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Ghana, home to about 24 million people, is viewed as a model for political and economic reform in Africa. It is a country rich in mineral resources and also has a high peace keeping profile. Ghana has made huge progress in since 1990. They have reduced hunger by 75 percent and are working on reducing the number of people living in poverty. [|Graphic Link]

However even after these successful strides have been made, issues remain. The main cause of poverty is how land and resources are distributed. It can be observed that there is a growing inequality between the Northern and Southern parts of the country. Northern Ghana is falling behind in economic development and the general quality of life of the people. The North has a short growing season with unreliable rainfall, poor soil, and also very few mineral deposits. Food production is low. This problem can be traced back to colonial Ghana, where the economic system was split into two parts, the modernized export system and the underdeveloped agricultural sector - not much has seemingly changed. In 1998/99 it was found that 70% of the poor and 59% of the extreme poor were found to be located in the North while only 38% of poor and 21% of the extremely poor were found in the South.

There has also been a longstanding conflict between herdsman/hunters and farmers for land. Within the Ghanaian social structure, women are found in lower positions of class heirarchies and face discrimination. For example out of 200 parliament members, only 19 are women.Women are often blamed and banished from communities to remove bad luck or epidemics.


 * http://www.crise.ox.ac.uk/pubs/workingpaper5.pdf