Civil Society as Idea and Civil Society as Process:The Case of Ghana In contemporary African political studies, the concept of civil society appears everywhere. From about 1990, debates surrounding African ‘democratization’ have often been stamped by a hegemonic idea of civil society. In its original conceptualization in political philosophy, civil society was not a thing to be studied but a theoretical construct used to understand observed phenomena. With its recent revival, civil society has become more the object of research and less an analytical category. The need to add new elements to existing theories or devise an entire new theory to understand political changes in Africa was a driving force in raising the concept of civil society and the possibility of a civil society theory to its current heights. This need brought with it the desire to realize civil society’s potential as both a conceptual tool and as a key to constructive change on the ground in Africa (see Harbeson 1994).

Ghana NGO Alternative Report For Beijing + 10 Since 1995 when the Beijing Platform for Action and declaration, member states of the United Nations (UN) and various civil society groups have taken measures and actions towards implementation of the critical areas of concern. Reviews in 2000 and 2005 of efforts made point to appreciable progress in some areas whilst other critical areas require more work. Ghana’s report draws on a previous alternate report presented at Beijing + 5; experiences by several actors within civil society the government’s draft review report for Beijing + 10 as well as the Women’s Manifesto for Ghana and a report of a consultative meeting on the Status of Women in Ghana Report. This report touches on areas of appreciable and/or least progress, the challenges encountered in the implementation of Beijing PFA and recommendations for better performance. Additionally this report provides a holistic background of the situation of women in Ghana.The report focused on the seven (7) critical areas of concerns identified by Ghana which are: - Poverty and Economic Structures - Education and the Girl-Child - Health and Environment - Power Sharing and decision making - Violence, Peace and Human Rights - Institutional Mechanisms for the Advancement of Women.

Human Rights and the Environment Report submitted by Earth Justice  to the UN Commission on Human Rights;  lists a wide range of international, regional and national that relate to human rights and environment.  The preamble to the report states:  "At the beginning of this third millennium, there should be no doubt that human activities can cause serious environmental problems, or that those problems, in turn, often result in grave harm to human beings. Put positively, a clean and healthy environment is essential to the realization of fundamental human rights."

International Human Rights, State Action, and Women’s Equality: A Case Study Absract: Although women in Ghana cultivate forty percent of all land, they are far less likely than men to exercise control over their land as independent farmers or farm managers.Often they do not control the proceeds from the land and lack the ability to dispose of it through sale or inheritance.On average, women farmers cultivate plots that are about half the size of those cultivated by men.The literacy rate for women in Ghana is 38.5%;for men it is 60.8%.Girls receive less education than boys at every level: in1994, girls comprised forty-seven percent of primary school students, thirty-five percent of senior secondary school students,and twenty-three percent of university students.Over one third of married women in Ghana are in formally polygynous marriages,though polyandry is nonexistent. Marital rape is not a crime in Ghana.Only one shelter exists for battered women in the entire country.All of this, on a general level, is evidence of Ghana’s failure to meet its obligations under international human rights law. Ghana has signed and ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights,the Convention on the Elimination of All Formsof Discrimination Against Women and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights.

People-Centre Approaches - A brief literature review and comparison of types Abstract:This report aims to give a concise overview of some people-centred approaches to rural development that are being used, or have been used, in different areas of the world. The approaches covered here are the sustainable livelihoods approach, as is being developed by DfID; the gestion de terroirs approach; the farming systems approach; and some approaches that have been emerging from Latin America, and in particular ordenamiento territorial.