diseases' preventive measures and the treatment of schistosomiasis. � 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Source: UEW