The Current State of Communication Education in Ghana: A Critical Analysis of Stories from the Field

Narratives offer academic communities a moment of reflexivity. However, stories told by members in academic communities are under-studied. Drawing on Wenger’s idea of community of practice, the present study examined the narratives of 12 senior communication educators in three public universities in Ghana, and how the narratives shape the knowledge economy. Using field notes, technical documents, and structured interviews, the study revealed that community practice in the field of communication education in Ghanaian public universities is constrained by a not so vibrant community that faces challenges in localising a Western curriculum, and is yet to coordinate its local language research agenda.

Does Identification Matter? How Felt-Connectedness among University Students in Kenya and the USA Influences Health Seeking Behaviours

Guided by social identity theory (SIT), this study considers how identification influences health seeking behaviours among college students in Kenya and the USA. The study sought to investigate how felt-connectedness among students influenced the health choices they made and the relevance of identification to health. Data were collected using responsive interviews with 22 students in a large Kenyan university and 21 students at a Midwestern university. The age of the participants from both countries ranged from 20 to 29 years. Data were coded and analysed using thematic analysis. The findings of the study indicate that identification influenced students’ health seeking behaviours, especially on use of contraceptives, vaccination, choosing a physician, offering advice, eating habits, and in ensuring safety for friends at risk. This study point to the need of health communicators to utilize identification in health interventions targeting college students.

Strengthening Communication and Information Capacities in Malawi: Case of the Malawi National Commission for UNESCO

UNESCO is the only United Nations (UN) agency to have a global network of national cooperating bodies known as National Commissions. The National Commissions are part of the overall constitutional architecture of the organization as it was conceived by its founders. Presently, National Commissions operate in all Member States of UNESCO. They constitute a truly global family which includes a vast network of stakeholders, partners and experts. They offer a comparative advantage to the organisation within the United Nations system. Article VII (1) of the UNESCO Constitution stipulates that “Each Member State shall make such arrangements as suit its particular conditions for the purpose of associating its principal bodies interested in educational, scientific and cultural matters with the work of the organisation, preferably by the formation of a National Commission broadly representative of the government and such bodies” (UNESCO 2020:15). Thus, it is the constitutional obligation of each Member State to set up a National cooperating body (National Commission) or make such institutional arrangements whose principal objective is facilitating involvement of various government Ministries, Organisations and Agencies (MOAs), institutions, universities, NGOs and individuals in the work of the Organisation. While the realisation of UNESCO’s goals is primarily entrusted in governments, the National Commissions are expected to function as an indispensable platform where national interests, ideas and cultures are represented and interact. This review describes the contribution of the Malawi National Commission for UNESCO to strengthening communication and information capacities in Malawi to fill a perceived gap in information among some stakeholders both within and outside Malawi.

Challenges associated with the delivery of development projects within the decentralised government system: views of selected stakeholders in the Shama District, Ghana

Decentralisation policy is important in ensuring effective delivery of development services at the local level. Governments across the globe utilize decentralised government system as a way of promoting people-centered development. Notwithstanding the value of decentralisation policy, governments struggle with the provision of development services at the local level. This suggests that more efforts need to be made to ensure the realisation of the dividends of decentralisation. However, this cannot be made without an awareness of the challenges local actors face in the delivery of development services. This paper examines the views of stakeholders on the challenges associated with the delivery of development projects within the Ghanaian decentralised government system using the Shama District as a case in order to proffer some measures to improve the situation in the country using the sequential-explanatory mixed method design. Data were collected using interview guide and interview schedule. The study revealed that stakeholder management, involvement of project managers, defining project goals, assigning roles and responsibilities to key officers, and monitoring and evaluation of projects were some of the measures the Assembly had put in place for the delivery of development projects in the district. However, communication was a serious challenge throughout the delivery of development projects in the district. The implications of the key findings for development communication have been highlighted in the study. As part of the recommendations of the study, the Assembly should put in place adequate measures to improve communication throughout the various stages of development service delivery in the district.

Implications of the understanding of Entrepreneurship in Local Economic Development in Malawi

The study analyses knowledge about entrepreneurship which guides entrepreneurial behaviour in enterprises in Malawi in order to reflect on its implications in local economic development. Top-of the-mind definition which collects unaided responses from the top of respondents’ mind was used. Definitions or explanations of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial activities undertaken were recorded from 337 enterprises. Innovations carried out by the enterprises were measured in new products, new production methods, new markets and new enterprises together with the values realised. Content analyses, descriptive statistics and comparison of means were used to classify the definitions of entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial activities undertaken and compare values of innovations carried out. The study finds that entrepreneurship is predominantly defined as starting and managing one’s own business, being self-employed and creating jobs in the economy. Petty income generating activities and subsistence oriented micro and small enterprises dominate. The prevailing understanding of entrepreneurship guides policy, education and training, SME finance, infrastructure development and support towards unproductive entrepreneurial activities which would not ignite economic development. Therefore, much as institutions are established to support SME sector growth and improve the environment for business, improving knowledge about productive entrepreneurship that guides SME policy, finance, entrepreneurship education and training is pertinent in Malawi.

Food Security Communication: An Investigation into the Influence of Radio Programmes on Irish Potato Farming in Nakuru County, Kenya

The Government of Kenya recognizes Irish potato as one of the food security and nutrition crops together with maize and rice (GoK, 2017). This study sought to investigate the influence of radio programmes in promoting Irish potato farming as a contributor to food security in Nakuru County. The study looked at the period between 2012 and 2015 when most radio stations started programmes on agriculture. Purposive sampling method was used to identify four sub-counties in Nakuru County namely: Kuresoi South, Kuresoi North, Molo and Naivasha. A census of forty-eight farmers registered with the National Potato Council of Kenya between 2012 and 2015 were interviewed. Eleven agricultural extension officers from the sampled sub-counties were interviewed as key informants. The study established that Irish potato farmers listened and applied skills acquired from agricultural radio programmes to improve their farming leading to food security in Nakuru County. Information inaccuracy was revealed as one of the challenges during the study. Radio should, therefore, provide accurate information on specific varieties for specific regions so that Irish potato farming flourishes and nourishes Nakuru people.

Herbicide toxicity awareness among smallholder farmers and agriculture extension officers in Malawi

Using evidence from field key informant and written questionnaire interviews with agriculture extension officers, focus group discussions with some smallholder farmers, analysis of packaging labels, and a detailed literature review, this paper argues that Malawian smallholder farmers handle herbicides without adequate information about the advantages and negative impacts of such herbicides because, it appears, the agriculture extension workers themselves lack requisite knowledge on herbicide toxicity. Further, the study finds that herbicides are marketed in Malawi in breach of Malawian law and in contravention of the Rotterdam Convention as the information on the herbicide labels is sometimes inadequate, misleading, and unavailable in local languages. This exposes farmers to potentially carcinogenic chemicals without their knowledge. The paper recommends, inter alia, that an awareness campaign about the long term harmful effects of herbicides be mounted countrywide and internationally to protect illiterate smallholder farmers from herbicide toxicity.

Relevance of Cocoa Life Project Interventions to Community Development in Rural Ghana: Exploring the Views of Beneficiaries in Wassa East District

This study investigated the relevance of Cocoa Life Project interventions implemented by World Vision Ghana to the development of beneficiary communities using the Wassa East District as a case. The views of members who were mostly farmers, gari processors, soap makers, and members of village savings and loans associations from beneficiary communities were considered in a sequential-dependence mixed method research approach. A total of 406 respondents were selected using stratified, simple random and convenience sampling methods, with 84.2 percent response rate for the quantitative data. Research instruments were interview schedule and focus group discussion guide. Means and standard deviation were used for quantitative analysis whilst thematic analysis was done for the qualitative data. The study observed that WVG’s project interventions were highly relevant to education, business development, financial literacy, microcredit facilities, agriculture, and livelihood diversification within beneficiary communities. Also, awareness creation was one of the main communication tools WVG relied upon in promoting community development in the district. Though the interventions led to behaviour change, there were concerns with the overall change in behaviour within the communities. Besides, beneficiary communities had diverse development needs which could only be understood through appropriate and well-planned development communication strategies and approaches. As part of the recommendations, WVG should collaborate with Mondelez International and local authorities to come out with measures to improve upon job creation, behaviour change at the community level, health care services, and water and sanitation in Cocoa Life communities.

Media and Governance: Promoting Local Governance through Community Radio in Northern Ghana

The study provides insights on how Royals FM and Radio Progress have, through innovative and strategic programming, become community mobilisers for tackling issues of communication and accountability in their local assemblies. The study employed a qualitative research approach. Interviews and focus group discussion were used to collect data from two purposively selected Community Radio Stations (CR), and from some community members and other stakeholders in local governance. A key finding of the study was information access difficulties to assist CR conduct investigations on suspected cases of corruption. Another was the public’s partisanship perceptions of CR watchdog functions in exposing corruption, which disincentivised both stations from investigating corruption related issues at the District Assemblies (DA). The study concludes that the little evidence of corruption revelations at the assemblies by the stations despite reports of corruption being a bane to local development efforts, suggests that CR need to overcome all obstacles to enable them effectively perform their community broadcasting mandate as expected. The study recommends a speedy operationalisation of the Right to Information Law of the country. There is the need for the Ghana Community Radio Network to organize periodic training programmes for its members and owners of CR to enable them to strictly adhere to their non-partisan ethos so as to enable them gain public trust in their role as non-partisan arbiters in Ghana’s local governance.

An Analysis of the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem of Malawi: The Global Entrepreneurship Index (GEI) Approach

The research paper provides an in-depth analysis of the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Malawi. Employing the Global Entrepreneurship Index (GEI) methodology, the findings reveal a weak entrepreneurial ecosystem with a GEI score of 12.2 out of a possible 100. The relationship between the GDP per capita and the three entrepreneurship sub-indices, thus, attitude, ability, and aspiration are very weak and fall well below global average trends. Unfortunately, despite the high total entrepreneurship activities (TEA) in Malawi, this leads to little contribution to the country's GDP per-capita – a common phenomenon in many developing countries. At the pillar level, Malawi’s performance is a mixed bag, however, with most pillars performing not only poorly but below world averages. Despite the general positive perception of entrepreneurship by citizens, the country’s weak entrepreneurial ecosystem has failed to harness the propensity to develop new products and adopt new technologies for innovation and high growth entrepreneurship. From a policy intervention perspective, Malawi needs to focus most of its efforts and investments in five areas that include start-up skills, risk acceptance, high growth, risk capital, and human capital to improve the country's GEI score by 0.02.