ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Challenges and prospects of fiscal decentralization in Ghana: A case study of Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly

This study is concern with assessing the challenges and prospects of fiscal decentralization in Ghana using Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly as a case study. Questionnaires were administered to fifty staff at Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly. Purposive sampling has been used in selecting the staff for the study. The research findings revealed that the Assembly has the power to generate, retain and use its revenue, the power to prepare and approve its budgets, power to invest surplus funds if any and the power to borrow funds where necessary to supplement its budget deficits, however, this power to borrow is restricted to a ceiling of GH¢20,000. The analysis also showed that the assembly has no power to use the DACF at its own discretion. The DACF usually comes with an ambit of vote (spending warrant) and the assembly must disburse the DACF strictly according to the instructions of the warrant and also that the DACF is meant to be used to finance capital expenditures and under no circumstance should any MMDA use it to finance revenue expenditures. The results from the analysis also showed that even though the assembly is given complete power to prepare and approve its own budgets, it still faces many challenges in performing this task which include inadequate budget staff which inhibits on time budget preparation and inadequate skills on the part of some budget staff resulting in difficulty in making realistic and reliable budget estimates. The analysis also indicated that even though the assembly has been given the power to generate, retain and use its revenue there are certain challenges it encounters in doing so. The results from the analysis revealed that in order to overcome the challenges the assembly faces in acquiring loans, financial institutions should charge moderate interest on loans. The results from the analysis also showed that in order to overcome the challenges the assembly encounters in generating revenue, there should be public sensitization on the need to pay tax.

Source: KNUST
Challenges and prospects of reducing youth unemployment in Ghana through agricultural innovation and diversification: case study of Atebubu-Amantin district.

Youth unemployment is unmanageably high in the country regardless of the opportunities available in the agricultural sector for the youth. The growing phenomenon where the youth have less inclination towards the agricultural sector is overly dangerous to rate of employment generation in the country. The study examines factors that prevent the youth from participating in agricultural activity, the challenges faced by the youth who enter into agriculture and the prospect of agriculture as a lucrative business for the youth through innovation and diversification. The respondents constituted 244 youth with 171 unemployed youth (non-farmers) and 73 youth farmers. The analysis was done with the help of descriptive statistics, linear and binary logistic regression. Descriptive analysis shows that youth farmers are seriously faced with insufficient initial capital for farming, and agricultural innovation and diversification could serve as a lucrative business if farmers adopt two or more forms of innovation and diversification. Linear regression result shows that annual farm income is positively related mechanical, chemical, agronomic, biotechnological, and information innovation. Binary logistic regression result indicates that factors that prevent the youth from participating in agricultural activity are level of formal education of youth, land tenure issues, unavailability of credit, and perceived low price of agricultural products. On the contrary, factors that do not prevent the youth from participating in agricultural activity are age, sex, marital status of respondents, membership of Farmer-Based-Organization, difficulty in accessing land, and access to agricultural programme. The study recommended that, formal education should not be only limited to curriculums outside agriculture in order boost the interest of the youth in agriculture so that they will be eager to take up career options in agriculture irrespective of their levels of formal education. Government, MoFA, the district assembly and other agricultural agencies in the district should educate the youth on the need to adopt other forms of agricultural innovation and diversification besides chemical and mechanical innovations, and also, chiefs should lease agricultural lands to the youth on credit and require them to pay either in kind or in cash during or after harvesting.

Source: KNUST
Challenges and prospects of stakeholder participation in monitoring and evaluation of borehole projects: a case study of Ga south municipal assembly in Accra metropolis, Ghana

Stakeholder engagement in monitoring and evaluation is crucial in the sustainability of development projects. Experience has shown that donor funded projects in most cases are not sustainable and fail to continue once funds are withdrawn. One reason for this could be the lack of stakeholder participation in the projects. Therefore, to ensure transparency, accountability and ownership through commitment, there must be effective monitoring and evaluation. This study therefore assesses the challenges and prospects of stakeholder management in monitoring and evaluation of borehole projects in Ga South Municipal Assembly, Greater Accra. Based on the aim of this research, cross-sectional study design with quantitative approach was employed. The targeted stakeholders were the main donor (Rotary International), the implementing agency (Community Water and Sanitation Agency – CWSA & Ga South Municipal Assembly- GSMA), and the project beneficiaries (the project committee at the community level and the community). Convenience sampling and purposive sampling methods were used to select respondents for the study. Data was collected using structured questionnaire and subjected to SPSS (version 2.1) for quantitative analysis, the analytical tool used was the mean scores. Results indicated a lot of monitoring and evaluation practices notably training and development (mean = 0.93, S.D = 0.81), open communication (mean 1.13, S.D = 1.12), fair distribution of benefits (mean = 1.24, S.D = 1.00), capacity building (mean = 1.30, S.D = 1.05), and inclusive decision making (mean = 1.37, S.D = 0.93). The challenges faced include lack of experience, inadequate resources, changes in the scope of work, poor communication, and inefficient monitoring and evaluation practices. From the study, the prospects of stakeholder participation in monitoring and evaluation of borehole project were training of stakeholders, building stronger collaborative relationship through continuous engagement and information sharing, clear communication, and capacity building of legitimate stakeholders. Donors, implementing agencies and project implementation committees must ensure that resources for borehole projects are adequate and on time

Source: KNUST
Challenges and prospects of the poultry industry in Ghana: A case study of poultry farms within the Kumasi Metropolis.

The poultry industry in Ghana has been battling with several challenges that impede its growth and development. To contribute to this subject, the study empirically investigated the challenges and prospects of the industry using Kumasi Metropolis as a case study. A sample of 73 respondents comprising three poultry farmers and seventy poultry products consumers were selected for the study using purposive and simple random techniques. Descriptive analysis using tables, pie charts and bar graph were employed for the study. The study revealed that the major challenges confronting poultry industry in Ghana include expensive poultry ingredients, inadequate access and high cost of veterinary services, inadequate slaughtering, meat and egg processing facilities, competing products like beef, port and mutton, unstable power supply, lack of access to credit and cumbersome loan procurement processes, competition from imported frozen chicken, diseases and pests, problem getting reasonable price for poultry products, death loses, unavailability of land and spaces for expansion, irregular visit by veterinary services and high utility prices. The study further showed that the farmers have put up several practices to remedy these challenges. It was established that consumers of poultry products prefer local poultry product to imported poultry products and this shows that the poultry industry in Ghana has prospects for growth. Urgent proactive measures are therefore needed to salvage the industry from collapsing and deteriorating

Source: KNUST
Challenges associated with procurement of public works at pre- contract stage in the Dormaa East District Assembly

The purpose of this study was to identify various implementation bottlenecks to the Ghana Public Procurement Act. The study adopted multiple research approaches, including; review of relevant literature, and questionnaire survey of Dormaa East District Assembly in the Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana. The aim of this research is to identify challenges associated with procurement of works at the pre-contract stage under the Public Procurement Act. This can be achieved through critically examining the challenges at planning stage, tendering stage and the award stage of procurement process. The study identified low capacity of procurement professionals, low interaction between procurement entities and Public Procurement Authority (PPA), deliberate controlling of competition, non-compliance with provisions of the law, splitting of contracts into smaller lots, lack of funds and non-cooperativeness of suppliers, as the major challenges militating against the implementation of the Public Procurement Law. The study recommends among others; Decentralization of the PPA, Effective Monitoring of the procurement process, Review of procurement threshold and Timely release of funds.

Source: KNUST
Challenges and strategies to the implementation of standard procurement procedures: a study within Ga-Central Municipal Assembly

The magnitude of the Government’s outlays for procurement and grants creates opportunities for implementing value for money in the implementation of standard procurement procedures. Furthermore, the World Bank specifies that the objectives of public procurement for projects funded by its loans was to ensure that the loan is used to buy only those goods and services needed for the project, ensuring fair competition for all qualified bidders, promote transparency or integrity, and encourage development of indigenous contractors and manufacturers by allowing local buyers to build in a margin of preference for local contractors and manufacturers. The aim of the study is to assess the challenges, effects and strategies in the implementation of public procurement procedures in Ghana. The objective of this study was to find out the challenges, effects and strategies in the implementation of public procurement procedures within Ga-Central Municipal Assembly in Ghana. The main tool for the collection of data was questionnaires whiles the target population for the data collection included administrators, finance officers, procurement officers and assembly members. Statistical package for social scientists (SPSS V 20) using mean score ranking was employed to analyze data obtained. The findings revealed that challenges such as too much work load in form of paper work, political interference; suppliers’ inability to fully understand the procurement procedures, lack of appropriate training and resource for professionals, poor relationship with the public due to perceived corruption, lack of trust among stakeholders and management among others affect effective implementation of standard procurement procedures. Various strategies were however suggested to remedy the challenges identified to improve within Public Procurement Procedures for the Assembly were ensuring health and safety of new products procured (goods, works and services), offence for breach of standard procurement procedure should be part of contract agreements and continuous training of staff. The findings of the study will add to the existing body of knowledge and provide stakeholders and policy-makers with new insights for policy discussions aimed at overcoming the bottlenecks of implementing the Public Procurement Act of Ghana 2003 (Act 663) at the local government level.

Source: KNUST
Challenges faced by schools in the implementation of the free senior high school: the case of selected senior high schools in the new Juaben municipality.

This study investigated the challenges faced in the implementation of the Free Senior High School Policy (FSHS) in the New Juaben Municipality, Eastern Region. The objectives of the study were to determine the challenges that schools face in implementing the policy; evaluate the impact of the challenges in the delivery of education; establish the effects of the challenges on demand and supply in education; and identify the strategies that schools used to meet the challenges. As a descriptive survey, where data was collected using a quantitative approach, a sample size of 160 students and 20 teachers were randomly selected, while the 8 key informants were purposively selected from two selected high schools and data was collected through the questionnaire, interview guide and observations of the respondents. Findings from the study indicated that, the increased enrollments in schools resulted in increased student-teacher ratio, student-book ratio and overcrowded classes and high ill health rate among first year students recorded. As a result, this increase in enrollment became a challenge in the schools under study, it reported that enrollments were above normal, there was overcrowding in classes, the supply of teaching and learning materials is under severe strain with teachers encountered abnormal teaching load and stress. It was recommended that there must be an expansion of school infrastructures by government in conjunction with the community, especially in existing schools to coordinate with the present population explosion and decongest the classes to an ordinary enrollment of between thirty-five (35) and forty (40) students for class. There should be consistent and sufficient supply of both educational and Free SHS free material supplies to schools.

Source: KNUST
The challenges faced by teachers with visual impairment in regular schools in the Kumasi Metropolis.

The role of teachers in the development of society cannot be overemphasized. However, over the years, the contributions of teachers teaching at the regular basic schools have been affected by various challenges. And those teachers with visual impairment ar e perceived to have pronounced challenges due to their disability. Thus, this study therefore aimed at identifying the challenges faced by teachers with visual impairment in the Kumasi Metropolis. The study was approached using the case study design to gui de the processes of data collection, analysis and presentation. The researcher selected a sample of 20 respondents and conducted in-depth interviews with them. In addition, participant observations were carried out to augment the data collected through the interviews. The findings revealed that all the teachers with visual impairment have both human and material resource needs which are fundamental to enhancing their participation in teaching and learning. And these included sighted guides; accommodation f acilities; screen reader and magnifiers as well as access to the internet. However, accessibility to these resources is a challenge. As a result, the performance of teachers with visual impairment within the Kumasi Metropolis has been affected in four -fold and this included competence; teacher-pupil relationship and interaction; availability of teaching and learning materials; and conditions of the school environment. As part of a broad range of strategies recommended, periodic in-service training programmes are needed to enhance the performance of teachers with visual impairment in Ghana.

Source: KNUST
Challenges Facing Consultants in the Procurement Of Goods in the public Sector: The Case Study of the Electoral Commission

The issue of procurement has generated many debates especially the challenges that surround it. Procurement plays an important role in a firm’s profitability, productivity and enhances value and wealth creation. As entities both public and private grow the role of procurement is increasingly recognized as one of the functions that contribute to the success of the organization The research investigated the challenges confronting consultants in the procurement of goods with the Electoral Commission as a case study. The objectives of the study are; to identify the benefits of engaging procurement consultants in the delivery of goods in the public sector, to identify the challenges faced by consultants in the procurement of goods, and to find out suggested solutions to the challenges facing consultants in the procurement of goods. A sample of hundred respondents comprising staff of the electoral commission, procurement consultants and supply staff were used for the data analysis. The findings were that the involvement of procurement consultants leads to best practices as well as compliance to procurement laws, help to prevent waste and corruption and critically helps to meet deadlines and allow for value for money. Moreover, improper budgeting, poor planning, and political interference were the major challenges of procurement consultants. Finally, proper planning in terms of comprehensive procurement planning of public organizations and strict adherence to the procurement Act is necessary to forestall the challenges facing consultants.

Source: KNUST
Challenges facing Ghanaian SMES construction firm in acquisition of plant and equipment

In spite of the many contributions of SMEs to the national economy of Ghana, SMEs in the construction industry are still confronted with challenges in acquiring plant and equipment (P&E’s), for achieving maximum results in returns for any construction work. Selecting the right option is one of the most relevant issues. In order to do so the following objectives were employed; to examine the frequent use of acquisition method, to identify the factors that effect on acquisition method and propose strategies for efficient acquisition method for SMEs in Ghana. This study explored the challenges facing Ghanaian SMEs construction firms in acquisition of plant and equipment. The study was carried out along the tenets of a preliminary literature review and followed by a survey using a structured questionnaire. Eighty (80) questionnaire was distributed base on purposive sampling technique, and 64 completed questionnaires representing 80% were considered valid for the analysis. The data collected were analyzed using Relative Importance Index (RII). The study revealed that, majority of SMEs always opt for hiring equipment rather than buying/owing/leasing or the combination of buying and hiring. It is interesting to note that a number of factors have effects on choosing acquisition methods in Ghana. Considering the challenges in order of extremely challenging, respondents indicated that, the purchasing price for equipment either buying, hiring or combining the two is highly beyond their financial base. Other factors like, continuous breakdown, (planning: budgets, upgrading, interchanging), pre-acquisition analysis: future work, market, transportation and assembly capability, supplies etc., were also considered critical. Further, a number of strategies have been proposed to curb the identified challenges for efficient acquisition mode for SMEs in Ghana.

Source: KNUST
Challenges facing international joint ventures in execution of construction projects in Ghana.

Projects which have been globally constructed pose a high level of challenges and complexities that produces greater potentials of overrun and conflict when associated with local. The complexity of the global setting is affected by wide-ranging variables which does not form part of the local markets in addition creates challenges never come upon in local conditions. The aim of the study was to identify the challenges facing international construction joint ventures in Ghana. For all purposes, a literature search was carried out and a survey conducted using a well-structured questionnaire. Eighty-two (82) questionnaire were distributed by purposive sampling, and sixty-five (65) completed questionnaires representing 80% were considered valid for the analysis. The data collected were analyzed using Relative Importance Index (RII) and descriptive statistics thus percentages and frequencies. The study discovered that Policy changes in parent, Erosion of applicability of certain partner competencies, expending time and energy to create equally congenial management practices. Inheriting a partner’s financial problems, Divergences about workforce apportionment and positions in the pecking order of the project team, are major problem governing international joint venture construction project execution in Ghana. Inheriting a partner’s financial problems, having disagreements about accounting standards and recurrent variations in present economic strategies and commercial acts, Expending time and energy to establish mutually agreeable managerial practices, frequent changes in current economic policies and commercial laws, Lack of management competence, Erosion of applicability of certain partner competencies, Technology-transfer disputes are the implication of the challenges on project performance. Among others, it was recommended that joint venture managers should improve the information flow inside a joint venture, which partially requires negotiations with a parent company on the matter of proprietary rights.

Source: KNUST
Challenges facing small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) in accessing credit (A Case Study of Kumasi Metropolis)

The primary purpose of this research work was to assess the challenges Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) face in accessing credit. The research design for this study was a survey, quantitative and descriptive in nature. The study employed the use of questionnaires which were administered personally on selected days. The sample size for the study was hundred (100) comprising of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises within mainly the Adum and Kejetia areas of the Kumasi metropolis. In this study, accidental sampling technique of the non-probability sampling and random sampling technique of the probability sampling techniques were used to select the sample. The study employed descriptive and quantitative techniques in analyzing the data. Tables, frequencies etc. were used in describing and analyzing the data collected. The researcher used Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Based on the data collected and analyzed it was found that the sources of funds for the Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) are many. The study revealed that the sources include Microfinance institutions being the most reliable, followed by Banks, Lenders and Susu operators in that order. The study revealed that all 100 respondents representing 100% said they are required by the MFIs to provide some sort of security before loans are granted. The challenges affect their operations in the area of reduction in profits, increase in operational costs, delays in operation etc. The researcher suggested that there should be collaboration between the SMEs and the microfinance firms where the MFIs will provide a soft loan to these firms to help them increase their operations. Again, the researcher suggests that the MFIs should focus on the nature of the business and the ease of recording cash inflows than the security requirement. This will help those who cannot provide security to also have access to loans to expand their businesses.

Source: KNUST