Determining the nature and spatial-temporal changes of the livelihood asset pentagon and its relationship with livelihood opportunities in Ghana

ABSTRACT

The Sustainable Livelihood Framework (SLF) operationalizes the concept of sustainable livelihood as introduced by Chambers and Conway. The framework’s centerpiece is the asset pentagon. Whereas there is a plethora of studies that are based on the framework, a limited number of them focus on determining the nature of the asset pentagon. This is on the back of the fact that different shapes of the pentagon abound for different contexts. We constructed an asset pentagon for Ghana with the aid of the principal component analysis, using secondary data and consequently, modified the SLF for the Ghanaian context. We also examined how assets determine livelihood opportunities. The results show that Ghana has an irregular asset pentagon characterized by spatial-temporal changes. Spatially, differences exist in asset possession and that explains differential livelihood opportunities. The study contributes to understanding the nature of the asset pentagon in Ghana as well as elaborates extant literature.

KEYWORDS:

• Asset pentagon
• Ghana
• household
• spatial-temporal
• sustainable livelihood framework

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. For brevity, this procedural analysis is not included in this paper but is available on request. Authors hold the view that selected indicators are adequately justified by citing empirical studies that use similar indicators, hence the exclusion of this correlational analysis.

2. With six main livelihood strategies, we would have 15 comparisons. We have thus excluded these mean test results. This is however available on request.

3. We excluded unemployed household heads from the detailed analysis because of the focus on livelihood strategies of households. We do not consider unemployment as a livelihood strategy.

4. This is, of course, not a perfect regular pentagon since that would require that all five assets have the same value. We, therefore, use the term regular pentagon advisedly.