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Wrigley-Asante, C., Owusu, G., Amu, J. B. & Commodore, T. S. (2021). Crime and safety in urban public spaces: Experiences of Ghanaian women traders in the Makola market in Accra, Ghana. Geographical Journal, DOI: 10.1111/geoj.12423
Although traditional markets and women traders in West African cities have long attracted the attention of scholars, limited studies exist on women’s experiences of crime and safety issues in this economic space that they dominate. This paper contributes to the growing geographical scholarship on gender and crime from the Ghanaian perspective as a result of the increasing urbanisation process that has raised concerns about crime and safety among urban dwellers. Using in-depth interviews, the paper explores the experiences of three categories of Ghanaian women traders in a traditional urban market, Makola, in Accra, Ghana’s capital city. Theft cases appeared to be the most common criminal activity that women traders experience and this results in significant economic, social, psychological and emotional effects on the lives of the women, with the most vulnerable being those who do not have enough resources to secure their source of livelihoods. We recommend that city authorities, the police and other stakeholders should support the efforts of these women traders through gender-sensitive and equitable approaches to improve security in market spaces as market trade contributes significantly to city and national socio-economic development.
Bagson, E., Owusu, A., Owusu, G., Wrigley-Asante, C. & Oteng-Ababio, M. (2021). Profile of Victims of neighbourhood crimes in Ghanaian cities. Ghana Journal of Geography, Vol. 13 (2), 1-30. https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/gjg.v13i2.1
Generally, urban crime research in Ghana is non-ambiguous on the socio-cultural, political economy and environmental ramifications of neighbourhood crimes in emerging cities, but the personal and neighbourhood level characteristics of the most likely victims of neighbourhood crime in Ghanaian cities remain meagre. This paper fills the gap in knowledge by answering the question ‘who/where is the most likely victim of crime in urban Ghana?’ This study employed a sequential mixed methods approach to collect data through the administration of a household survey, as well as focus group discussion (FGD) sessions. The survey data were analysed using binary logistic regression while the qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis. The study found that socio-demographic characteristics, which are associated with a higher likelihood of victimisation, include young unemployed persons, residents of a detached or ‘self-contained’ apartment, household of increasing household size, residents of neighbourhoods with less police visibility and residents of unsafe neighbourhoods. Cognisance of the limited capacity of the Ghana Police Service, this study recommends the need for the Ghana Police Service to consider neighbourhood demographic characteristics in their efforts to enhance distributive justice in the provision of internal security.
Salifu, A. R. Z., Lawson, E. L. & Wrigley-Asante, C. (2021). Responses to water scarcity considering social determinants: Groundnut farmers in the Lawra and Nandom districts, Ghana. In: Ribbe, L., Haarstrick. A., Babel, M., Dehnavi, S., & Biesalski, H.K. (eds), Towards water secure societies: coping with water scarcity and quality challenges. 78-3-030-50653-7 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50653-7 pp. 109-123.
This study investigated land tenure potential to influence farmers’ adaptive responses to climate change. A quantitative approach was employed to determine how crop farmers’ farmland tenure arrangements influence their adaptive responses to climate change impacts in the Lawra District of semi-arid north western Ghana. Field data were gathered from 248 farming households between January and May, 2017 through a multi-stage sampling procedure. About 55.2%, 45.6%, 44.4%, 80.6% and 64.5% of the farmers adopted early maturing crop varieties, zai farming techniques, agroforestry, crop rotation and adjustment in planting dates respectively as adaptive choices to the impacts of climate change. Binary logistic regression models showed that farmland size, years of land occupancy or usage, method of land acquisition and perceived level of farmland tenure security significantly (p ≤ 0.05) influenced farmers adaptive responses. We recommend that, government and non-governmental organizations should always consider farmers land tenure arrangements particularly regarding how they access or acquire their farmlands, the size of their farmlands and how they perceive the tenure security of those lands in the design and implementation of adaptation policies and programmes targeted at farmers so as to enhance sustainable adaptation.