Some lessons from OU MSc Development Management - Places Visited (Ghana)

Ghana visit - spring/summer 2000

Ghana - visited Apr-Aug 2000  Vivid recollections of hip-life music, muslim drivers + ablutions, colourful batik makers; but polio, beaches w/open sewage, animal cruelty: tiny crocodile on show in an oil can, and kids without schools to go to.

Economy/History: First half of the colonial period 1867-1902 significant conflict between Ashanti and colonists, which previously had included Swedes, Dutch, Germans, Danish, Portuguese and British.  From then till independence in 1957 was initially a traditional export-oriented colonial economy (gold, ores, timber, ivory and later significantly cocoa), with legislative councils in the cities (Accra, Cape Coast, Sekondi), and tribal chiefs with absolute power backed by the colonists in the regions.  Post-independence, the economy suffered at the whims of the markets, experiencing no per-capita growth between 1960 and 2000.  Recent industrialisation, oil finds, automotive and digital manufacturing have pulled the country forward, with consistent rapid growth since 2000.

Social: Since 2003, pay-before-care 'cash and carry' healthcare was replaced by basic universal health coverage, provided by a tax-funded national health insurance scheme.  Since the 1980s, education up to age 14 has been free (though school meals and uniform paid for).  2012 election manifestos sought to provide free education including ancilliary costs up to age 18.

ODA: Broadly ineffective 1960-2000, despite $21bn aid (1960-2000) and $15bn aid (2000-2010), and a current debt of $11bn.  Growth was significantly hindered by the structural adjustment conditions on loans from 1988-, leading to unemployment and health sector cutbacks.  NGOs were enacting projects in many areas: WASH, HIV, education projects, environment, transport, agriculture, public sector reform.  Unclear what influence these had on the country.