Poverty & hunger; Homes & Homelessness
Poverty And Hunger
article oneStatus
Ghana is the first country in Sub-Saharan Africa to meet the MDG 1 target of halving extreme poverty by 2015. However, poverty is quite endemic in the three northern regions to the extent that it would be a difficult hurdle for these regions to reduce extreme poverty by a range between 11.7 percentage points in the Northern Region and 41.8 percentage points in the Upper West Region to reach the target of halving extreme poverty by 2015. On MDG 1 target 3 – halving the proportion of people who suffer from hunger – available data and trend analysis of the various child malnutrition indicators show that, Ghana is on track to achieving two out of three child malnutrition indicators ahead of 2015.The indicator of reducing by half the proportion of children who are underweight has already been achieved ahead of 2015, while the target on reducing by half the prevalence of wasting is on course and may be met ahead of 2015 if current trend continues. On the indicator of reducing the prevalence of stunting, extra effort is required in order to achieve the target by 2015. What contributed to the progress? Poverty reduction in the country has been driven by high GDP growth rate supported by increased government development expenditure, debt relief and increased foreign investment outlays. The government continued with the implementation of poverty related expenditures, and has also introduced special social intervention programmes aimed at increasing public expenditure on initiatives targeted at the poor and the vulnerable. Public expenditure financed by Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) initiative, Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) and foreign source as a percentage of total expenditure increased from 15 per cent in 2008 to 23 per cent in 2009 but dropped to 18 per cent in 2010. Specific interventions in the three Northern Regions have helped in addressing the poverty situations there. These include (1) adoption of positive and productive security measures to address the long standing civil conflicts to attract private investment; (2) Increased resource commitment to the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA), (3) Targeted social intervention programmes particularly the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP), Ghana School Feeding Programme and Capitation Grant as well (4) Improved infrastructure development particularly road networks in areas that are not well accessible. Key Challenges In spite of the improvement in the poverty situation in most parts of the country, the depth of poverty remains a challenge and poverty is still endemic in the three northern savannah regions and among food crop farmers. The depth of poverty is estimated to be high particularly in the urban areas, and 6 of the 10 regions indicating that the poor in these areas are quite distant away from the poverty line. Below are some of the key challenges that require urgent attention: • Macroeconomic bottlenecks: Although Ghana’s growth has been fairly robust, the source of growth has always been biased in favour of extractive and capital intensive services sector which do not have direct poverty reducing effect; • Infrastructural constraint: poverty endemic areas are often constrained by basic infrastructure such as feeder roads that links their economic activity, mostly farming, to urban market centres; • Low productivity especially in agriculture: the agriculture sector particularly the food crop sub-sector continues to rely on rain-fed agriculture and the adoption of limited modern agricultural technique. In addition, the problem of marketing and price instability regarding farm produce on account of absence of guaranteed price continue to constrain the growth and development of the sub-sector where poverty is relatively high; • Limited support for food crop farmers: food crop farmers often face the problem of marketing and price instability regarding their farm produce. Absence of guaranteed price creates instability in the incomes of farmers making them vulnerable to adverse external shocks; and • Investment climate remains weak: despite the recent improvement in the ease of doing business in Ghana, the investment climate remains weak and continues to hold back productive investment particularly in the area of manufacturing. The business community is often constrained by limited and unreliable supply of energy and affordable finance especially for SMEs to enable them expand production, create jobs and improve incomes of workers. |
article twoGhana’s Incredible Path out of Hunger and Poverty
In the fight to reduce hunger and poverty around the world—part of the ambitious set of development targets known as the Millennium Development Goals—one country that really stands out for me is the West African nation of Ghana. Ghana’s progress has been remarkable. Between 1990 and 2004, Ghana outperformed all countries globally in reducing hunger by 75 percent. It’s also making great strides to reduce the number of people living in poverty. In fact, Ghana is on track to become the first country in Africa to achieve the MDG goal for halving poverty and hunger from 1990 levels by 2015. That’s remarkable, especially when you consider the devastating drought, dwindling harvests, and rising poverty that Ghana experienced in the mid-1980s. How did they do it? In Ghana, as in many parts of the developing world, the poorest people get their income by farming small plots of land. So finding ways to help these farmers produce more food and get it to market is a critical element in reducing poverty and hunger. That’s also the goal of the foundation’s agricultural development initiative, which we launched in 2006. And that’s just what Ghana has done. During the past 25 years, Ghana’s increased government investments in agriculture have led to some amazing results. Ghana commits nearly 10 percent of its budget to improving agriculture, putting it among the top investors in the sector in Africa. It’s experienced steady growth in agricultural productivity, almost 5 percent a year since 1985, making it one of the world’s top performers in agricultural growth. A dramatic increase in cocoa production has helped to increase exports. And child malnutrition in Ghana has almost been cut in half since the end of the 1980s. There is still work to be done in Ghana—only half of the land suitable for agriculture is currently under cultivation, and there are still complaints from farmers that the market for some crops is underdeveloped. But there is no disputing the fact that Ghana is on the right path: Just two decades ago, Ghana was a country that struggled to feed its own people; now it has ambitions to become the breadbasket for West Africa. |
The Ghana hunger project
In Ghana, one of West Africa’s most developed nations, less than half of all women have received secondary education and almost a third of the population is living on less than $1.25 a day.*
The capital city of Ghana, Accra, is one of the wealthiest and most modern cities on the continent, and is currently experiencing a period of rapid growth and urbanization. Although the country’s GDP continues to rise with oil production, gold mining and other industries, the majority of this wealth is not distributed among the population due to high corruption. As a result, most of Ghana’s poor live in rural areas without basic services such as health care and clean water. Small-scale farmers, who are affected most by rural poverty in Ghana, depend on outdated farming tools and lack access to improved seeds and fertilizers to increase crop yields.
Formerly a British colony, in 1957, Ghana (bordered by the Côte D’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Togo) became the first colonial country in Sub-Saharan Africa to gain its independence. After a period of turbulence, with several military coups, a stable democracy was established in the 1990’s and remains to this day.
Our Work in Ghana
In Africa, The Hunger Project works to build sustainable community-based programs using the Epicenter Strategy. An epicenter is a dynamic center of community mobilization and action, as well as an actual facility built by community members. Through the Epicenter Strategy, 15,000-25,000 people are brought together as a cluster of rural villages, giving villages more clout with local government than a single village is likely to have while also increasing a community’s ability to collectively utilize resources. The epicenter building serves as a focal point where the motivation, energies and leadership of the people converge with the resources of local government and non-governmental organizations. Over an eight-year period, an epicenter addresses hunger and poverty and moves along a path toward sustainable self-reliance, at which point it is able to fund its own activities and no longer requires financial investment from The Hunger Project.
There are 49 epicenter communities in Ghana, reaching approximately 545 villages and 338,061 people. The Hunger Project has been working in Ghana since 1995 and is empowering community partners to end their own hunger and poverty. Through its integrated approach to rural development, the Epicenter Strategy, The Hunger Project is working with partners to successfully access the basic services needed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and lead lives of self-reliance.
The capital city of Ghana, Accra, is one of the wealthiest and most modern cities on the continent, and is currently experiencing a period of rapid growth and urbanization. Although the country’s GDP continues to rise with oil production, gold mining and other industries, the majority of this wealth is not distributed among the population due to high corruption. As a result, most of Ghana’s poor live in rural areas without basic services such as health care and clean water. Small-scale farmers, who are affected most by rural poverty in Ghana, depend on outdated farming tools and lack access to improved seeds and fertilizers to increase crop yields.
Formerly a British colony, in 1957, Ghana (bordered by the Côte D’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Togo) became the first colonial country in Sub-Saharan Africa to gain its independence. After a period of turbulence, with several military coups, a stable democracy was established in the 1990’s and remains to this day.
Our Work in Ghana
In Africa, The Hunger Project works to build sustainable community-based programs using the Epicenter Strategy. An epicenter is a dynamic center of community mobilization and action, as well as an actual facility built by community members. Through the Epicenter Strategy, 15,000-25,000 people are brought together as a cluster of rural villages, giving villages more clout with local government than a single village is likely to have while also increasing a community’s ability to collectively utilize resources. The epicenter building serves as a focal point where the motivation, energies and leadership of the people converge with the resources of local government and non-governmental organizations. Over an eight-year period, an epicenter addresses hunger and poverty and moves along a path toward sustainable self-reliance, at which point it is able to fund its own activities and no longer requires financial investment from The Hunger Project.
There are 49 epicenter communities in Ghana, reaching approximately 545 villages and 338,061 people. The Hunger Project has been working in Ghana since 1995 and is empowering community partners to end their own hunger and poverty. Through its integrated approach to rural development, the Epicenter Strategy, The Hunger Project is working with partners to successfully access the basic services needed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and lead lives of self-reliance.
The story of a ghanaian family facing this problem
Homes and Homelessness
Article oneIt is widely held that about 70 per cent of Ghana’s urban residents live in slums, with all the characteristic conditions of poverty and overcrowding that are now all too familiar. This report identifies and discusses the functions and contributions of international and home grown non-governmental organizations that are assisting homeless people in Ghana. Among the categories of street youths, young girls, and men identified as stricken by homelessness,
women-in-families are considered to be the worst victimized, given that they must continue to perform their additional sexual and reproductive roles as mothers, wife, and child bearing even without adequate and secure shelter. Perhaps the Ghana Federation of the Urban Poor (GHAFUP) is one of the widest known local alliances that sprung from an eviction crisis in the Old Fadama otherwise known as “Sodom and Gomorrah:” Fadama is located in the heart of the capital city of Accra, and it accommodates roughly 30, 000 people—most of whom are migrant workers. GHAFUP provides banking and savings facilities for poorer community members in the informal settlements of Accra, Kumasi, Ashaiman, and Takoradi. Through these efforts GHAFUP is demonstrating community sensitive solutions to urban poverty in Ghana. Another local NGO, Peoples Dialogue on Human Settlements in Ghana (PDG) was set up to provide professional and technical support to poor urban communities, with an eye to improving the quality of live for the slum dwellers, and to directly involve them as equal partners in decisions covering development of urban infrastructures and services. Both the GHAFUP and PDG work very closely with one another to ensure that there is a permanent shift in policy—toward partnership with government and non-governmental organizations. In fact, today, PDG and GHAFUP are members of national implementation task force charged with the planned relocation of residents of Old Fadama to Adjin Kotoku New Town Development Project. They are also collaborating with the foreign based Shack/Slum Dwellers International (SDI) toward the implementation of relocation settlements located on the banks of Odaw River in the upper reaches of the Korle lagoon. Specific projects in this instance include mobilizing the people in the settlements and preparing them for relocation; facilitating engagements and acting as the community interface between the government and dwellers; supporting the establishment of infrastructures in the re-settlement areas; collecting socio-economic and physical base data to show the profile and occupation of the community residents; and dialoguing with local government authorities with an eye on preventing future forced evictions. RESPECT Ghana is another significant community based organization, which focuses attention on minimizing the plight of refugees in Ghanaian communities. Primary in RESPECT Ghana’s agenda of activities is finding the ways and means of housing refugees following international or domestic violence. The organization is also involved in ensuring that homeless Ghana residents are redeemed and made self-reliant through job placement or self employment; along these lines its members are working tirelessly with several international organizations such as American Refugee Committee, HardtHaven Foundation, and the United Nations Humanitarian Relief |
article twoThis article discusses everyday experiences of transient homelessness in Ghana’s capital, Accra. Episodic interviews with individuals living in squatter settlements in the wealthy East Legon suburb explored: (1) rootsof homelessness; (2) everyday experiences and coping strategies; (3) relationship between experiences and (mental) health; (4) needs and interventions. Three intersecting forms of insecurity framed participants’everyday experience: financial, legal and psychosocial. Physical and psychological stresses were common; physical illnesses rare. Coping strategies facilitated adaptation but not transformation of everyday circumstances. We explore possibilities for intervention and discuss relevance of this study to the health psychology and African literatures on homelessness.
The link to the full article can be found in the sources. |
Hearts and hands organization
Mission
To Provide Dignified Shelter Facilities to the Homeless and most vulnerable within the affected Urban Cities of the Republic of Ghana.
To Provide Dignified Shelter Facilities to the Homeless and most vulnerable within the affected Urban Cities of the Republic of Ghana.
Connections to catholic social teachings
As evident in all the information provided in this page, Ghana is in a tough spot. They are lacking in the resources to provide food and shelter for themselves. What is also present in this page, and is also a bit more uplifting, is all the work being done to help the citizens of Ghana. The Catholic Social Teachings emphasize that were are all equal and made in the image of God, and so we all deserve the same quality of life. It also calls us to help one another and think of others first above ourselves, and so it is imperative that we get more and more organizations and people working towards helping Ghana so that they can live with the same quality of life as more well off countries.
Sources
"6 Eradicate Extreme Hunger and Poverty." Millennium Development Goal 1.
N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.gh.undp.org/content/ghana/en/home/mdgoverview/over
view/mdg1/>.
"Ghana's Incredible Path out of Hunger and Poverty." Impatient Optimists.
N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.impatientoptimists.org/Posts/2010/09/Ghanas-Incredible-
Path-Out-of-Hunger-and-Poverty>.
"Ghana - The Hunger Project." The Hunger Project Ghana Comments. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2014. <http://thp.org/our-work/where-we-
work/africa/ghana/>.
"Making CHANGE Happen." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2014.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL1Jp_TFW3U#t=26>.
"Http://westafricainsight.org/articles/PDF/12." West African Sight. N.p., n.d.
Web. 7 Dec. 2014.
<http%3A%2F%2Fwestafricainsight.org%2Farticles%2FPDF%2F12>.
"Homelessness and Mental Health in Ghana." Academia.edu. N.p., n.d. Web.
07 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.academia.edu/782582/Homelessness_and_Mental_Health
_in_Ghana>.
Hearts and Hands. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.heartsandhandsinternational.org/contact.php>.
"Shelter Program in Ghana." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2014.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCejJYVCh4k>.
N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.gh.undp.org/content/ghana/en/home/mdgoverview/over
view/mdg1/>.
"Ghana's Incredible Path out of Hunger and Poverty." Impatient Optimists.
N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.impatientoptimists.org/Posts/2010/09/Ghanas-Incredible-
Path-Out-of-Hunger-and-Poverty>.
"Ghana - The Hunger Project." The Hunger Project Ghana Comments. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2014. <http://thp.org/our-work/where-we-
work/africa/ghana/>.
"Making CHANGE Happen." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2014.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL1Jp_TFW3U#t=26>.
"Http://westafricainsight.org/articles/PDF/12." West African Sight. N.p., n.d.
Web. 7 Dec. 2014.
<http%3A%2F%2Fwestafricainsight.org%2Farticles%2FPDF%2F12>.
"Homelessness and Mental Health in Ghana." Academia.edu. N.p., n.d. Web.
07 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.academia.edu/782582/Homelessness_and_Mental_Health
_in_Ghana>.
Hearts and Hands. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.heartsandhandsinternational.org/contact.php>.
"Shelter Program in Ghana." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2014.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCejJYVCh4k>.