ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Rethinking information ethics education Ghana : Is it adequate?

This paper highlights the importance of information ethics and gives an overview of the various aspects of the subject taught at various institutions of higher learning in Ghana. The study notes that information ethics is not taught as a specific or whole subject at any level in the tertiary institutions and questions the depth of education given to students in the light of some serious information ethics violations such as plagiarism, copyright violation, cyber crime and social network abuses. Data for the study was collected mainly from the different university websites, university handbooks, course outlines as well as interviews with librarians and a few faculty members of the respective universities. The study recommends among others, the introduction of information ethics as a university required course for all freshmen, a stand-alone course in information ethics at the Department of Information Studies, adequate sensitization programmes on academic integrity and plagiarism policies and the enforcement of laws and policies in Ghana. These measures are meant to safeguard the individual rights to ownership, privacy, confidentiality and security.

Source: UG
Rethinking information ethics education in Ghana: Is it adequate?

This paperhighlightstheimportanceofinformationethicsandgivesanoverviewof thevariousaspectsofthesubjecttaughtatvariousinstitutionsofhigherlearninginGhana. The studynotesthatinformationethicsisnottaughtasaspecificorwholesubjectatanylevel in thetertiaryinstitutionsandquestionsthedepthofeducationgiventostudentsinthelight of someseriousinformationethicsviolationssuchasplagiarism,copyrightviolation,cyber crime andsocialnetworkabuses.Dataforthestudywerecollectedmainlyfromthedifferent university websites,universityhandbooks,courseoutlinesaswellasinterviewswithlibrarians and afewfacultymembersoftherespectiveuniversities.Thestudyrecommendstheintroduc- tion ofinformationethicsasauniversityrequiredcourseforallfreshmen,astand-alonecourse in informationethicsattheDepartmentofInformationStudies,adequatesensitizationpro- grammesonacademicintegrityandplagiarismpolicies,andtheenforcementoflawsand polices inGhana.Thesemeasuresaremeanttosafeguardindividualrightstoownership, privacy,confidentiality and security.

Source: UG
Rethinking information ethics education in Ghana: Is it adequate?

This paper highlights the importance of information ethics and gives an overview of the various aspects of the subject taught at various institutions of higher learning in Ghana. The study notes that information ethics is not taught as a specific or whole subject at any level in the tertiary institutions and questions the depth of education given to students in the light of some serious information ethics violations such as plagiarism, copyright violation, cybercrime and social network abuses. Data for the study were collected mainly from the different university websites, university handbooks, course outlines as well as interviews with librarians and a few faculty members of the respective universities. The study recommends the introduction of information ethics as a university required course for all freshmen, a stand-alone course in information ethics at the Department of Information Studies, adequate sensitization programmes on academic integrity and plagiarism policies, and the enforcement of laws and policies in Ghana. These measures are meant to safeguard individual rights to ownership, privacy, confidentiality and security.

Source: UG
Rethinking North–South Research Partnerships Amidst Global Uncertainties: Leveraging Lessons Learned from UK GCRF Projects during COVID-19

International research and development projects (or grand challenge projects) consist of multicultural, multi-country, multi-sectoral, and multi-stakeholder initiatives aimed at poverty reduction. They are usually conceived as partnerships between actors in the global north–south. The COVID-19 pandemic was a major unexpected disruption to ongoing projects and challenged their already complex management. The aim of this paper is to present evidence on how international development projects were impacted by COVID-19 with a particular focus on the relationship between research institutions in the north and south. We conducted a mixed-methods research study, combining a reflective exercise with the co-author team and a survey with principal investigators, project managers, and capacity development leads drawn from 31 Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) projects funded through the UK government’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) and focused on social–ecological system research. The survey contained closed- and open-ended questions in order to (i) demonstrate how those involved in managing projects adapted to risks, including both threats and opportunities, presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, and (ii) consider the implications for tailoring adaptive management approaches in international research projects amidst uncertainties, with a special focus on enhancing equities in global north–south partnerships. The paper offers the following recommendations on designing, planning, and implementing international research and development projects: (i) devolve project management in order to enhance project resilience and improve north–south equities; (ii) allocate dedicated resources to enable equitable north–south research partnerships; (iii) rely more on hybrid and agile approaches for managing a project’s life cycle; and (iv) improve resource flexibility, transparency, and communication through enhanced funder–implementer collaboration.

Source: UG
Rethinking Persistent Poverty in Northern Ghana: The Primacy of Policy and Politics over Geography

The Ghanaian economy has long been characterized by the persistence of regional income inequalities along a north-south divide, where poverty remains disproportionately concentrated in the northern part of the country. In contrast to much of the extant literature, which explains this phenomenon in terms of the relatively unfavorable geography in the north vis-à-vis the south, this article suggests the need to understand this problem as the product of the export-biased orientation of agricultural policy and the relative neglect of the agricultural products in which the north has comparative advantage in producing. The Ghanaian experience suggests that relying on migration and other redistributionist measures as the means to overcome spatial poverty traps can be problematic not only for regions that are not well connected to those prosperous parts of a country but also for those that are fully connected through adverse forms of inclusion. Related Articles: Moreno-Jaimes, Carlos. 2011. “Is Local Spending Responsive to the Poor? An Appraisal of Resource Allocation and Electoral Rewards in Mexico.” Politics & Policy 39 (6): 1021-1052. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747-1346.2011.00328.x/abstract. Bowman, Kirk S. 2002. “Will Vote for Food? Regime Type and Equity in the Developing World.” Politics & Policy 30 (4): 736-760. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747-1346.2002.tb00142.x/abstract. Dent, David W. 1985. “The Politics of Regional Inequality in Urban Development: Colombia's Costa Atlantica.” Politics & Policy 13 (2): 133-164. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747-1346.1985.tb00017.x/abstract. Related Media: Videos: United Nations University. 2013. Politics and Institutions. IGA Conference Parallel 3.4. https://www.wider.unu.edu/video/politics-and-institutions. UNU-Wider. 2013. “IGA Conference - Politics and Institutions Q&A.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXOJoPWSofs. UNU-Wider. 2013. “IGA Conference - Politics and Institutions 2/3.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgsrATArkWg. © 2018 Policy Studies Organization

Source: UG
Rethinking social protection policy for persons with disabilities in Ghana

Globally, social protection plays a pivotal role in poverty reduction and has been adopted to address the needs of vulnerable populations in society, including persons with disabilities. Social protection is an essential mechanism to achieve sustainable development. The United Nations’ Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals seek, among others, to ensure that state parties implement social protection which could prevent situations that adversely impact the well-being of their poor citizens. Poverty lingers in Ghana, despite interventions developed under the National Social Protection Policy. Disability is a social, economic, mental, and public health issue with over a billion of the world’s population living with some form of disability. Persons with disabilities are disproportionately poor because of challenges and barriers to their inclusion and full-effective participation in society. Guided by the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Sustainable Development Goals, we conducted a content analysis of the National Social Protection Policy of Ghana. Twin-track approach to social policy development, modification to existing social protection programmes and the inclusion of persons with disabilities in decision-making processes are among the recommendations to address the needs of persons with disabilities in Ghana.

Source: UG
Rethinking solidarity towards equity in global health: African views

When the COVID-19 pandemic first took the world by storm, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a Solidarity Call to Action to realize equitable global access to COVID-19 health technologies through pooling of knowledge, intellectual property and data. At the dawn of 2022, 70% of rich countries’ populations were vaccinated but only 4.6% of poor countries (Our World In Data, Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccinations, 2022). Vaccine nationalism and rampant self-interest grew and our ineffective global response led to new variants of concern - like Omicron - emerging. Rather than abandon the idea of solidarity in global health, we believe that the international community must embrace it. Solidarity, with its emphasis on relationality and recognition of similarities, could offer fertile ground for building an ethical framework for an interconnected and interdependent world. Such a framework would be better than a framework that focuses principally on individual entitlements. To defend this view, we draw on African relational views of personhood and morality. When humans are conceived of as essentially relational beings, solidarity occupies a central role in moral behaviour. We argue that part of the reason appeals to solidarity have failed may be traced to an inadequate conceptualization of solidarity. For as long as solidarity remains a beautiful notion, practiced voluntarily by generous and kindhearted persons, in a transient manner to respond to specific challenges, it will never be able to offer an adequate framework for addressing inequities in global health in a systematic and permanent way. Drawing on this understanding of solidarity, we propose pathways to respond creatively to the risks we face to ensure equitable access to essential health for all.

Source: UG
‘Rethinking spatial inequality in development: the primacy of politics and power relations’

This paper offers a political explanation to the problem of spatial inequality in developing countries, paying particular attention to the implications of patronage politics and inter-elite power relations for the spatial distribution of public goods. After showing that existing explanations of spatial inequality are at best partial, the paper argues that prospects for overcoming spatial inequalities in the clientelist-driven political environments of developing countries depend substantially on the ways in which elites from lagging regions are incorporated into ruling coalitions, and how such forms of incorporation shape their influence over resource allocation decisions and policy agenda more broadly. The paper also departs from much of the existing literature on spatial inequality by emphasizing the need to understand 'powerlessness' on the part of lagging regions as stemming not necessarily from their political exclusion from political decision making structures, but also from their incorporation into such structures on terms that potentially underpin their poverty. Based on this argument, the paper proposes a new framework for exploring the deeper and more structural underpinnings of spatial inequality in developing countries.

Source: UG
Rethinking Spatial Inequality in Development: The Primacy of Power Relations

Why do spatial inequalities emerge and persist? After showing that existing explanations of spatial inequality are at best partial, this article argues that persistent spatial development disparities are the product of the terms on which underdeveloped regions are incorporated into ruling coalitions. In most cases, political elites from lagging regions are incorporated on marginal terms, undermining their capacity to direct public resources to their constituents. Consequently, governments direct more resources to relatively better-off and politically dominant regions, reinforcing spatial inequalities. Our analyses highlight the importance of going beyond a dichotomous assessment of whether disadvantaged regions are included or excluded from ruling coalitions to an examination of the terms of their inclusion.

Source: UG
Rethinking Spatial Inequality in Development: The Primacy of Power Relations

Why do spatial inequalities emerge and persist? After showing that existing explanationsof spatial inequality are at best partial, this article argues that persistent spatial development disparitiesare the product of the terms on which underdeveloped regions are incorporated into ruling coalitions.In most cases, political elites from lagging regions are incorporated on marginal terms, underminingtheir capacity to direct public resources to their constituents. Consequently, governments direct moreresources to relatively better-off and politically dominant regions, reinforcing spatial inequalities. Ouranalyses highlight the importance of going beyond a dichotomous assessment of whetherdisadvantaged regions are included or excluded from ruling coalitions to an examination of the termsof their inclusion

Source: UG
Rethinking the African American Great Migration Narrative: Reading Zora Neale Hurston’s Jonah’s Gourd Vine

In Jonah’s Gourd Vine Zora Neale Hurston depicts the South-South migration of her protagonist, John Buddy Pearson as part of the larger exodus of blacks during the early twentieth century. This novel, however, has been ignored in studies of the African American Great Migration narrative, mainly because such scholarship has focused on South-North trajectories. Yet Jonah’s Gourd Vine broadens and challenges dominant ideological models of the migration narrative, particularly the “urban adjustment” model which attributes the plight of black migrants to external factors. Hurston instead offers a look inward into her protagonist to find reasons for his failures, focusing on his individual struggle with his internal “brute beast” which clogs the pathway to his self-discovery. By thus centering her narrative on individual consciousness rather than on socio-cultural factors, Hurston presents a more nuanced view of the Great Migration in African American fiction.

Source: UG
Rethinking the Great Commission: Incorporation of Akan Indigenous Symbols into Christian Worship: Great Commission and Akan Symbols

Symbols are communicative tools with performative functions in all cultures. Apart from their decorative functions, non‐Christian symbols adopted into Christianity have had a tremendous impact on Christian life since the early times, especially in liturgical practices. Through Western missionary activities, Ghana inherited Christian biblical‐liturgical art as has been developed in the home countries of the missionaries. However, since the 1960s Adinkra symbols have been incorporated into Christian worship and theology, receiving attention within secular and religious circles because of their communicative potential. On the religious level, some churches have adopted them as logos or incorporated them into architectural designs and liturgical art. This paper seeks to investigate what motivates various missions to choose particular Adinkra symbol(s) and what they hope to achieve with them. Furthermore, it attempts a theological reflection on the communicative potential of artefacts in Ghanaian Christianity as a response to the “Great Commission. “We approach the subject from a historical, contextual, and theological perspective, using selected Roman Catholic and Methodist churches in Ghana as case studies. The study employed unstructured in‐depth interviews and photo elicitations to trace the relationship between visual arts and religion, with particular emphasis on Christian visual arts and how they have informed Christianity in Ghana.

Source: UG
Rethinking the politics of development in Africa? How the ‘political settlement’ shapes resource allocation in Ghana

Debates over whether democratic or neopatrimonial forms of politics are driving the politics of development in Africa have increasingly given way to more nuanced readings which seek to capture the dynamic interplay of these forms of politics. However, most current analyses fail to identify the specific causal mechanisms through which this politics shapes the actual distribution of resources. A political settlements approach which emphasises the distribution of ‘holding power’ within ruling coalitions and how this shapes institutional functioning can bring greater clarity to these debates. Our analysis shows that patterns of resource allocation within Ghana’s education sector during 1993-2008 were closely shaped by the incentives and norms generated by Ghana’s competitive ‘clientelistic political settlement’, which overrode rhetorical concerns with national unity and inclusive development. This had particularly negative implications for the poorest Northern regions, which have lacked holding power within successive ruling coalitions.

Source: UG
Retinopathy in severe malaria in Ghanaian children - overlap between fundus changes in cerebral and non-cerebral malaria.

Background: In malaria-endemic areas, reliably establishing parasitaemia for diagnosis of malaria can be difficult. A retinopathy with some features unique to severe malaria with a predictive value on prognosis, has been described. Detection of this retinopathy could be a useful diagnostic tool. This study was designed to determine the diagnostic usefulness of retinopathy on ophthalmoscopy in severe malaria syndromes: Cerebral malaria (CM) and non-cerebral severe malaria (non-CM), i.e. malaria with respiratory distress (RD) and malaria with severe anaemia (SA), in Ghanaian children. Secondly, to determine any association between retinopathy and the occurrence of convulsions in patients with CM. Methods and subjects: A cross-sectional study of consecutive patients on admission with severe malaria who were assessed for retinal signs, at the Department of Child Health, Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra, from July to August 2002 was done. All children had dilated-fundus examination by direct and indirect ophthalmoscopy. Results: Fifty-eight children aged between six months and nine years were recruited. Twenty six(45%) had CM, 22 with convulsion; 26(45%) had SA and six(10%) had RD. Any retinopathy was seen in: CM 19(73%), SA 14(54%), RD 3(50.0%), CM with convulsion 15(68%) and CM without convulsion 4(100%). Comparison between CM versus non-CM groups showed a significant risk relationship between retinal whitening and CM(OR = 11.0, CI = 2.2- 56.1, p = 0.001). There was no significant association with papilloedema(OR = 0.9, CI = 0.3 - 3.0, p = 0.9), macular whitening(OR = 1.6, CI = 0.5 - 4.8, p = 0.4), macular haemorrhage( OR = 0.28, CI = 0.03 - 2.7 p = 0.2), retinal haemorrhage(OR = 1.9, CI = 0.6 - 5.6, p = 0.3), vessel abnormality (OR = 1.9, CI = 0.6 - 6.1, p = 0.3) and cotton wool spots (OR not calculated, p = 0.08). Tortuous and engorged retinal veins, not previously described as a feature of CM, was the most common vascular abnormality(15/58 = 26%) and was detected even in the absence of papilloedema. Conclusion: Retinal whitening, a sign suggestive of retinal ischaemia, was significantly more common in CM than in non-CM syndromes. However, the high prevalence of any retinopathy in the latter suggests that the brain and the retina may be suffering from ischaemia in both CM and non-CM.

Source: UG
Retirement income security under Ghana ’ s three-tier pension model: Assessment of risks and options for reform

This article analyzes the newly introduced three-tier pension scheme in Ghana, showing that major transformation in the country ’ s overall pension system was the insertion of two private – mandatory and voluntary – pillars to the existing social insurance scheme. The analysis shows that although private pensions were projected as instruments for giving individual citizens choice and freedom over their retirement decisions, the design of the three-tier scheme in Ghana has several risks and institutional weaknesses that can compromise the income security of the aged. Thus, it argues for the need to reform the new scheme by (a) establishing a statutory pension benefit insurance; (b) scaling back the number of pension service providers; (c) capping amount of each contributors ’ funds that service providers can spend on administrative issues; and (d) activating constitutional provisions on social assistance to augment the three-tier model

Source: UG
Retrocaval ureter: Two case reports.

Retrocaval ureter also referred to as pre-ureteral vena cava is a rare congenital anomaly with the ureter passing posterior to the inferior vena cava. Though it is a congenital anomaly, patients do not normally present with symptoms until the 3rd and 4th decades of life from a resulting hydronephrosis. We present the first two cases to be reported in Ghana; a 36-year-old male and a 40-year-old female both with right flank pains and associated right hydronephrosis. Diagnoses were confirmed with retrograde ureteropyelogram and both had an open surgical repair of the anomaly.

Source: UG
Retrogression in the Legal Protection of the Right to Academic Freedom in Europe.

This article is a condensed and reworked version of: "Measuring" the Erosion of Academic Freedom as an International Human Right: A Report on the Legal Protection of Academic Freedom in Europe (Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, Vol. 49, 2016, 597-691), making the research results available to an audience versed in the higher education sciences. The article assesses to what extent the right to academic freedom as construed in terms of international human rights law, specifically UNESCO’s Recommendation on the Status of Higher-Education Teaching Personnel of 1997, is protected in the law of the 28 Member States of the European Union. It determines the elements of this right, to then operationalise these by way of indicators accorded numeric values in order to assess state compliance and rank states in terms of their performance. The article shows that there is retrogression in Europe insofar as the legal protection of the right to academic freedom is concerned. Institutional autonomy is being misconstrued, academic self-governance denied and job security eroded. These developments appear to be the result of deliberate policy decisions by EU Member States seeking to make higher education “the arm of national economic policy,” so as to ensure higher education will contribute to national GDP.

Source: UG