ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Food Vending Hygiene Practices in the Bolgatanga Municipality of the Upper East Region

ABSTRACT The study set out to examine food vending hygiene practices among food vendors in the Bolgatanga municipality. The specific objectives were to examine the factors that influence the choice of location for food vending, examine the sanitary conditions of the physical environment of food vending, analyse the safety of food handling practices of food vendors, examine the institutional set-up governing safe practices of food vendors, and analyse the microbial content of food served by food vendors. The study used a mixed research approach, and also adopted a cross-sectional design. A total of 150 food vendors were purposively sampled from 10 communities in addition to trend of the environmental health related institutions and the health inspectors. Food samples from the vendors were sampled and subjected to microbial load analysis. The major findings of the study were that the most significant factor influencing the choice of location of food vendors is proximity to customers; the physical state of the food vending places was satisfactorily healthy; the safety of food vendors’ food handling practices was compromised; the institutional set-up was not effectively promoting conformance to the food vending controls; and most of the foods were contaminated above acceptable levels for consumption. The study recommended food vendors to practice proper personal hygiene and to avoid making direct skin contact with food. The Municipal Assembly and the Food and Drugs Authority were advised to advocate for no political neutrality in their duties and to advocate for provision of logistics to facilitate inspection.

Source: UCC
Food vending hygiene practices in the Bolgatanga Municipality of the Upper East Region

The study set out to examine food vending hygiene practices among food vendors in the Bolgatanga municipality. The specific objectives were to examine the factors that influence the choice of location for food vending, examine the sanitary conditions of the physical environment of food vending, analyse the safety of food handling practices of food vendors, examine the institutional set-up governing safe practices of food vendors, and analyse the microbial content of food served by food vendors. The study used a mixed research approach, and also adopted a cross-sectional design. A total of 150 food vendors were purposively sampled from 10 communities in addition to trend of the environmental health related institutions and the health inspectors. Food samples from the vendors were sampled and subjected to microbial load analysis. The major findings of the study were that the most significant factor influencing the choice of location of food vendors is proximity to customers; the physical state of the food vending places was satisfactorily healthy; the safety of food vendors’ food handling practices was compromised; the institutional set-up was not effectively promoting conformance to the food vending controls; and most of the foods were contaminated above acceptable levels for consumption. The study recommended food vendors to practice proper personal hygiene and to avoid making direct skin contact with food. The Municipal Assembly and the Food and Drugs Authority were advised to advocate for no political neutrality in their duties and to advocate for provision of logistics to facilitate inspection.

Source: UCC
Food Waste Management Practices Among Restaurants in the Cape Coast Metropolitan Area

The hospitality sector is one of the primary sources of food waste, but the sector has received less attention from researchers. This study examined food waste management practices among restaurants in the Cape Coast Metropolis. Specifically, the study focused on food waste disposal practices, reduction strategies, restaurant challenges, and potential strategies for improving waste management practices. The study utilised snowball and purposive sampling techniques to gain insight into waste generation and management practices from 17 restaurants through in-depth interviews. The findings revealed that restaurants in Cape Coast use external waste collection, sometimes practise waste segregation, and dump at disposal sites and in open spaces. The food waste reduction strategies among the restaurants, including careful food storage, portion control, menu planning and staff training, effectively reduced waste and improved financial outcomes. The restaurants faced challenges managing food waste, such as prepaid credit network problems, power outages, customer dissatisfaction, legal and regulatory issues, and limited kitchen space. Promoting awareness, implementing standard portioning, tracking inventory, and fostering collaboration among local restaurants can mitigate these challenges. Therefore, the Ministry of Tourism and the Ghana Tourism Authority should lead educational campaigns on food waste reduction strategies, targeting restaurant owners, staff, and customers to enhance awareness and promote sustainable practices in the hospitality sector.

Source: UCC
Foregrounding The Old Woman Figure: An Analysis of Selected Texts of Ama Ata Aidoo

This textual research is premised on the fact that research on Aidoo’s works in recent years has not devoted much attention to the old woman figure who has been repeatedly represented in most of her works across the three genres of literature. The study sets out to examine Aidoo’s The Dilemma of a Ghost, Anowa, Changes, The Girl Who Can and Other Stories, and “Ghana: Where the Bead Speaks”, which are purposively sampled to explore how Nana is foregrounded and the roles assigned her to perform in them. The study is underpinned by ethnopoetics. The analysis reveals that Aidoo’s representation of the old woman figure perfectly situates her in an ethnopoetic context to perform the archetypal roles as the repository of wisdom, an omniscient narrator, a historian, the custodian of customs and traditions, and an agent of change. Another outcome of the study is that the old woman is foregrounded through imagery, repetition, suspense, her language, her name, and how she is introduced into the various texts. This research would be one of the references for students interested in using ethnopoetics and foregrounding to explore the old woman figure in other literary genres. In addition, the study is a contribution to the theory by demonstrating the extent to which ethnopoetics is useful to the analysis of Ghanaian texts. It again shows how foregrounding is used as a style to project the old woman figure in the selected texts.

Source: UCC
Foreign Aid Agricultural Sector Development and Poverty Reduction in Sub-Saharan Africa

This research investigated the role of agricultural sector development in the relationship between foreign aid and poverty reduction, utilising panel data from 40 sub-Saharan African countries. The study spanned from 2000 to 2022, and System Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) was employed for the statistical analysis. This method addresses potential endogeneity issues arising from reverse causality and omitted variable bias by using instrumental variables. The study revealed that foreign aid had a poverty reducing effect depending on the measure of aid. The study further revealed that bilateral aid, technical aid and grant aid had a positive and significant effect on poverty reduction while multilateral aid failed to contribute to poverty reduction in the SSA region during the period under study and this can be attributed to aid conditionalities. Additionally, the findings indicated a positive and significant influence of agricultural sector development on reducing poverty. Moreover, results from the third objective showed that countries that engage in agricultural activities when they receive aid and channel this aid towards the development of this sector, its impact on poverty reduction is higher. In light of this, the study recommends that policymakers in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries prioritize the alignment of foreign aid programs with their national agricultural development strategies. This can be achieved by developing comprehensive agricultural sector plans that clearly articulate priority areas for investment, such as infrastructure development, technology adoption, and market access.

Source: UCC
Foreign aid and the Dutch disease: Evidence from Ghana

The study sought to test the hypothesisthat foreign aid flows generate “Dutch Disease” in the recipient country which in this case is Ghana. Annual data covering the period 1983 to 2010 was collected and interpolated into quarterly seriesfor the analysis of the study. The outcome of the study showed thatforeign aid as well as government expenditure, real GDP and money supply had an appreciating effect on real exchange rate where as trade openness and terms of trade exert depreciating effects on real exchange rate. In the export model we demonstrated that an increment in foreign aid is detrimental to exports. Also appreciation of real exchange rate causes reduction in export.We established from the variance decomposition and impulse response functions that foreign aid is an importance determinant of both real exchange rate and exports.

Source: UCC
Foreign direct investment and economic growth: Evidence from Liberia

The study investigated the relationship between foreign direct investment and economic growth in Liberia. The Autoregressive Distributed Lag approach to cointegration was used with annual data from IMF Statistics 2009 CD ROM, WDI. Capital was disaggregated into foreign direct investment and domestic private investment for a more comparative analysis of their impacts on economic growth. Economic growth was measured by real GDP, Foreign Direct investment (FDI) was measured by Net FDI inflow as share of Real GDP. The study used gross domestic investment as a share of Real GDP as a proxy for gross fixed capital formation in real terms, and labor force was measured as a proportion of total population ages 15-65. Inflation, exports and openness were used as control variables for policy purposes. Results from the study suggest that FDI enhances economic growth in Liberia and that domestic investment highly explains economic growth in Liberia. The growth in the labour force had a positive impact on economic growth over the study period. Granger causality test shows that domestic investment causes economic growth. The results also revealed that inflation, exports and openness are critical in enhancing sustained economic growth and development in Liberia. Therefore, it is recommended that the Government of Liberia ensure a low inflation level to maintain and sustain an increase in economic growth. Incentives should be given to domestic firms to export in the form of reduced export tariffs and the government should ensure that openness to trade be more accommodating in order to acquire the necessary technologies and skills for the growth of the economy.

Source: UCC
Foreign direct investment and employment creation in Ghana: a panel data analysis from 1997-2012

This study examined the effect of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on employment creation in Ghana using panel data covering the period 1997 to 2012. The study employed Pedroni co integration, Johansen panel test and the Granger No-causality test procedure suggested by Toda and Yamomanto to empirically examine the relationships and directional relationships between FDI and employment creation. The study employed two controlling variables namely exchange rate and GDP growth. The study results reveal that foreign direct investment relates positively with employment creation. It was also revealed that there is a negative relationship between employment creation and exchange rate. GDP growth also relates positively with employment creation both in the long run and short run. Furthermore, there was no causality flowing from employment creation to FDI and Exchange rate. However unidirectional causality was established between GDP growth and employment creation.Based on the findings and conclusions, policy recommendations are worth noting that the negative relationship between exchange rate and employment growth means that high exchange rate may present deleterious effects to employment creation in the various sectors of Ghana’s economy.

Source: UCC
Foreign Direct Investment And Environmental Quality Nexus In West Africa: The Role Of Environmental Policy And Clean Technology

This study assessed how clean technology and policy for environmental sustainability mediate the link between between FDI and environmental quality in West Africa. The study used macroeconomic data from 2005 to 2020 from all the West African countries based on available data. The Generalised Method of Moments was used as estimation technique for the study. The findings of the study revealed that foreign direct investment (FDI) enhances environmental quality lending credence to the pollution halo hypothesis in West Africa. Again, the result indicated that both clean technology and environmental policy enhance environmental quality in West Africa. Finally, the net effect calculation provides evidence for the last hypothesis that only environmental policy mediates the link between FDI and environmental quality in West Africa. Thus, while FDI improves environmental quality in West Africa, the effect is more prominent in the presence of environmental policies. The study suggest that environmental policy is necessary when it comes to environmental quality, and as a matter of fact, various West African governments through their environmental protection agencies should institute and implement environmental policies focusing on environmental protection. This policy should aim to direct the activities of corporations receiving foreign direct investment (FDI) towards environmental concerns. Additionally, policymakers and governments should step up efforts to attract FDI to West Africa, while also enforcing environmental regulations in multinational corporations' operations.

Source: UCC
Foreign Direct Investment, External Debt, and Exchange Rate Volatility in Ghana

Using annual time series data from the years 1987 to 2021, the study examined the symmetric and asymmetric effects of foreign direct investment and External debt on exchange rate volatility in Ghana. The effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) and External debt on exchange rate volatility in Ghana was investigated using the Linear Autoregressive Distributed Lag (LARDL) model. The study went ahead to examine a possible asymmetric effect of FDI and external debt on exchange rate volatility in Ghana using the Nonlinear Autoregressive Distributed Lag (NARDL) model. The results obtained from the LARDL model concluded that there is a negative effect of FDI and External debt on exchange rate volatility in the long run. The estimate of the NARDL model revealed that there is an asymmetric effect of FDI on the exchange rate volatility in the long run. However, there was an asymmetric effect of both FDI and External debt on exchange rate volatility in the short run. The study recommended that the government strengthens its regulatory frameworks to effectively manage the level of outflows, given that the decline in foreign direct investments (FDIs) is observed to have increasingly negative consequences. Also, it is crucial for Ghana to carefully manage its external debt levels. Strive for a sustainable debt profile by diversifying funding sources, monitoring debt-servicing obligations, and ensuring that borrowed funds are utilized efficiently in productive sectors that generate long-term economic benefits.

Source: UCC
Foreign Direct Investment, Government Expenditure, and Economic Growth in Ghana

Foreign direct investment and government expenditure are some of the key economic variables which policy makers attempt to influence to induce economic growth. In this study, the main objective is to examine the impact of these macro-economic indicators on the economic growth of Ghana for the period 1992 to 2015. A dynamic ordinary least square techniques was used in analyzing data using real GDP growth rate to measure economic growth. The results indicate that a 1% increase in foreign direct investment will lead to about 6% increase in economic growth of Ghana but a 1% increase in government expenditure only leads to about 5% increase in economic growth. Also, in this study, exchange rate, trade percentage of GDP, net taxes and technological advancement were adopted as control variables. The results from the analysis indicated that exchange rate, net taxes and technological advancement had a positive relationship with economic growth whiles trade percentage of GDP had a negative relationship with economic growth. As part of policy recommendation, the study suggests that the government engages in more bilateral and multilateral trade agreements and strengthen the fight against corruption so as to instill more confidence in foreign investors in order to attract more foreign direct investment. Also, to further enhance growth, the government must ensure that its spending is directed to productive economic activities such as the construction of good roads linking rural communities to urban areas, the provision of affordable but quality health care and investing in the education sector.

Source: UCC
Foreign Direct Investment, Sectoral Growth and Economic Growth in Sub Saharan Africa

There is a widespread belief in transition and growing economies that the relationship between FDI and Growth is symmetrical. On the other hand, the problem of the nonlinear impact of FDI on Growth has remained insufficiently explored. Moreover, previous studies did not account for the transmission process through which FDI transact to economic growth of sub-Saharan economies. Using panel data from 30 sub-Saharan African countries spanning from 1990-2019, this study re-examines the influence of FDI on economic growth. The findings revealed that the influence of FDI on economic growth was negative and significant in the short run when the transmission channel in the industry sector was taken into consideration. However, in the long run the results was significant for all when the conditional sectoral effect was taken into consideration. The growth enhancing effect of FDI was largely seen to be insignificant when the asymmetric effect was taken into consideration. A higher and a lower inflow of FDI was seen to be only significant on economic growth from the transmission in the agricultural and the service sector. This study discusses that much emphasis should be placed on developing the various sectors through which FDI transact into economic growth.

Source: UCC
Foreign Direct Investments and Economic Growth in Sub-saharan African Countries: the Role of Governance

ABSTRACT Sub-Saharan African countries have been noted to encounter challenges when it comes to attracting financial flows because of their underdeveloped financial markets and low savings rate which would help speed up the growth of the region. Countries in the region have resorted to foreign direct investment inflows since extant works have argued that foreign direct investment inflows induce economic growth in the presence of institutions. As a result, the study examined the role of governance/institutions in enhancing the relationship between FDI and economic growth in SSA. The study employed the explanatory design and quantitative research approach and also collected data on 45 SSA countries out of 49 nations in the region. The study utilised the two-step System Generalised Method of Moments estimator to analyse the results. The findings showed that FDI has a significant inverse relationship with economic growth while institutional quality exhibited a positive connection with economic growth. Particularly, all the governance indicators had a significant positive influence on economic growth with the exception of rule of law which had an insignificant impact on growth. The findings further revealed that institutions moderate the relationship between FDI and growth in SSA. The study recommended that SSA countries with limited natural resources should focus on inflows from non-governmental agencies, international organisations or some donor countries other than FDI

Source: UCC
Foreign visitors' perceptions of panafest' 97: A study in tourism special events

PANAFEST is an emerging special event of international repute in Ghana. The festival which was first held in 1992, seeks to among others, unite peoples of African descent across the world to enhance the development of the continent by establishing the truth of the history of the African. It can also be seen as a tool for accelerating tourism development in Ghana as it exposes participants to the various tourist attractions and sites in the country. The study sought to find out international participants’ perceptions about PANAFEST’97 and some selected tourist attractions and services in and around Cape Coast and Elmina, the host towns of the festival. In addition, it aimed to determine if the festival could be used as a tool to promote cultural tourism in Ghana. Data were collected during the PANAFEST of 1997 through the administration of a questionnaire to a total of 188 international participants. Descriptive analysis was mostly used for the study. However, this was supplemented by application of the Chi square and Analysis of variance tests. Activities that had their sub-means differing at a level of 0.05 significance were included in the discussion. From the analysis, it was observed that international participants generally perceived the festival to be interesting. The cultural experience and the hospitality of Ghanaians were two strong points of the festival. Poor planning and organization of the festival were the major weaknesses of the festival. Despite this, most participants were willing to recommend Ghana to friends and relatives back home as a tourism destination and indicated their willingness to return at another opportune time. PANAFEST’97 can be said to have been successful and has the potential to become a tool for tourism promotion. However, the success of PANAFEST in promoting tourism in Ghana would to a large extent be determined by the ability of the organizers to address the poor perceptions and misgivings raised by participants to PANAFEST’97 which are contained in the present study.

Source: UCC
Forensic science in Ghana: A review

The use of forensic science continues to grow across the world. In Ghana, major advancements took off in 2011, including the introduction of modern DNA profiling and the establishment of an automated fingerprint identification system. These developments have led to some positive impacts on the delivery of justice, including the exoneration of a wrongly incarcerated individual. However, a review of the policy-related aspects of forensic science shows gaps in legislation, governance, service provision, quality assurance and accreditation, education and research. An important recommendation to improve forensic science in Ghana is the creation of a “national policy strategy”, a blueprint informed by relevant stakeholders, best practice from other countries and the status of the field. Resolutions to the policy issues identified in this review will ensure a more robust application of forensic science in delivering safe justice and enhancing public security

Source: UCC