Seeing Inequality: Six Areas for Improvement

by Mahfuzu Issahaku Kassim 

Poverty is glaring in the developing world and Ghana is no exception. Over the past 30 years Ghana has made great strides in economic growth, with a massive 50% reduction in poverty between the 1990s and 2006. Government interventions and political stability have played a critical role in this process and improvements have been noted in key areas.

Nevertheless, economic growth and poverty reduction are not equally distributed across the nation, across gender and across economic quintiles. These inequalities have the potential to undermine progress.

1. Economic inequality

Despite the significant decline in poverty at the national level, there are wide disparities across regions and between urban and rural residents. The three Northern regions did not record improvements in poverty reduction where over 70% of the population are below the poverty line. The poverty rate in the south fell significantly from 48% to 20%, while it only declined marginally from 69% to 63% in the north. Source; (GLSS, 2006).

2. Employment inequality

Poverty is highly endemic among food crop farmers who constitute 65% of the employment sector but is minimal among the formal sector workers.  Generally the three Northern Regions are the food basket of Ghana, with 70.5% of the population engaged in agriculture. Yet these farmers are vulnerable because of low productivity, no ready market, poor road networks, inadequate access to finance and little farming knowledge. The women that we work with have often pointed out the poor road networks in their area as major obstacles to the development of their livelihoods.

Volunteers Sam & Mohammed engage Sahakpalugu community in an assessment of their income generating activities

3. Gender inequality

Evidence in Ghana points to persistent gender disparities in access to and control of factors of production and social capital assets (gender differences in participation, legal right and protections). Women in large parts of the Savannah Zone still face cultural constraints on their ownership and control over assets such as livestock; they do not have absolute control, they still need their husband to consent before they can sell their wares. Such gender-based challenges leave women dependent on the goodwill of their husbands, which is a barrier to breaking free of poverty.  Our partnership has engaged Income Generating Groups (IGGs) in a series of training and education to boost their confidence levels and assist them in registering their groups as co-operatives. This means that they will have absolute access and control over factors of production, legal rights and protection.

Volunteers and members of our communities celebrate their success in becoming registered cooperatives 

4. Educational inequality

With the intervention of the school feeding program, distribution of uniforms and shoes, teaching and learning materials, urban areas benefit the most at the detriment of the rural areas in these schemes. Pupils generally travel an average of 1-3 kilometers to schools and inadequate teaching and learning materials results in poor performance, especially in the rural schools. My interaction with the ‘Magazia’ for the Jana community reveals that inadequate classroom spaces, teaching and learning materials is a major challenge. Many primary school children in the community have to study under trees, for example.

5. Health inequality

The gap between the poor and the rich has narrowed in access to health care has certainly narrowed with the introduction of National Health Insurance, yet maternal mortality among rural women remains higher than their urban counterparts. Also, children from the poorest households are more than twice as likely to die before their fifth birthday compared to those from richer households. The 2010 Population and Housing Census results indicated rural women are more likely to die from pregnancy related diseases than their urban counterparts.  None of the six rural communities we work with have any form of health care centre in their villages.  Normally they depend on the bigger centres in Savelugu or Tamale to access health care. The women we work with in these communities have also expressed interest in learning about personal hygiene and sanitation, as they do not have thorough understandings of these issues.

6. Potable Water Provision Inequality

The PHC of 2010 reveals that 46.5% of households used pipe-borne water as their main source of drinking water while the remaining 53.5% depends on other sources which are normally unsafe for consumption. Generally, potable water provision can significantly improve the quality of life of a population: key for socio-economic development. Part of our volunteering journey in Savelugu has shown us inadequate access to potable water. Our IGGs, as well as others in our host community, have to resort to drinking unsafe water, which has an immeasurable effect on their health and reduces productivity.

 

We spent time discussing the effects of drinking unsafe water with members of the local community in Savelugu

It is, therefore, clear that there are still challenges in tackling poverty and social inequalities in Ghana, and across other developing countries. International Service partners with various institutions and organisations to empower various vulnerable groups and people - we are making small steps every day towards the eradication of these challenges! The active involvement of young people in global development means that a whole new generation of activists and agents for change is engaged and eager to change the world.

References: Inequality in Ghana: A Fundamental National Challenge, April 2014

Inequalities Country Report– Ghana, April 2014

Poverty and social Inequality in Ghana; some research Issues and Solutions Envisaged