ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
African Journals and their Use in African Universities: some conclusions

Over a period of three years, 1996 to 1998, a survey was carried out in two African universities, those of Ghana (UGL) and Zambia (UNZA),of the use made of African published scholarly journals by academics and researchers. During the last decade there have been a number of projects which have assisted the publication, marketing and distribution of African journals with the ultimate aim of aim improving the quality and quality of research taking place in Africa ,through the provision of reliable and regular intra-African channels of communication . But there is very little information available on the use that is being made of those journals and their impact on research. Such information as there is tends to indicate that African academics do not show any special interest in African -published materials and do not consider them vital for teaching and research. The study

Source: UG
African journals: An evaluation of their use in African universities

This study was commissioned by the Overseas Development Administration (subsequently re-named Department for International Development) in January 1996, as a follow-up to the 1994 pilot project of the African Journals Distribution Programme. Data was collected each year for a period of three years, 1996 to 1998, on the use made of African-published journals in two universities in Africa. Co-ordination, design of common data collection instruments and data analysis were undertaken by the International African Institute. In April 1999, the co-ordinator and two local researchers met in London to discuss the findings. This report is the result of that meeting.

Source: UG
African leaders' views on critical human resource issues for the implementation of family medicine in Africa

The World Health Organisation has advocated for comprehensive primary care teams, which include family physicians. However, despite (or because of) severe doctor shortages in Africa, there is insufficient clarity on the role of the family physician in the primary health care team. Instead there is a trend towards task shifting without thought for teamwork, which runs the risk of dangerous oversimplification. It is not clear how African leaders understand the challenges of implementing family medicine, especially in human resource terms. This study, therefore, sought to explore the views of academic and government leaders on critical human resource issues for implementation of family medicine in Africa.Method: In this qualitative study, key academic and government leaders were purposively selected from sixteen African countries. In-depth interviews were conducted using an interview guide. All interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and thematically analysed.Results: There were 27 interviews conducted with 16 government and 11 academic leaders in nine Sub-Saharan African countries: Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda. Respondents spoke about: educating doctors in family medicine suited to Africa, including procedural skills and holistic care, to address the difficulty of recruiting and retaining doctors in rural and underserved areas; planning for primary health care teams, including family physicians; new supervisory models in primary health care; and general human resource management issues.Conclusions: Important milestones in African health care fail to specifically address the human resource issues of integrated primary health care teamwork that includes family physicians. Leaders interviewed in this study, however, proposed organising the district health system with a strong embrace of family medicine in Africa, especially with regard to providing clinical leadership in team-based primary health care. Whilst these leaders focussed positively on entry and workforce issues, in terms of the 2006 World Health Report on human resources for health, they did not substantially address retention of family physicians. Family physicians need to respond to the challenge by respondents to articulate human resource policies appropriate to Africa, including the organisational development of the primary health care team with more sophisticated skills and teamwork. © 2014 Moosa et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

Source: UG
African leaders¿ views on critical human resource issues for the implementation of family medicine in Africa

Abstract Background The World Health Organisation has advocated for comprehensive primary care teams, which include family physicians. However, despite (or because of) severe doctor shortages in Africa, there is insufficient clarity on the role of the family physician in the primary health care team. Instead there is a trend towards task shifting without thought for teamwork, which runs the risk of dangerous oversimplification. It is not clear how African leaders understand the challenges of implementing family medicine, especially in human resource terms. This study, therefore, sought to explore the views of academic and government leaders on critical human resource issues for implementation of family medicine in Africa. Method In this qualitative study, key academic and government leaders were purposively selected from sixteen African countries. In-depth interviews were conducted using an interview guide. All interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and thematically analysed. Results There were 27 interviews conducted with 16 government and 11 academic leaders in nine Sub-Saharan African countries: Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda. Respondents spoke about: educating doctors in family medicine suited to Africa, including procedural skills and holistic care, to address the difficulty of recruiting and retaining doctors in rural and underserved areas; planning for primary health care teams, including family physicians; new supervisory models in primary health care; and general human resource management issues. Conclusions Important milestones in African health care fail to specifically address the human resource issues of integrated primary health care teamwork that includes family physicians. Leaders interviewed in this study, however, proposed organising the district health system with a strong embrace of family medicine in Africa, especially with regard to providing clinical leadership in team-based primary health care. Whilst these leaders focussed positively on entry and workforce issues, in terms of the 2006 World Health Report on human resources for health, they did not substantially address retention of family physicians. Family physicians need to respond to the challenge by respondents to articulate human resource policies appropriate to Africa, including the organisational development of the primary health care team with more sophisticated skills and teamwork.

Source: UG
“African magic” or “African science”: Issues of technology in African higher education

African ideas, science, technology, scholarship and worldviews have been disproportionately displaced and marginalized in relevant global dialogues. In aca demic circles, African methods of knowing have been questioned, undervalued, mocked, misconstrued, and disregarded, causing apprehension. These neg ative attitudes are internalized via the educational system, stifling agency and conditioning African learners to rely on technology from outside sources, resulting in the exteriorization of innovation and crea tivity. African inventiveness becomes “African magic” with no real desire to interrogate, explain, or grasp its basic mechanics. This article contends that technol ogy and creative imaginations exist in African socie ties. The task, however, remains the exploration and integration of African knowledge systems into higher education. The study aims to demonstrate how the interaction of two components of traditional African education—a sense of community and informal learning—could assist in the embrace, facilitation, and mainstreaming of marginalized African technol ogies. Although the paper may appear eclectic, it is intended to conscientiously push the paradigm that technology has been integral to African education. Regardless of Africa's technical challenges, salva tion does not lie in excessive external reliance but rather in investing and building on Indigenous African knowledges/practices in order to establish an African technological identity.

Source: UG
African mothers: A case study of northern Ghanaian women

Review books or articles provide a critical and constructive analysis of existing published literature in a field, through summary, analysis, and comparison, often identifying specific gaps or problems and providing recommendations for future research. These are considered as secondary literature since they generally do not present new data from the author's experimental work. Review articles can be of three types, broadly speaking: literature reviews, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses. It also the researcher to stay abreast of new literature in the field.

Source: UG
African perspectives of moral status: a framework for evaluating global bioethical issues

This paper offers an African perspective on moral status grounded on an understanding of personhood. These concepts are key to understanding the differences in emphasis and the values at play when global ethical issues are analysed within the African context. Drawing from African philosophical reflections on the descriptive and normative concepts of personhood, I propose a dual notion of subject-object moral status. I explain how object moral status, duties owed to persons, is differently grounded with respect to subject's moral status, which refers to communally directed agency. This distinction influences the African way of conceptualising and addressing ethical issues, where, without ignoring rights of persons, moral consideration about the agency of Righteousness is often factored into ethical deliberation. As a practical example, I look at the debate surrounding legal access to safe abortion on the African continent. I suggest a Gadamerian approach to diffuse the tensions that sometimes arise between universalist advocates of rights and cultural decolonizationists.

Source: UG
An African philosophical perspective on barriers to the current discourse on sustainability

Since the publication of the Report of the Brundtland Commission, Our Common Future, the idea that the “triple bottom line” can cohere harmoniously to yield progressive rates of GDP growth, and a sustainable stock and welfare of the resources of Earth's ecosystems has been rigorously challenged.1 These challenges have triggered theoretical refinements of the assumptions and conclusions of Our Common Future and strategies for the achievement of sustainability. My paper wonders whether the dominant traits of such refinements and strategies have succeeded in discarding the burdens of the triple bottom line and defends two theses; that the notion of “sustainable development” as deployed in Western developmental ethics is potentially incoherent in that it is premised on the pursuit of conflicting goals, viz., economic growth and environmental protection; and that when deployed in the African context in particular, the concept has little practical purchase given its lack of engagement with indigenous values conceptions. Consequently, I propose some African normative perspectives as viable basis for further refinement of the conceptual tool kits of sustainability into a notion that has broader global resonance and uptake.

Source: UG
African philosophy for successful integration of technology in higher education

Due partly to the multimodal and multiscalar nature of technology applications, there lacks theories to explain successful technology integration in teach ing and learning in higher education. Such multidis ciplinary theories developed primarily within Western contexts as behaviourism, cognitivism, constructiv ism, connectivism, collaborationism, TPACK frame work and authentic learning theory have been used to underpin technology-enhanced teaching and learning globally. However, their primary focus on basic education and their sensitivity to contextual re ality seem to restrict their salience and fecundity to successfully explain technology integration in higher education in the Global South, including Africa. For more contextual relevance and significance, the embodiment in curricula and pedagogy of African knowledge systems and emerging societal needs and challenges is thus critical. Drawing on Asabiyya and Ubuntu humanistic philosophies respectively from Northern and Southern Africa and Yoruba em piricist and Zara Yacob rationalist epistemologies from Western and Eastern Africa, this study pro poses African philosophical perspectives to underpin technology integration in higher education. The epis temologies define the nature of student and faculty engagements and strategies, whereas the humanis tic philosophies offer values that could guide ethical technology use and engagement. Technologies are conceived alternatively as knowledge banks, com munication media and cognitive tools to think through and with. Implications for further research and prac tice are identified

Source: UG
African primary care research: Current situation, priorities and capacity building

The Sixth PRIMAFAMED (Primary Health Care/Family Medicine Education Network) workshop on ‘Capacity Building and Priorities in Primary Care Research’ was held in Pretoria, South Africa (SA), from 22 to 24 June 2014. Delegates from the following countries attended the workshop: Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Sudan, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, SA, Zambia, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Mozambique, Swaziland, Belgium, and Denmark (Figure 1). Delegates were from established or emerging departments of family medicine and primary care in these countries. The central theme of the workshop was primary care research – the current situation, the priorities for research and the need for capacity building. This report gives a summary of the consensus on these matters that emerged from the workshop. The motivation for the conference was derived in part from the involvement of Professor Bob Mash (SA) and Professor Olayinka Ayankogbe (Nigeria) in the World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA) Global Working Party on Primary Care Research, which has a goal of promoting primary care research.

Source: UG
The African Slave Trade

REPORT from the Select Committee of the House of Lords appointed to consider the best Means which Great Britain can adopt for the final • Extinction of the AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE. Presented in Session 1850. THAT the Committee have met and considered the Subject Matter to them referred. In following out the Inquiry intrusted to them as to the most effectual means for suppressing the African Slave Trade, have felt it to be their duty, first, to examine the means hitherto employed for this end; to ascertain the amount of success which had attended their employment; whether they could be rendered more effectual, and if so, by what means; the objections urged against them; and whether any other means could be devised, either as substitutes for these, or as accessory to them. The means which have been hitherto employed are: (1.) the formation of Treaties with the various civilized States for the prohibition and suppression of the Slave Trade, and the punishment of those who engage in it by confiscation of their ships. (2.) The formation of Treaties with the Chiefs of Africa, prohibiting the exportation of Slaves from their territories. (3.) The maintenance of certain Forts upon the African Coast. (4.) The maintenance of armed Cruizers on the Coast of Africa, to enforce these Treaties. As regards the first of these means, a large measure of success has attended the efforts of this Country.

Source: UG
The African Standby Force: The African Union’s tool for the maintenance of peace and security

Declared operationally ready in 2016, the African Standby Force (ASF) has not been deployed in its originally designed form. This is not for the lack of opportunities but rather a demonstration of the power of the Regional Economic Communities/Regional Mechanisms (RECs/RMs) – Africa’s sub-regional security structures – over matters of peace and security. Experience gathered from its short existence suggests that the ASF may never be deployed in its current form. It may instead evolve into a robust framework, adaptable mainly by the RECs/RMs, for addressing varied security challenges. Four things are critical to enhancing the utility of the ASF: the political willingness of the RECs/RMs, the strategic interest of the member states, predictable and sustainable financing, and clarity on the role of the African Capability for Immediate Response to Crisis, the temporary battlegroup that was created to provide the African Union with a rapid response capability, pending the ASF’s operationalization

Source: UG
African studies: Evolution, challenges, and prospects

The establishment of African Studies at the Institute of African Studies in the University of Ghana, Legon, could be rationalised as a two-fold initiative: to portray the independence of African people in terms of a paradigm shift in academic curricula, and to be a channel in leading the processes of decolonising the minds of a people just liberated from foreign domination. However, Africa Studies is constantly challenged on its relevance and comparability with other disciplines in both western and African scholarship. This chapter examines the scope of this ideology in contemporary times, and the extent to which African Studies has lived up to the mandate for its establishment. This chapter examines African Studies from its short-lived evolution at the School of African Studies from 1949 to 1950 to its current niche in the Institute of African Studies, established in 1961 and inaugurated in 1963. It examines some of its challenges and prospects and discusses the lingering question on the relevance of African Studies in modern scholarship, drawing on published material available to me as well as my own interviews with past and present students of African Studies, faculty, and some members of the public. The chapter also compares the structure of African Studies at the University of Ghana, Legon and University of Cape Coast, Ghana, which are different, yet complementary. The study affirmed that regardless of its challenges and continued denigration, African Studies, enables students to know and understand their roots, inherited past traditions, norms and lore, and above all, to redefine and uphold African consciousness in all aspects of life. As any multi-disciplinary field, African Studies should be open for controversies and divergences as such ambivalences could be desirable for its sustenance.

Source: UG
African Studies: Knowledge Production and Beyond

The field of African Studies has emerged in recent years (1960s and 1970s) from obscurity to global recognition as an intellectual area of inquiry. It offers academic and career opportunities in advanced studies, ranging from certificates and diplomas to the bachelors, masters, doctorate degrees and post-doctorate work. Like other disciplines, African Studies as a multi- disciplinary area is engaged in research/knowledge production, teaching and public service. Yet a review of related literature in the field suggests that many critical challenges remain. It is hypothesized in this paper that until African Studies extends beyond knowledge production the field is unlikely to make significant and meaningful impact on African sustainable development.

Source: UG
African Traders in Kumasi

This study is a part of work in progress, but since much of the material §Pes out of date fairly rapidly, it has been thought worthwhile to ~publish in its present form. (A few copies of the first part (since slightly amended) were distributed privately last year). Whatever faults remain, this study owes a very great deal to many people, from the business men who supplied the original information, to University colleagues and busines men, both African and European, who criticized earlier drafts of the material. Especially great is the debt to Dr. and Mrs. Barbu Niculescu and Professor John W. Williams. A continuation of this study has been made possible by a generous grant from the Ford Foundation. The dedication is to African business men in Kumasi, with the hope for their development and prosperity

Source: UG
African Trading, or, The Trials of William Narh Ocansey of Addah, West Coast of Africa, River Volta.

William Narh Ocansey is a native of Addah, situated on the Banks of the River Volta, West Coast of Africa, near to Accra, the capital town, and is a British possession, the people of Addah, being British subjects. Addah is the trade port, and is established between the bar of the River Volta and the sea. , His trade is that of a general merchant. He was inducted into the knowledge of mercantile business when a comparatively young man, and has followed it, with varying success, for more than forty years. He is a man who could almost use the day and night for trade - never weary, never tired, - always doing something.

Source: UG
The African Union and the Challenge of Being a Strong, United, Resilient and Influential Global Player and Partner (Agenda 2063, Aspiration Seven).

The African Union, since its formation, from the days of the Organization of African Unity to its current form, has taken several steps to ensure total continental unity. The AU, has initiated commendable programs such as the Lagos Plan of Action, the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights drafted in 1981; Priority Programme for Economic Recovery (APPER) in 1985, The Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community (EAC), known as the Abuja Treaty, in 1991; The Sirte Declaration of 1999; The 2000 Solemn Declaration on Security, Stability, Development and Cooperation of the African continent; the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) in 2000 and the latest being the adoption of Agenda, 2063. This study therefore aims at examining the relevance, challenges and the prospects of Aspiration Seven of Agenda 2063 of the AU. The study adopts a qualitative research methodology that relies on both secondary and primary data, using interviews as instrument of data collection, where the views of both practitioners and professionals, such as diplomats, former presidents and former AU Chairpersons and others have been presented and analyzed. The study found out that, Aspiration Seven of Agenda 2063, is very relevant especially to the socio-economic development of the African continent, as it has the potential of making Africa a united and an influential global player. However, despite the relevance of Aspiration Seven, the study found out that the challenges facing the African Union in its bid to realize the Aspiration Seven of the Agenda 2063, are multifaceted and can be seen in the aspects of economic, political, socio-cultural and external factors. The study however revealed that the prospects of the Aspiration Seven are very bright, if the African Union would demonstrate the required commitment and zeal towards the realization of the Agenda 2063. The study concludes by indicating the possibility and the difficulty in achieving Aspiration Seven of the Agenda 2063 by the African Union. The study therefore gives various recommendations to the effect that, the African Union should put together a very strong economic team, who understand the African economic dynamics to offer valuable solutions to the African economic problem. The study recommends. among other things, that the African Union should put in place a very deterring sanction scheme that can help whip uncommitted member states into line for the realization of this important aspiration.

Source: UG