Partnership between the

International Center for

Development and Decent Work,

University of Kassel, Germany, and

the University of Cape Coast,

Ghana

Kassel, September 2016

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List of Contents

1. About UCC .................................................................................................................. 3

1.1 Historical Background ................................................................................................................ 3

1.2 Faculties and Institutes .............................................................................................................. 3

1.2.1 Faculty of Social Science ............................................................................................... 3

1.2.2 Centre for Gender, Research, Advocacy and Documentation ............................. 4

1.2.3 Institute for Development Studies ............................................................................... 4

2. ICDD and UCC Partnership..................................................................................... 6

2.1 The DAAD Exceed Program ..................................................................................................... 6

2.2 Study Programs .......................................................................................................................... 7

2.2.1 PhD program ...................................................................................................................... 7

2.3 Ela Bhatt Professorship and Guest Lectureships .................................................................. 8

3. Research ..................................................................................................................... 9

3.1 Joint Research Projects ............................................................................................................. 9

Pilot study The Boom in artisanal gold mining and its effects on rural

agricultural livelihoods in Ghana: A case of Ayanfuri mining enclave (2016-)9

3.2 Publications ............................................................................................................................... 11

4. Conferences and Workshops .............................................................................. 14

5. Professors and Scholars ...................................................................................... 15

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1. About UCC

1.1 Historical Background

The University of Cape Coast in Ghana was established in 1962 out of a dire need for highly

qualified and skilled work force in education and was affiliated to the University of Ghana. It

was established to train graduate teachers for second cycle institutions such as teacher

training colleges and technical institutions, a mission that the two existing universities were

unequipped to fulfill. Since its establishment, the university has added to its functions the

training of education planners, administrators, agriculturalists and health care professionals.

In pursuance of its mission, the university restructured its degree program from BA, BSc and

BEd in education to B.A/BSc with non-education content and a BEd, a professional

qualification in Education. The university now offers courses in BA, B.Com, BEd, BSc, LLB,

MA, MBA, MEd, MSc, MPhil, MBChB, OD, and PhD.

The total number of students enrolled at UCC range around 35,922. The breakdown is as

follows: 14,815 Regular Undergraduate Students, 2,146 Sandwich Students and 18,018

Distant Learning Students. 1

1.2 Faculties and Institutes

The University of Cape Coast today is organized into five colleges – Agricultural and Natural

Science, Distance Education, Education Studies, Health and Allied Sciences, and Humanities

and Legal Studies. Divided in 11 schools/faculties – School of Nursing and Midwifery, School

of Allied Health Sciences, School of Medical Science, School of Agriculture, School of

Biological Sciences, School of Physical Sciences, Faculty of Arts, School of Business, Faculty

of Law, and Faculty of Social Sciences.

1.2.1 Faculty of Social Science

The Faculty of Social Sciences seeks to provide opportunities for the development of critical

thinking, to challenge both staff and students to be creative and responsive to national needs

and aspirations and to forge links with local and international institutions of higher learning.

The Faculty has five departments - Department of Economics, Department of Geography and

Regional Planning, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Department of Population and

Health and the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management. Two institutes - Institute

for Development Studies and the Institute for Oil and Gas Studies. Two centers - Centre for

Gender, Research, Advocacy and Documentation (CEGRAD) and the Centre for Data

1 For more information, check: https://ucc.edu.gh/aboutus

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Archiving, Management, Analysis and Advocacy (C-DAMAA) – and one unit - the Micro-

Finance Unit.2

1.2.2 Centre for Gender, Research, Advocacy and Documentation

The Centre for Gender, Research, Advocacy, and Documentation (CEGRAD) is affiliated to

the Faculty of Social Science and is mandated to: operate as a research, advocacy and

documentation focal point on Gender and Women Studies; to provide assistance for the

development of a gender policy and ensure adherence to gender sensitivity in the university

wide policy and program; to support faculties, schools and Institutes to engender their taught

programs and teaching approaches; to offer a framework for monitoring adherence to gender

sensitivity in policy-making and for feedback on effort at promoting gender equality at UCC; to

facilitate the protection of women’s rights and the promotion of gender equity at UCC; and to

co-ordinate relations within and beyond UCC for the promotion of gender interests.

As for its objectives, CEGRAD seeks to: improve the understanding of gender issues within

the university community; to facilitate gender sensitivity in university based policies; to co-

ordinate the development of courses on gender and engender existing curriculum; to facilitate

gender sensitive research; to provide space for documentation and dissemination of gender

sensitive information; to promote a reliable gender disaggregated university wide data base;

to monitor adherence to gender sensitive policies and practices, and to co-ordinate relations

beyond UCC for the promotion of gender interests.3

1.2.3 Institute for Development Studies

The Institute for Development Studies (IDS) – previously known as Centre for Development

Studies (CDS) – is the research arm of the faculty of Social Sciences. The institute got its

currently status in 2008, after 35 years of a stablished core mandate of engaging in Social

Sciences and developmental related research activities. The institute has been involved in

activities that cover a wide range of both national and international development themes and

subjects with the main objective of providing both local and international policy makers and

administrators with a focus on various aspects of development, which include, but not limited

to; reducing poverty, enhancing social justice and promoting sustainable growth for the overall

human well-being.

The IDS has also been engaged in several research activities in recent times which are both

locally and internationally sponsored within the fields of: Oil and gas and the environment;

2 For more information, check: https://soc.ucc.edu.gh/ 3 For more information, check: https://cegrad.ucc.edu.gh/

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Water bodies conservation; Conflicts, natural resources management; Complimentary Basic

Education (CBE) programs, etc.4

4 For more information, check: https://ids.ucc.edu.gh/

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2. ICDD and UCC Partnership ICDD and UCC officially signed their cooperation agreement including a widely exchange of

students and faculties; joint promotion of MA and PhD students; exchange of staff, faculty

members and students for joint research, conferences, workshops and more.

ICDD-UCC Organogram 2014-16

2.1 The DAAD Exceed Program

ICDD has been conducting different research projects with UCC within the DAAD exceed

(Higher Education Excellence in Development Cooperation) program.

The program aims at supporting German Higher Education Institutions (HEI) together with their

partners in developing countries. Support is given to those institutions that contribute to the

realization of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and other goals of development

cooperation policy in an innovative manner. The aim is to strengthen the HEIs in the domains

of education, research and consultancy. The major concerns of the program are:

bringing together working units in the HEIs with a direct linkage to the MDGs

expanding education and research on issues of relevance to the cooperation in

development policies in German and the partner country HEIs.

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increasing the visibility of activities related to the MDGs in the general public in Germany

and DCs

constructing Competence Centers for development cooperation by developing excellent

research that can serve as a scientific "lighthouse”, is internationally attractive and

competitive

strengthening north-south as well as south-south cooperation in higher education and

research

expanding policy analysis and consultancy on issues in development cooperation in

developing countries and Germany

By these activities, researchers and institutes are encouraged to continue and expand their

commitment in development cooperation. The competence centers are meant to become think

tanks for development co-operation that develop approaches for the solution of global

challenges and transfer them to policy makers, donors and practitioners.

2.2 Study Programs

2.2.1 PhD program

The ICDD's objective is to generate and transfer knowledge on how to create and improve

work and income opportunities in rural and urban regions in developing countries in light of

globalization, climate change and urbanization processes. PhD projects are rooted in either

the natural or social sciences and focus primarily on actor- and problem-oriented research on

sustainable human-environmental relationships and decent livelihoods. Currently (2016),

about 25 doctoral candidates within the graduate school are pursuing PhDs at the seven ICDD

partner universities.

PhD Alumni/Fellows

Frederick Koomson (2012-2015): Social capital and rural agricultural development in

Ghana. Supervisors: Dr. Charles K. Brown and Dr. Elisabeth Tuider.

Benjamin Yaw Tachie (2014-2017): Youth entrepreneurship in the informal economy

in Ghana: the role of Human and Social capital. Supervisors: Dr. Francis Enu-Kwesi

and Dr. Elisabeth Tuider.

John Oti Amoah (2015-2018): Strategies for Expanding Social Protection and Gender

Equality in Rural and Peri Urban Livelihoods in Central Region of Ghana. Supervisors:

Dr. Akua Bitwum and Elisabeth Tuider.

Moses Segbenya (2016-2019): Decency of Working Conditions for Stone Quarry

Workers in Ghana. Supervisor: Dr. Angela Akorsu.

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2.3 Ela Bhatt Professorship and Guest Lectureships

Ela-Bhatt Visiting Professors

Prof. Dr. Akua Opokua Britwum: 5 She was honored the Ela

Bhatt Professorship for the Winter Semester 2016-17 at ICDD. Her

research and publications cover sexual harassment, the

economics of violence against women, gender mainstreaming in

Ghanaian Universities, gender and land rights, gender and

leadership in trade unions, organizing informal economy workers

as well as trade union participation and representation. She has

been a visiting Professor at ICDD in two opportunities: the first one

from 25th November 2009 to 20th December, 2009 teaching a

course on "Gender in Economic Policy Making" to students of MA Global Political Economy

(GPE) and Labour Policy and Globalisation (LPG). She was back at ICDD for a second time

from 13th November, 2011 to 23rd December, 2011 teaching a course on gender and

development.

Guest Lecturers

Dr. Frederick Koomson: 6 Guest lecturer at the University of

Kassel from September to November 2010. As a visiting lecturer,

he taught the optional course for the MA. Global Political Economy

(GPE) students on Gender and Development Management. In the

said seminar, the students were expected to develop and

understand the theories and analytical frameworks for analyzing

gender issues in development management as well as in managing

gender issues in development.

5 Prof. Dr. Akua Opokua Britwum, personal file, used with authorization 6 Dr. Frederik Koomson, UCC, ICDD Files, used with permission.

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3. Research

3.1 Joint Research Projects

The ICDD network worked along 3 main research clusters in the first phase of cooperation

(2009-2014), responding to (1) Sustainable Value Creation for Decent Work, (2) Instruments

for Promoting Decent Work, and (3) Strategies for Empowerment for Decent Work.

In the second phase (2015-2019), there is a shift towards an enhanced cooperation between

agricultural and social disciplines/sciences within the network, implementing 5 new research

lines in the agenda:(1) Decent work along agricultural value chains, (2) Organizing the informal

economy, (3) Extractivism and rural welfare, (4) Rural-urban linkages: transformation

processes, livelihoods, and social protection, (5) Rethinking development cooperation.

3.1.1 Research Projects

Pilot study The Boom in artisanal gold mining and its effects on rural agricultural livelihoods in Ghana: A case of Ayanfuri mining enclave (2016-)

Project leaders: Dr. Patrick Agbesinyale (UCC), Prof. Dr. Hans-Jürgen Burchardt (UniKS), Dr.

Stefan Peters (UniKS)

The purpose of this research study is to analyze, from the viewpoint of affected communities

and agricultural households, how artisanal mining has shaped agriculture and agricultural

livelihoods over the last two decades using case studies. The research is expected to

contribute to existing knowledge in the area of extractivism and rural agricultural livelihoods

which are thematic areas within the ICDD research agenda. This study which will draw largely

from case studies would provide adequate basis for further larger research into the area for

the purpose of generalization across all mining areas in Ghana. Thus, the outcome of this

research can be used to source for larger funding for expanded research work in this same

thematic area.

Rural- Urban Linkages in Comparative Perspective: Labour and Land in Ghana

and South Africa (2015-)

Project leaders: Dr. Ben Scully (WITS), Prof. Dr. Akua Britwum (UCC), Prof. Edward Webster

(WITS)

This project aims to provide a clearer picture of the rural-urban linkages. The study examines

how rural-urban linkages affect the lives and livelihoods of workers and families on each end

of the city-countryside divide. Rural-urban connections have been long recognized as a key

feature of social and economic life for both urban workers and rural dwellers in Africa. The

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study examines South Africa and Ghana individually and comparatively since these are two

countries with long histories of rural-urban connections and both have produced studies of the

relation between labor, land, migration and livelihood strategies. Thus, the study aims at tracing

economic and social connections that exist both within a given area across the rural-urban

divide by interviewing both rural-based individuals and urban dwellers with direct connections

to the rural areas under study. The research provides a clear understanding of how rural-urban

connections shape the social and economic lives of the people in South Africa and Ghana.

Gender equality and women’s rights in rural livelihoods in Ghana and Pakistan

(2015- )

Project leaders: Prof. Dr. Akua Britwum (UCC), Dr. Saira Akhtar (UAF)

This project addresses the factors that determine the success of interventions designed to

promote women’s rights to productive resources in rural livelihoods. The political economic

contexts of rural livelihoods are highly gendered with implications for work distribution and

access to and control over productive resources. Such gendered differentiations stray into

household relations with research pointing to highly discriminatory access to household

resource allocation. Studies note that owning land and other landed properties in rural

communities provide access to additional productive resources like finances, water and

grazing privileges. Others state that having their own plots of land strengthens women’s voices

in decisions about the use of household resources. In subsistence economies such as Ghana

and Pakistan defective land tenure systems under pressure from several interests like the

state, foreign investors and local economic elite have redefined lineage land acquisition

systems and in the process compromised women’s tenure security. It is necessary to outline

emerging gender orders within varying intensities of patriarchal control. A critical appraisal of

conditions determining innovation success is important for understanding how gendered

production relations embedded in rural livelihoods can be transformed.

3.1.2 Research Clusters

Organizing Vulnerable Workers – Comparisons between India, South Africa and

Ghana (2013 - 2014)

Within the framework of exceed, ICDD and UCC conducted the said research project within

the research cluster: Strategies for Empowerment on Decent Work, which was developed

along 2013-2014, and was conducted by Prof. Dr. Sharit Bhowmik (TISS), Prof. Dr. Edward

Webster (WITS), and Prof. Dr. Akua Britwum (UCC).

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Brief description of the project:

This research cluster began in the year of 2013 and tries to answer the question on how do

the vulnerable workers in India, South Africa and Ghana organize, what form does the

organization take, what strategies do they use, what sources of power do they draw on, what

are their relationships with traditional unions and how are traditional unions responding. In

order to capture these experiences effectively, we are partnering with progressive trade union

movements in the three countries – in South Africa, it is the COSATU task team on Organizing

Vulnerable workers, in Ghana, it’s the informal desk of the Ghanaian Trade Union Congress

and in India, the Self Employed Workers Association (SEWA) and NGOs such as LEARN. The

study is also led by Prof. Edward Webster from University of Witwatersrand, and Prof. Sharit

Bhowmik from Tata Institute of Social Science and Prof. Akua Britwum from UCC.

For more detailed information on the research cluster and its main findings, please see:

https://www.uni-kassel.de/einrichtungen/international-center-for-development-and-decent-

work-icdd/research/research-2009-2014/strategies-of-empowerment-for-dw/organising-

vulnerable-workers-comparisons-between-india-south-africa-and-ghana.html

3.2 Publications7

Britwum, A. O. (2013) “Market Queens and the Blame Game in Ghanaian Tomato Marketing”,

In: Scherrer, C. and Saha, D. (Eds.) The Food Crisis: Implications for Labor of, the Labor and

Globalization series Volume 2: München: Hampp, 53-71.

Britwum, A. O. (2012) “Female Union Leadership, Power, Dynamism and Organised Labour

in Ghana”, In: Ledwith, S. and Hansen, L. L. (Eds.) Gendering and Diversifying Trade Union

Leadership. London: Routledge, 265-284

Britwum A. O. and Akorsu, A. D. (2012) “Women’s Representation in Trade Unions and Labour

Standard Application in Ghana”. In: Gupta, M. S. (Ed.) Women’s Empowerment and Global

Development. Haryana: Madhav Books.

Britwum, A. O., Douglas, K. and Ledwith, S. (2012) “Women, Gender and Power in Trade

Unions”. In: Mosoetsa, S., and Williams, M. (Eds.) Labour in the Global South: Challenges and

Alternatives for Workers. Geneva: ILO. International Labour Office Press, 41-64

7 Note that these are exemplary of the work developed. Not all publications are listed in this section.

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Britwum, A. O. (2011) “Trade Unions and the Informal Economy in Ghana”, In: Phelan, C. (Ed.)

Trade Unions in West Africa, Historical and Contemporary Perspectives, Oxford: Peter Lang;

VI, 197-223.

Britwum, A. O. (2011) “Women Traders’ Associations and Gender Transformation in Ghana”,

Paper presented at the Free University of Berlin Public Lecture Series on ‘Gender Politics in

Africa’ Berlin, Germany, November 15, 2011.

Britwum, A. O. (2011) “Gender, power and the Woman Question in Trade Unions”, Paper

presented with Karen Douglas at the 7th Global Labour University Conference on ‘The Politics

of Labour & Development 28 - 30 September 2011 The University of the Witwatersrand,

Johannesburg, South Africa.

Britwum, A. O. (2011) “The Challenges of Trade Unions in the South”, Paper presented at the

Global Labour University Alumni and Applied Research Summer School, September 22 - 26

2011, Reef Hotel, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Britwum, A. O. (2011) “Employment Informalisation and The Pursuit of Labour Rights in

Ghana”, Paper presented at the Institute for Gender and Women’s Studies, The American

University in Cairo’s conference on ‘The Social Factory: Gender, Political and Social

Movements’, September 15-17, 2011. Cairo.

Britwum, A. O. (2010) “Union Democracy and the Challenge of Globalisation to Organised

Labour in Ghana”, PhD Thesis presented to the University of Maastricht, 10 September, 2010.

Online access: http://arno.unimaas.nl/show.cgi?fid=20157)

Britwum, A. O. (2010) “Reconciling Class and Patriarchy: Female Unionists and Union

Governance in Ghana” In: G-RAP, The Gender Perspective: Papers for the National Gender

Forum 2010 and Young Professional Forum 2010. Accra: Ghana Research Advocacy

Programme, 51-62.

Britwum, A. O. “Trade Unions and Informal Economy Workers Organising in Ghana”, paper

presented at the Organising Vulnerable Workers: Comparing Ghana, India, South Africa of

The International Centre for Development and Decent Work (ICDD), University of Kassel

Germany and the Society, Work and Development Institute, University of Witwatersrand,

Johannesburg, COSATU House, 2nd to 5th December 2013.

Britwum, A. O. “Gender Mainstreaming’ intervention at the Combating Inequality Workshop”,

held at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, 30 September – 2 October 2013

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Britwum, A. O. “Gender Dimension of Inequality”, Paper presented at the Tata Institute of

Social Sciences and the International Centre for Decent Work and Development’s Annual

Thematic Conference on ‘Roles of Food, Work and Cash in Overcoming Poverty’ held at the

Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India, 28– 30 September 2013

Britwum, A. O. “Recent Efforts at Social Protection in Africa” and ‘”A Gender-Sensitive

Perspective in Policy Analysis”, Papers presented at the International Summer School on

Social Protection and Qualitative Research Methods; 13 to 26 May 2013, UCC Cape Coast,

workshop organised School of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Cape Coast, and

International Center for Decent Work and Development, University of Kassel, Germany.

Britwum, A. O. “Women traders’ Associations and Food Security in Ghana”, Paper presented

at ICDD Annual thematic conference on The food crisis: implication for decent work in rural

and urban areas 4 to 8 July 2012 Kassel, Germany.

3.3 Cooperation with other Partner Universities in the ICDD Network

In the framework of one of the ICDD’s agenda research lines, UCC extends its cooperation to

the other Partners in the network, within the research projects on rural-urban linkages and

gender equality issues.

These research areas are embedded in the network’s second phase (2015-2019). The projects

aim at exploring and documenting the viability of existing approaches to resolving gendered

access to rural livelihood resources like land, labor and capital. Simultaneously, by tracing

social and economic connections across the rural-urban divide, the projects aim to provide a

clearer picture of these linkages. This will allow insights into a range of theoretical, strategic,

and policy issues.

The cooperation and exchange is realized between the University of Kassel, the University of

Agriculture Faisalabad, and the University of Witwatersrand.

For further information on cooperation in research projects, please see:

http://www.uni-kassel.de/einrichtungen/international-center-for-development-and-decent-

work-icdd/research/research-2015-2019.html

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4. Conferences and Workshops

Within the framework of ICDD and UCC partnership different thematic conferences,

workshops, seminars have been organized.

Organizing Vulnerable Workers- Comparing Ghana, India and South Africa,

University of Cape Coast, Ghana, Aug. 11th – 14th, 2014

The Centre for Gender Research, Advocacy and Documentation (CEGRAD), in collaboration

and the Society, Work and Development Institute, of the University of Witwatersrand, South

Africa with support from the International Centre for Development and Decent Work (ICDD),

University of Kassel, Germany organized a 4 day workshop. Funding for the workshop was

provided by International Centre for Development and Decent Work and support from

University of Cape Coast.

The theme of the workshop was “Organising Vulnerable Workers: Comparing Ghana, India,

South Africa”, for doctoral candidates from 11th to 14thAugust, 2014. The venue for the

workshop was the Senior Common Room, UCC and Institute for Development Studies

Conference Room. The focus of the work shop was two-pronged: to interrogate a specific

developmental concern, that is, vulnerable workers, and to facilitate academic research on the

subject. In addition the workshop sought to compare what is happening in South Africa, India

and Ghana.

The main objective of the workshop was to provide continuity in the work of the research cluster

- Organising Vulnerable Workers: comparing India, Ghana and South Africa. The aim was to

complete the project by the end of the year and put together the second volume.

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5. Professors and Scholars

Dr. Patrick K. Agbesinyale

Institute for Development Studies Research Center

Member of the Institute for Development Studies Research Center, which is part of the Faculty

of Social Sciences of the College of Humanities and Legal Studies of the University of Cape

Coast. Their research topics are among socioeconomic characteristics of microfinance

beneficiaries in Ghana and developmental research activities.

Prof. Dr. Akua Britwum

CEGRAD-UCC/NETRIGHT/GLU

Professor Britwum’s research Interests are Gender Studies, Development Studies, and Social

Networks. She is senior research fellow at UCC, associate fellow of the GLU and the convenor

of the women’s rights organization in Ghana (NETRIGHT).

Dr. Francis Enu-Kwesi

Institute for Development Studies Research Center

Member of the Institute for Development Studies Research Center, which is part of the Faculty

of Social Sciences of the College of Humanities and Legal Studies of the University of Cape

Coast. Their research topics are among socioeconomic characteristics of microfinance

beneficiaries in Ghana and developmental research activities.

Prof. John Victor Mensah

Institute for Development Studies Research Center

Member of the Institute for Development Studies Research Center, which is part of the Faculty

of Social Sciences of the College of Humanities and Legal Studies of the University of Cape

Coast. Their research topics are among socioeconomic characteristics of microfinance

beneficiaries in Ghana and developmental research activities.

PhD Fellow John Oti Amoah

PhD Alumni Frederick Koomson

PhD Fellow Moses Segbenya

PhD Fellow Benjamin Yaw Tachie

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Acknowledgments / Disclaimer

Editorial Team:

Photos:

Page 5: Organogram, ICDD files.

Page 7: Prof. Akua Britwum

Page 8: Dr. Frederik Koomson, UCC,ICDD Files, used with permission.

Publication Date: