Energy inclusiveness intensity among persons with disability: Evidence from an emerging crude oil producing country

Abstract

Although Ghana has made great strides in ensuring that its citizens have access to energy, evidence of the inclusion of people with disabilities in policy contexts offers a chance to examine other crucial but less well-known factors that influence energy accessibility. Due to this, a thorough search and scoping evaluation of energy policies/reports from the websites of the Ghanaian government and other relevant sources was carried out. The Energy Policies/reports were chosen and reported following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) criteria for scoping reviews. The framework for policy assessment and policy creation was used for the content analysis. The analysis included seven policies and reports with a total of 13 indicators. Although different institutions and organizations worked together to establish and implement these policies and reports, the level of inclusion of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) and issues linked to them was relatively low. Only one of the seven (14%) policies/reports examined took PWDs into account. This was due to a limited definition of disability, which shows a low level of inclusion. It is advised that ensuing energy policies/reports should incorporate extensive involvement and participation of PWDs from the conceptual design stage through to implementation to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7, the United Nations Convention on the Right of Persons with Disabilities, and the Disability Act 715 of Ghana.