How communities thrive and foster sustainable livelihoods – An exploratory community-based research with Koforidua Zongo
| dc.contributor.author | Zachari, Danae | |
| dc.contributor.supervisor | Tremblay, Crystal | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-01-02T20:12:09Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2025-01-02T20:12:09Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2024 | |
| dc.degree.department | Department of Geography | |
| dc.degree.level | Master of Arts MA | |
| dc.description.abstract | In this thesis, I present an explorative community-based research with members of the Zongo community in the city of Koforidua, Ghana. Drawing on the community-based participatory research (CBPR) theoretical framework, including principles on co-production of knowledge and Indigenization of research, I use in-depth conversations and photo-narratives to explore, with participants, factors that enable individuals and their community to foster health, wellbeing, and sustainable livelihoods. The portrayal of Zongo communities in academic and grey literature has traditionally focused on socioenvironmental issues, thus creating a deficit-based, and incomplete, story of the dynamic lifeworlds and multiple worldviews within Koforidua Zongo (KZ). In contrast, participants’ insights highlight the community’s vibrancy, and its multidimensional sociopolitical, economic, and cultural wealth. The study amplifies participants' voices on the multiple, interconnected, positive factors fostering health and wellbeing at a personal, and community level. Participants’ insights show how shared language, belief system, values, and cultural practices stimulate social cohesion. In addition, they offer narratives of mutual aid and empowerment through examples of how the community operates and mobilizes to support one another. Drawing on what participants shared, I discuss how community members perceive health and wellbeing in a relational manner, in addition to how they understand thriving as a communal process, with the shared responsibility to build mutually supportive and beneficial relations for all. | |
| dc.description.scholarlevel | Graduate | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1828/20901 | |
| dc.language | English | eng |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.rights | Available to the World Wide Web | |
| dc.subject | community-based | |
| dc.subject | knowledge democracy | |
| dc.subject | critical theory | |
| dc.subject | African socialization | |
| dc.subject | Zongo communities | |
| dc.subject | community health and wellbeing | |
| dc.subject | thriving | |
| dc.subject | quality of life | |
| dc.subject | in-depth conversations | |
| dc.subject | photo-narratives | |
| dc.subject | Ghana | |
| dc.title | How communities thrive and foster sustainable livelihoods – An exploratory community-based research with Koforidua Zongo | |
| dc.type | Thesis |