An international consortium, with ISSER as a Ghana-based Principal Investigator, partnered with staff from the University of Bonn and a US-based NGO, Eparque Urban Strategies, LLC, to undertake this project aimed at equipping smaller cities (Agona Swedru and Cape Coast) to boost their economies and help reinvigorate employment and related improved socio-economic status for residents. In this project, both cities chose areas of interest to them. Cape Coast chose tourism while Agona Swedru and its environs chose agro-processing.

In Ghana, more than 5,000 people are killed by tobacco-caused diseases every year (Tobacco Atlas, 2018). Currently, the country’s tax administration approach is unitary with a uniform ad valorem tax structure on all excisable products including tobacco.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) form the backbone of Ghana’s economy: constituting 70% of GDP and 92% of all businesses. This notwithstanding, SMEs in Ghana face various constraints (including limited access to credit facilities and international markets). A major challenge in a dynamic and interconnected economy is SME’s inadequate access to appropriate information communication technology which, moreover, is a key ingredient for tapping into global markets for business transactions.

The COVID-19 pandemic is estimated to increase global extreme poverty to about 150 million people by 2021. While it is difficult to state the full socio-economic impact of the pandemic, it is envisaged to have adverse effects on vulnerable groups and participants within informal sectors of many economies, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. The United Nations report that the achievement of several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is being threatened by poverty, inequality, and exclusion; as a result, the most vulnerable are being further marginalized.

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) is currently collaborating with SNV Netherlands Development Organization under the umbrella of its Voice for Change Partnership (V4CP) in Kenya, Rwanda, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Honduras, and Indonesia. Within this research program, V4CP intended implementing a research project to better understand the nature and consequences of food losses in 12 districts spread across the 3 northern regions – Upper West, Northern and Upper East.