Inequality gap widens in Ghana - GIDRN

The Inclusive Development Research Network (GIDRN), on Thursday said inequality was now at its highest level in Ghana with empirical evidence indicating a widening gap between the poor and the rich.

Mr Edward Salifu Mahama, Principal Coordinator, GIDRN explained that a recent survey conducted by the network indicated that it would take about 1000 years for the poorest poor in rural Ghana to earn what the top rich earn in a month.

He said 'as the gap between the rich and the poor has never been greater in Ghana, than today, the country needs research input to tackle the issue even more than ever.'

Mr Mahama stated during a presentation of different pieces of research conducted under the network to contribute to good practices for inclusive development.

The findings of the research is to fill a critical gap in terms of supporting academia to promote the issues of inclusive development in Ghana.

Mr Mahama said due to the issues of increasing inequality and persistent poverty in Ghana, the country's academia needed to support national dialogue.

Mr Charles Dzradosi, Social Policy Specialist, UNICEF, said 'The gap is increasing and much of it happening in the mix of Ghana being a middle income country and growing in terms of our GDP and other indicators.

'So these are questions we are going to ask, and this research is going to give us answers as to what is happening on the ground and what we need to do to improve the living conditions of our people so that no one is left behind'.

He said if this continued at the current pace it would be important to build the capacity of the upcoming generation in terms of knowledge, skills, man power and their understanding of what development was.

Mr Dzradosi said UNICEF was supporting the process so that the research that was done would not be left on the shelves, but the information shared and taken forward to make Ghana a more inclusive country.

He hoped that at the end of the process, they would be able to share the information to all manner of stakeholders, not only politicians and policy makers, but also ordinary citizens.

He said UNICEF and the University for Development Studies (UDS), formed the network to provide a forum for selected research teams to receive mentorship, capacity-building, and networking between academics and policy makers.

The network was formed in 2017 to promote policy dialogue on poverty, inequality and social protection, promote mentorship and capacity building between academics, policy makers and practitioners.

It was also to support young researchers to become people to be relied on for research findings, and get partners to share information, work together and collaborate to push the agenda.

The findings as well as recommendations of the research pieces would be presented to the media with a reliable pool of researchers whose work could be used to inform national debate on the gap between the rich and the poor.

The research pieces presented relate to issues including; inequality, poverty, child poverty and social protection.

GNA

By Hafsa Obeng/ Evelyn Anane, GNA