From L-R: Dr. Olivia Anku-Tsede, Prof. Akosua Kesseboa Darkwah, Dr. Mohammed-Aminu Sanda and Dr. Rashida Resario
ADVANCING CREATIVE INDUSTRIES FOR DEVELOPMENT IN GHANA
A 5-year DANIDA Funded Project
The University of Ghana (UG), in collaboration with Copenhagen Business School (CBS), Denmark, and Loughborough University (LU), United Kingdom, has received funding up to the tune of Eleven Million, Nine Hundred and Ninety Four thousand, Nine Hundred and Seventeen Danish Krone (DKK 11,994,917) (more than USD 1.8 million) from the Danish Foreign Ministry (DANIDA) to undertake a 5-year research project entitled “Advancing Creative Industries for Development in Ghana (ACIG)”. The UG team is comprised of Dr. Mohammed-Aminu Sanda of the Department of Organization and Human Resource Management, University of Ghana Business School, Prof. Akosua Kesseboa Darkwah from the Department of Sociology, Dr. Olivia Anku-Tsede, the UG Legal Counsel, and Dr. Rashida Resario of the Department of Theatre Arts, School of Performing Arts. The Danish team is comprised of Prof. Thilde Langevang and Prof. Ana Alacovska both from the Copenhagen Business School (CBS), while the United Kingdom team is made up of Prof. Katherine Gough and Prof. Ele Belfiore.
Project Goal
The goal of the ACIG project is to strengthen research capacity through;
Project Objective
The objective of ACIG is to generate novel empirical and theoretical knowledge on how creative industries can contribute to sustainable economic growth and development in an African context. Specifically, the ACIG project will;
Project Methodology
The ACIG project will focus on various sub-sectors in the Ghanaian creative industry, such as the music, film, visual arts, fashion design and handicrafts sub-sectors. Data will be collected using qualitative methodologies including in-depth interviews, observations and policy analysis.
The ACIG consists of the following four Work Packages (WPs).
Expected Results
The expected results include the generation of new knowledge on the creative industries in Ghana which will be disseminated via:
Project Stakeholders
To ensure the impact and sustainability of ACIG, the following private and public sector actors will be engaged as stakeholders throughout the project.
Project’s Relevance to Ghana
Culture and creative industries are a central part of Ghanaian development policies, with the government committed to strengthening the capacity and capability of the sector to promote development. Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategies emphasized creative industries as potential sources for employment generation, wealth creation and skill development. The Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda recognizes the development of ‘a vibrant creative arts industry’ (2015: 17) as a key to enhancing private sector competitiveness and productivity. Currently, government initiatives are consolidating the establishment of a Creative Arts Council. The ACIG project will generate a deeper understanding of the employment conditions and business dynamics in the creative industries and their contribution to inclusive economic growth, which will help inform policies to generate decent jobs and support business scaling-up.
Project’s Relevance to DANIDA
In recent decades, DANIDA has supported the development of the arts and cultural sector in Ghana, emphasizing the importance of creative industries as an engine for economic growth. Denmark-Ghana Partnership Policy 2014-2018 stresses the alignment between cultural cooperation and commercial engagement, which contributes not only to strengthening the private sector, but also promoting a ‘more modern image of Ghana and the New Africa’ (Danida 2014: 18). ACIG dovetails with DANIDA’s current support for private sector development and the promotion of inclusive economic growth and decent jobs. A strong creative industry could contribute significantly to a successful transition ‘from aid to trade’.
Bibliography
Danida (2014). Denmark-Ghana Partnership Policy 2014-2018. Danida. Retrieved from, um.dk/en/~/media/UM/Danish-site/Documents/Danida/Det.*Ghana_UK_web.pdf
Danida (2017). The Ghanaian-Danish partnership in transition: From aid to trade: An account of Danida’s private sector support and future perspectives. Retrieved from http://ghana.um.dk/en/news/newsdisplaypage/?newsid=00df5d82-531d-4c9b-8754-abcc3cc605e1
Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda (GSGDA) II (2014-2017). Retrieved from, http://www.un-page.org/files/public/gsgda.pdf