Geeta Sinha

Bio: Geeta Sinha is an academic researcher from University of Sussex. The author has contributed to research in topics: Government & Mainstreaming. The author has an hindex of 2, co-authored 3 publications receiving 11 citations.

Sector-wide Approaches and Mainstreaming Gender in Education in Ghana: A Study of Its Implementation and Effectiveness

Abstract: The article aims to provide a brief overview of the gender perspective in the Sector-wide Approaches (SWAp) and its ability to integrate gender equality concerns in education in Ghana. This approach has been strategically adopted by various aid agencies as an effective and efficient tool to ensure mainstreaming gender in different fields. In this article, we will try to analyse some of the ways in which mainstreaming gender has taken place through SWAp in the field of education in Ghana. It analyses the extent to which SWAp as a strategy has been able to mainstream gender in education in Ghana.

Women and Food Insecurity in India: A Study on Democratic Institutional Responses and Interventions for Food Security

Abstract: This paper is trying to examine the democratic institutional responses to the problem of women and food insecurity as both are embedded together in Indian society. The paper tries to locate the responses and interventions in the issue of women and food insecurity from the different democratic institutions of India i.e. the government, judiciary, media and political parties. Although food insecurity affects people across the board but we are focusing only on women, as they are more vulnerable to it.

Rise of Hindutva Politics, Demonetisation, and Its Impact on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in India

Abstract: In India, different political regimes have introduced varied policies for the economic and social development of the nation. Within the context of industrial sector development, MSMEs contribute and play a pivotal role in the growth of Indian economy. These enterprises nurture local entrepreneurship and generate large employment opportunities that are comparatively less capital intensive and stands next to agriculture. This paper examines the relationship between the rise of Hindutva politics and MSMEs in India and argues that the rise of Hindutva politics and its demonetisation policies have adversely impacted the MSME sector. The demonetisation policies proved to be fatal and laden with complexities for the MSME sector to cope that mostly overlaps with the informal sector. The paper explores the impacts of demonetisation on MSMEs that proved detrimental and unfavourably affected the lives of the people, hence, rendering to its decline in the country.

A Field of One's Own: Gender and Land Rights in South Asia.

Abstract: Preface l. Land rights for women: making the case 2. Conceptualizing gender relations 3. Customary rights and associated practices 4. Erosion and disinheritance: traditionally matrilineal and bilateral communities today 5. Contemporary law: contestation and content 6. Whose share? Who claims? The gap between law and practice 7. Whose land? Who commands? The gap between ownership and control 8. Tracing cross-regional diversities 9. Struggles over resources, struggles over meanings l0. The long march ahead.

Are Women in Rural India Really Consuming a Less Diverse Diet

Abstract: Background:It is widely considered that women have less diverse diets than other household members. However, it has been challenging to establish this empirically since women’s diet diversity is me...

Beyond Elections: Ghana's Democracy from the Perspective of the Citizenry

Abstract: Beyond Elections: Ghana’s Democracy from the Perspective of the Citizenry by Ransford Osafo-Danso MPA, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, 2009 BA, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology, 2006 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Public Policy & Administration Walden University May 2015 Abstract Ghana’s democracy has been hailed by scholars, practitioners, and the international community in recent years as a shining example in the West African subregion as a result of the country’s record of organizing successive elections with minimal or no violence. However, the evaluation of Ghana’s democracy has predominantly focused on the elections and disproportionately captures the views of the political elite; conspicuously missing is the perspective of the ordinary Ghanaian. This presents an incomplete picture of Ghana’s democracy, given the relevance of citizens’ participation in democratic societies. To address this gap in knowledge, this qualitative case study explored the practice of democracy in Ghana under the fourth republic from the perspective of the citizenry. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews with purposefully sampled ordinary Ghanaian citizens (n = 15), observation, and documents review. The data were then subjected to thematic and content analysis to reveal themes, categories, and patterns. The results revealed that the participating Ghanaians had dichotomous views, opinions, and experiences of democracy. Their experiences and opinions of the electoral system were generally positive, while their experiences and opinions of governance in the intervening years were generally negative. The study’s results should inspire a paradigm shift in the responsiveness of government to citizens and how the government engages with citizens on policy formulation and implementation. This study’s results can encourage positive social change with respect to the manner in which democratic performance is evaluated in Ghana by scholars, practitioners, and the international community.Ghana’s democracy has been hailed by scholars, practitioners, and the international community in recent years as a shining example in the West African subregion as a result of the country’s record of organizing successive elections with minimal or no violence. However, the evaluation of Ghana’s democracy has predominantly focused on the elections and disproportionately captures the views of the political elite; conspicuously missing is the perspective of the ordinary Ghanaian. This presents an incomplete picture of Ghana’s democracy, given the relevance of citizens’ participation in democratic societies. To address this gap in knowledge, this qualitative case study explored the practice of democracy in Ghana under the fourth republic from the perspective of the citizenry. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews with purposefully sampled ordinary Ghanaian citizens (n = 15), observation, and documents review. The data were then subjected to thematic and content analysis to reveal themes, categories, and patterns. The results revealed that the participating Ghanaians had dichotomous views, opinions, and experiences of democracy. Their experiences and opinions of the electoral system were generally positive, while their experiences and opinions of governance in the intervening years were generally negative. The study’s results should inspire a paradigm shift in the responsiveness of government to citizens and how the government engages with citizens on policy formulation and implementation. This study’s results can encourage positive social change with respect to the manner in which democratic performance is evaluated in Ghana by scholars, practitioners, and the international community. Beyond Elections: Ghana’s Democracy from the Perspective of the Citizenry by Ransford Osafo-Danso MPA, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, 2009 BA, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology, 2006 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Public Policy & Administration Walden University May 2015 Dedication To the real hero of my education journey, Mrs. Christiana Danso (my mother), for your selflessness and support. I could never have arrived here without the foundation you laid; this dissertation is dedicated to you. To my extended family for unconditional love and support. To my friends for the many times I bothered you with my frustrations. To Mrs. Rosemary Oppong and family. To my siblings, Mrs. Eunice Obeng, Mr. Kwame Nyarko, Mr. Tenkorang Danso, Mr. Dealius Daniel Danso (Shia ts3), and Mr. Owusu Agyeman Danso (Poki). To my beautiful wife Awurama and daughters Nana Adwoa and Maame Nhyira. Acknowledgments I am grateful to the Almighty God for the grace that saw me through this process. I am forever indebted to Dr. Lori Demeter, my committee chair, for her guidance and selflessness throughout the dissertation process. I am deeply convinced that without her expertise and knowledge this experience would have been difficult, if not impossible. I am grateful for her diligence, dedication, and mentoring throughout the dissertation phase of my doctoral journey. May God bless you abundantly. My profound gratitude goes to Dr. Gloria Billingsley for placing her expertise at my disposal by serving on the committee. Thank you for the timely and insightful feedbacks. May God bless you and yours. I am equally indebted to the participants of this study for availing themselves and sharing their experiences and opinions on Ghana’s democracy with me. Thank you Dr. Christopher Opoku-Agyemang for your advice during this process, I appreciate it. I owe a debt of gratitude to Ms. Akosua Anim Kusi-Amankwah for being part of the foundation that even made this dream possible. I do not forget easily, and I hope a mere mention of your name here will immortalize your contribution to my life. From the bottom of heart, thank you. To my parents, I say ayekoo. You believed in me before any other person did. Mrs. Christian Antwiwaa Danso and Nana Danso Abiam, I am grateful for the love and support. To my better half Awurama and my beautiful daughters, Nana Adwoa and Maame Nhyira, you guys were my inspiration when it got tough. I did this for you guys. To my siblings and their families, I can never repay you for the investments you have made in my life. I couldn’t ask for a better band of brothers to look up to. God bless you.

Coping Behaviours and the concept of Time Poverty: a review of perceived social and health outcomes of food insecurity on women and children

Abstract: Mounting concerns over food insecurity have emerged as a key agenda in many recent global development dialogues, on accounts of observed and expected health outcomes. The present study attempts a reflective summary around a yet little-explored aspect of food insecurity: health and social ramifications of coping behaviours (adaptive strategies to improve food availability, accessibility, utilisation, and stability), with specific emphasis on women and children. We conducted a systematic literature with different search engines and databases to identify a diversity of recent journal articles, reports, working papers, white papers, proceedings, dissertations, newspaper articles, book chapters, and grey literature, published in the post-2000s period. We thus identified two broad generic categories in the relevant global literature: coping behaviours that are (a) non-food (livelihood alterations) and (2) food-based. For women, the former includes outdoor employment, selling asset bases, borrowing food and/or money, and purchasing food on credit. Food-based coping strategies included reduced daily meal portion sizes and reducing the frequency of food uptake or skipping meals altogether (i.e., Food Rationing); nutritional switch (i.e., Food Stretching); and Food Sharing. Coping behaviours involving children primarily include dropping out of school, begging, stealing, and Food Seeking (i.e., eating outside home, with relatives or friends, or at charitable institutions). The likely health outcomes included stunting and wasting, disrupted socio-cognitive development among children. A subsidiary idea to conduct this study was to offer the concerned authorities an insight into the breadth of coping behaviours, so as to help them anticipate targeted and gender-responsive interventions on a priori basis. We offer a discourse on what we refer to as time poverty, especially for farm women, resulting from obligatory outdoor employment, mostly as farm labourers to highlight a social paradox: women provide massive contributions in the translation of high value goods and services of a vibrant global agricultural system, and yet are among the first victims of food insecurity themselves. This situation contradicts a number of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and aggravates gender disparity. In final section we appeal for more targeted, evidence-based research to establish direct causal linkages between food insecurity and coping behaviours, distinguishing them from life-as-usual scenarios. To that end, we present a brief critique on Coping Strategy Index (CSI) –a widely used tool to evaluate severity of coping behaviours.