Decentralising solid waste collection to local authorities is expected to respond positively to the enigma of solid waste collection. The study contributes to a contextual understanding of household solid waste collection governance in rapidly growing secondary cities within democratic decentralised government systems. Specifically, the study examined the processes and factors affecting household solid waste collection in a rapidly growing municipality in the Upper West Region, the Wa Municipality. Eleven key informants were purposefully selected and interviewed for data. The results show that the main waste collection modes were house-to-house and communal container collections, although unorganised dumping sites and organised dumping through dugout pits were also found. There was also a mismatch between the quantity of waste generated and that collected. The study found that the local government context - arrangements for financing the local government, partisan politics in the local government, and weaknesses in skills and logistics affect the local government’s ability to collect waste effectively. The study recommends intense education complemented with necessary bylaws to effect positive attitudes on solid waste collection in residents. The beneficiaries of the communal container collection system should be made to pay for service delivery to cater for container repairs. At the same time, the Municipal Assembly should prosecute households that practise indiscriminate dumping.

Background: Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) among adolescents has emerged as global public health concern in low and middle-income countries. Although research on MHM among adolescents is vast, the peculiar cultural and economic barriers faced by Junior high schoolgirls in menstrual hygiene management in the deprived settings of northern Ghana are seldom explored, even though sanitation coverage in this part of the country does not exceed 20 percent. We thus explored menstrual hygiene management barriers among adolescent schoolgirls in Junior High Schools in the Upper West region.
 Methods: A case study of adolescent girls’ menstrual practices and management in selected schools in the Jirapa Municipality was conducted. We employed a qualitative approach in the collection and analysis of the data. A mix of purposive and convenience sampling procedures was used to select 44 diverse participants, comprising: basic schoolgirls (n=32), and mothers (n=12), who participated in semi-structured interviews. The data collected were analysed using the thematic analytical framework.
 Results: Underpinned by Gusfield’s cultural and structural analysis of public problems as well as Bronfenbrenner’s socioecological theory, we found that limited knowledge of menstruation and its management, cultural beliefs, and high costs of menstrual care products to be main barriers to effective MHM among adolescent girls in basic schools in Ghana. This has often resulted in school absenteeism and dropout, girls engaging in commercial sex to raise funds to buy menstrual hygiene products, menstruation-related stigma and seclusion and exclusion during menstruation.
 Conclusion: Our findings have implications for MHM policy planning and implementation. The Ministries of Education, Health and Water Resources need to collaborate and develop an MHM Policy as part of the National Sanitation and Hygiene Strategy, and a strategy to provide direction on how to implement MHM activities in basic schools in the country.

The paper examined the implementation of the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights (VPSHR) in Ghana's extractive sector from the perspective of three selected resource-endowed host communities. An exploratory design involving the use of stakeholder analysis in sequential phases was used for this study. Transect walks, in-depth interviews and community-based focus group discussions were the techniques employed in the data collection. The results indicated that there is a general lack of awareness of the VPSHR by most stakeholders, especially at the local level. Even though some mining companies have signed onto the voluntary principles, implementation and adherence are not adequate because there is no community participation in any risk assessment and mitigation strategies developed by mining companies thereby resulting in a lack of trust in the process. The paper concludes that there is a general lack of knowledge of the VPSHR and an absence of mechanisms to demand social accountability which presents a challenge to adherence and achievement of desired outcomes. This calls for efforts to be made to improve the capacity of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and national-level VPSHR implementing agencies and departments.

This study assessed the technical efficiency of smallholder rice growers in the Ejisu Juaben Municipality of Ghana and explained variations using the Stochastic Frontier Approach. Cross-sectional data were collected from 200 rice farmers using a structured questionnaire. The results showed that inefficiency exists as the mean technical efficiency was 55% implying that nearly half (45%) more output could be produced using the existing input levels if farmers were technically efficient. A scope, therefore, exists for increasing rice production. A wide range (11.7% to 98.4%) of technical production efficiency exists among the sampled rice farmers, showing the various levels of improvements expected to bring various farmers to operate on the frontier. Labour cost was revealed as the main constraint hindering the development of the rice sector. The main factors that positively and significantly explain the level of variation in efficiency production were membership to a Farmer-Based Organization (FBO), access to improved varieties, and access to credit. Furthermore, gender, farmer experience, and contact with extension services negatively influence the efficiency performance of farmers. Encouraging farmers to form FBOs is recommended, as this will make credit more available to farmers and improve access to community-based extension services.

The incidence of gender-based violence against women has been on the rise globally. While a multitude of factors accounts for the problem generally, there are location-specific nuances. This paper investigated gender-based violence against women in the Jirapa area of north-western Ghana using a mixed method approach covering one hundred and forty sampled victims. Data were collected using in-depth interviews, semi-structured questionnaires, and key informant interviews. Among others, violence against women in the Jirapa area is increasing despite several policy interventions made. Alcohol abuse on the part of males, cultural practices including patriarchal inheritance, abduction of girls for marriage, wife battering, low educational attainment and poor access, ownership, and control over resources among women are the causes of gender-based violence in the area. The study revealed that gender-based violence has negatively impacted the socio-economic well-being of women in the Jirapa area and threw their futures into jeopardy. The findings also show that the violence meted out to women in the study area negatively affected their socioeconomic well-being. The study concludes that the incidences of violence against women in the area are deeply rooted in the culture of the people and are regarded as a norm. It is recommended that stakeholders (chiefs, NGOs, and the Local Government Authority) create better access to resources and stem the tide of gender-based violence in the area. Enforcement of the law must also be done by the Ghana Police Service devoid of fear of reprisals or fervour.

The main aim of this study was to assess the level of compliance with health and safety management requirements on welfare facilities and Personal Protective Equipment by construction firms in Ghana. The study was conducted using a survey and participant field observation as the data collection approaches. The observation was done using an observation checklist developed from the welfare facilities and PPE requirements of the International Labour Organization on 35 construction sites selected across 7 regions of Ghana. The survey was conducted using a structured questionnaire with construction workers (n = 201). The results showed a high level of non-compliance with the provision of sanitary, accommodation, washing facilities, changing rooms and dining facilities. The results also showed that the only welfare facilities prioritised by construction firms were drinking water. Findings on compliance with the provision and use of PPEs showed that most construction firms failed to provide PPE for their workers. Also, the few firms who had them did not comply with the user directives. Therefore, construction firms must implement and enforce compliance with welfare facilities and PPE use. There is also the need for the development of a regulatory framework on occupational health and safety for the Ghanaian construction industry.

Despite the potential of mixed methods research (MMR) in providing a comprehensive picture of development issues, its pervasiveness and use in development studies is limited. This paper examines the use of MMR as reflected in contributions to the Ghana Journal of Development Studies (GJDS). Based on a rapid review and content analysis of 105 articles, published in the GJDS over the period 2010 to 2017, this paper illustrates there is an inadequate use of MMR among the community of researchers contributing articles to the GJDS. Specifically, only 16 percent of journal articles used MMR, whereas 52 percent and 32 percent used solely quantitative and qualitative approaches, respectively. The huge use of mono-methods and the paucity of MMR in the field of development studies suggest that the ‘paradigm wars’ and the ‘incompatibility thesis’ are not over. Eighty-six percent of articles that reportedly used MMR did not mention the purposes for employing it, explain the typologies of its designs used, the stages, or even the way the qualitative and quantitative data were integrated.

The paper set out to outline the differences between conventional M&E and PM&E from the perspectives of stakeholders and assess their involvement as well as the benefits associated with PM&E in two districts: Nadowli-Kaleo and Daffiama-Bussie-Issa in the Upper West Region, Ghana. The paper employed multi-stage, simple random and purposive sampling methods in identifying respondents for interviews. Key informant interviews were used to collect data. Thematic and qualitative content analysis of participants’ voices were used in analysing the data. Findings reveal that PM&E gives primary stakeholders power and control over project execution and taking actions on monitoring results. However, it emerged that the youth and women were not fully involved in the process, some beneficiaries have limited capacity and understanding of their roles in the PM&E process and their involvement is limited to ad hoc approaches due to resource constraints. The study concludes that despite its implementation challenges, PM&E has an edge over orthodox M&E in enhancing effective implementation of educational projects. The paper recommends education of and capacity building for beneficiaries on their roles in the PM&E process to enable them more actively and meaningfully participate in it. Policy decision-makers should make conscious efforts to timely free more resources to the monitoring teams to facilitate their work. The monitoring team should also make frantic efforts to engage the youth and women to achieve the right level of participation in the process.

While Ghana remains a key destination for West African itinerant immigrant traders, studies examining their retail strategies appear missing in the Ghanaian migration literature. Applying the mixed methods design, quantitative and qualitative data were obtained from 779 immigrant vendors and 9 immigrant key informants. In tandem with this design (mixed methods), interview schedule and in-depth interview guide were employed to collect the data for analysis. The results indicate that most of the respondents exhibited their entrepreneurial prowess by constructing a network of clients around their business. The findings indicate that they sustained their clients by selling their wares at reduced prices with the supplier price being the determinant. Such traders usually prefer cash payments for their products with street vending being their main itinerant retail strategy. Primarily, most of them advertised their wares by shouting to draw attention to what they sell while others increased their sales using flattery and persuasive language. The Chi-square test results revealed a significant nexus between the immigrant vendors’ countries of origin and the various techniques they used to retail their goods. The study unveils the fact that aspiring entrepreneurs and shop retailers could experiment the pricing strategy of these immigrant traders, to increase sale values.

Given concerns about the spiralling cost of health services in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), this study draws on a framework for assessing poverty and access to health services to ascertain progress towards achieving vertical equity in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in a rural setting in northern Ghana. Rural-urban disparities in financial access to NHIS services are seldom explored in equity-related studies although there is a knowledge gap of progress and challenges of implementing the scheme’s vertical equity objectives to inform social health protection planning and implementation. A qualitative approach was used to collect and analyse the data. Specifically, in-depth interviews and observation were deployed to explore participants’ lived experiences, the relationship between location, livelihoods and ability to pay for health insurance services. The article found that flat rate contributions for populations in the informal sector of the economy and lack of flexibility and adaptability of timing premium collections to the needs of rural residents make the cost of membership disproportionately higher for them, and this situation contradicts the vertical equity objectives of the NHIS. The study concludes that the current payment regimes serve as important deterrence to poor rural residents enrolling in the scheme. Based on this, we advocate strict adherence and implementation of the scheme’s vertical equity measures through the adoption of the Ghana National Household Register (GNHR) as a tool for ensuring that contributions are based on income, and collection is well-timed