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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Going for gold: transitional livelihoods in Northern Ghana
Authors:Hilson, GavinISNI
Amankwah, Richard
Ofori-Sarpong, GraceISNI
Year:2013
Periodical:Journal of Modern African Studies (ISSN 0022-278X)
Volume:51
Issue:1
Pages:109-137
Language:English
Geographic term:Ghana
Subjects:gold mining
rural development
poverty reduction
livelihoods
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/43302022
Abstract:This article critically reflects on what impact a supported and formalized artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector could have in northern Ghana, where poverty is deeply rooted, the outcome of decades of government neglect. Since independence in 1957, numerous attempts have been made to improve the living standards of the populations in the country's North but deteriorated human resource bases and shortages of infrastructure have limited their effectiveness. A recent upsurge in ASM activity, however, has catapulted the region on to another - previously unimaginable - growth trajectory entirely. As findings from research carried out in the township of Kui in Bole District of the country's Northern Region illustrate, ASM has injected considerable wealth into many of Ghana's northern localities, in the process helping to stabilize their economies and alleviate the hardships of tens of thousands of farm-dependent families. The intensification of support to, and the formalization of, ASM, could prove to be an important step toward eradicating a poverty problem that has plagued this region of sub-Saharan Africa for more than a century. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]
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