The Hybridised Context of Traditional Authorities Involvement in State-Driven Educational Provision in Ghana

Abstract

This article discusses the supporting roles of Traditional Authorities (TAs) towards state-led formal education in Ghana through the Otumfuo Education Fund (OEF) from 2000 to 2012. The OEF is an educational fund initiated by the current Ashanti king, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, in the early 2000s to address falling educational standards not only within his kingdom but also other parts of Ghana in line with the state’s educational vision. As one of the foremost educational partnership by a traditional leader in support of state-driven formal education at a massive scale in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), we examine how such state-chieftaincy hybrid governance approaches can promote educational delivery. Through in-depth interviews with 15 multiple stakeholders including officials at the OEF secretariat, traditional leaders, headteachers, government officials and project consultants involved with the OEF, we investigated the effectiveness and limitations of the OEF’s partnership with state educational agencies in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. By using Helmke and Levitsky’s typology of formal-informal interactions, we find that hybrid arrangements between traditional leaders (through the OEF) and the Ghanaian state aligns to an ‘accommodating-complementary’ type of partnership. Under this, the OEF supported the state in four main areas namely providing scholarships (to brilliant but needy students), expanding and renovating educational infrastructure in deprived areas, providing educational materials and organising career development workshops for students. We conclude that greater attention should be given to partnerships between state educational agencies and TAs, particularly in deprived areas where access to education remains a challenge.

Keywords:

• Traditional Authorities
• Hybrid Governance
• Ghana
• Otumfuo Education Fund
• Educational Provision
• Chieftaincy
• Asantehene (Otumfuo Osei Tutu II)

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to the late Prof Raufu Mustapha and Dr Olly Owen for their constructive comments and supervision towards this study as part of the first author’s MPhil in Development Studies program at the Oxford Department of International Development (ODID), UK.

AUTHORS

Kwaku Abrefa Busia (corresponding author, [email protected]) is currently a HKPFS doctoral candidate at the Department of Sociology and Social Policy at Lingnan University, Hong Kong. He is an interdisciplinary scholar with research interests in Rural Development, Decentralisation and Local Governance, Chieftaincy Studies, Gender and Family Studies. He holds an MPhil in African Studies from the University of Cambridge and an MPhil in Development Studies from the University of Oxford.

Prince Osei-Wusu Adjei is a Development Geographer and Senior Lecturer at the Department of Geography and Rural Development, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. He holds a PhD in Geography and Rural Development with research interests in Poverty and Livelihood Studies, Decentralisation and Local Governance, Gender Transitions and Equality, Internal Migration and Rural Development.

Notes

1 This research article adopts the concept of hybrid governance since it does not only pertain to post-conflict African states but also relatively ‘established states’ (Oomen, 2005) where the centrality of the state exists but limited in its capacity, herein the provision of public goods and services.

2 A new government policy in September 2017 has now introduced a tuition-free senior high school system known as the Free Senior High School (SHS) program.

3 Interview, Executive Secretary of the OEF, 25 July 2016.

4 The Trust Deed of the OEF (Osei Tutu II, 2000: 9).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the St Antony’s College (Oxford) Travel and Research Fund (STAR Grant TT16); The Royal Air Maroc Travel Award 2016.