An approach to enhance welfare in upper east region of Ghana through rural electrification

Abstract

The study was on an approach to enhance welfare in Upper East Area of Ghana through Rural Electrification projects. The study used both the qualitative and quantitative designs. The research instruments used were questionnaires, and focus group discussion. The population for the study was 317 respondents of which 161 were residents from rural communities with electricity and 156 were residents from rural communities without electricity. Quantitative data analysis was performed using the Statistical Package for social sciences (SPSS), version 18 and Microsoft Excel. The study results indicates that, the absence of electricity has limited the rural people from engaging in income generating activities especially those that use electricity to become economically empowered. Moreover, majority of the respondents were interested in engaging in some form of business after the introduction of electricity in their communities. The specific way in which the lack of electricity affects the economic activities of the people included high expenditure on fuel, restriction in the number of hours of work, as well as restriction on the kind of businesses to venture into. Furthermore, rural electrification had an impact on economic activities of micro-businesses in the study area. The most significant changes which rural electrification had brought for micro-enterprise is that, the number of micro-business has grown as result of rural electrification, and that access to electricity has increased the use of modern equipment and tools by micro-business. The study recommended that the Government of Ghana and other energy stakeholders such as VRA/NEDCO and ECG should extend the rural electrification projects to other remote areas to improve their economic, education, health and social livelihoods. Moreover, the provision of other complementary development programmes such as markets and access to credit will be critical to the economic growth of businesses in the communities.