Challenging the risks-based model of involuntary resettlement using evidence from the Bui Dam, Ghana

Abstract

The Impoverishment, Risks and Reconstruction (IRR) model is arguably the most significant conceptualization of involuntary resettlement to date, strengthening the praxis of the major international financial institutions. Even so, resettlement remains synonymous with impoverishment. While commonly attributed to the failure of governments to properly implement resettlement plans, this article finds that the assumptions embedded in the IRR model are contributory. Based on interviews and focus groups at the Bui Dam resettlement in 2016, the model is useful for identifying material losses, but fails to illuminate more complex social fragmentation, extra-local dynamics and relationships of power.

Keywords:

• Involuntary resettlement
• Impoverishment Risks and Reconstruction model
• Chinese-funded dam
• Bui Dam
• Ghana

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge helpful comments from colleagues at La Trobe University – Nicholas Herriman, Helen Lee, Niko Besnier, Nicholas Smith – and three anonymous reviewers. Most importantly, thank you to the resettled villagers of Bui, Dokokyina and Akanyakrom for the time they committed to our discussions.