Power and influence mapping in Ghana's agricultural adaptation policy regime

Sova, C A and Thornton, T F and Zougmore, R B and Helfgott, A and Chaudhury, A S (2017) Power and influence mapping in Ghana's agricultural adaptation policy regime. Climate and Development, 9 (5). pp. 399-414. ISSN 1756-5529

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Abstract

Debates around the design and content of climate change adaptation policies are shaped, in part, by the power and influence of actors within an adaptation regime. This paper applies a power-mapping technique, Multilevel Stakeholder Influence Mapping (MSIM), to stakeholders in Ghana's agricultural adaptation policy regime. The method provides a quantitative influence score and visual map for actor groups active-in or affected-by the policy process, from the differentiated perspectives of national, regional, and local-level respondents. MSIM, as applied here, seeks to determine the underlying power structure of the adaptation regime and provides insight in to two key power-laden themes: stakeholder participation and multilevel institutional design. Results indicate that when taken collectively (the views of national, regional and local respondents combined) Ghana's adaptation regime is considered bipolar and elite-centred in its power distribution. A distinguishable ‘adaptation establishment’ or dominant group of power holders made up of technical government and international agencies can be identified. Meanwhile, political groups, the private sector, civil society, and universities are considered to wield substantially less power in the regime. Differentiated perspectives (i.e. national, regional or local respondents alone) reveal that several potential cross-level bridging institutions are not considered influential at all operational levels. Farmers, traditional authorities, and the District Assembly, for example, are all considered highly influential from the perspective of local-level respondents, but their counterpart agencies at the national level are not considered influential by policymakers there. Contrary to the hyper-politicized nature of climate change adaptation at international levels, Ghana's policy regime would benefit from increased participation from political agents, as well as from traditional authorities and farmers. These actor groups can help reverse the a-political nature of the adaptation regime, improve power pluralism across actor groups and levels, and facilitate cross-level cooperation between formal and informal institutions crucial to adaptation success.

Item Type:	Article
Divisions:	Research Program : West & Central Africa
CRP:	CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Power; influence; climate change; agriculture; adaptation; policy; Ghana; Ghana, Agricultural adaptation; climate change adaptation
Subjects:	Others > Agriculture Others > African Agriculture Others > Africa
Depositing User:	Mr Ramesh K
Date Deposited:	29 Nov 2017 11:04
Last Modified:	27 Apr 2018 09:06
URI:	http://oar.icrisat.org/id/eprint/10335
Official URL:	http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17565529.2016.1154450
Projects:	UNSPECIFIED
Funders:	UNSPECIFIED
Acknowledgement:	This research was conducted under the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), which is a strategic partnership of CGIAR and Future Earth. Support was also provided by the Environmental Change Institute (University of Oxford) and the Environment Institute (University of Adelaide).
Links:	Google Scholar

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