elcomm Research

SPORTS DEVELOPMENT IN GHANA; THE ROLE OF SWAG

2020-09-14T16:27:00.002-07:00

Sports development in Ghana;the role of SWAG.

Sports journalism in the views of Steen (2007) covers writings and reports about amateur and professional sports; sports journalism in print medium provides detailed previews of upcoming events and post-game analysis in addition to extensive updates of game scores, player statistics and team standings. In the same vein, sports journalism also provides real-time reporting and commentary of sporting events for television and radio broadcast (Steen, 2007).

Sports are said to deal with physical activities with well set rules and regulations. From the set of rules, winners emerge and such winners attract reward from both the private sectors and public sector. This is a clear indication of the increased value of sport (Nwanne, 2010). Sports promote sustainable physical fitness and good health, social mobilization, harmony and national integration. It provides entertainment, enhances the international image of a country, creates employment opportunities, enhances education and promotes tourism and culture (Nwanne, 2010).

Sport is an organized physical and recreational activity which is geared at facilitating human and material resources for intrinsic and extrinsic values, sports has become globally acknowledged as a potential tool for national and economic development as nations of the world therefore endeavour to utilize their potentials in sports to enhance the attainment of their respective development objectives (Nwanne, 2010). The most important change that has taken place in the sport industry is the significant role the media are playing in the development of sports all over the world (Nwanne, 2010). Apart from the fact that the media has increased sports awareness and spectatorship among peoples of the world, it has also increased revenue generation which has enriched the various sports stakeholders (Ibid).

The media have been playing a catalyst role for the identification and the promotion of knowledge, information and understanding about various sports and sporting talent in various nations (Alimi, 2003). Acosta (2002) pointed out that competitive sports would only survive and develop with the cooperation of the media. Thence the active role of the Sport Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG) in the development of Ghana Sports as the study seeks to identify and expand on its contribution to the nation.

PROBLEM

For nearly five decades, SWAG has evolved from an umbrella body for sports journalists that championed the welfare of its members into a very powerful association of over 150 active members, which has influenced the policy direction and transformation of Ghana sports, as well as promoted greater professionalism in sports journalism (Yeboah, 2015).

However, it is worth noting that many sports media have turned to football, especially foreign football and neglected other sports like boxing, basketball, tennis, swimming, golf and handball which is not talked about or written on (Pappoe, 2017). The Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG) must have a research department or a Library where young reporters or the general sports public can go to learn or refresh their minds (Pappoe, 2017).The media has a role to play, which they are not playing (Ibid). Most of them don’t know what the news is or how to create the news or set the agenda (Ibid).

Also, there is plenty of evidence around that the media in Ghana are undergoing a serious credibility crisis (Amihere, 2011). Journalism has recently declined in public esteem (Amihere, 2011). The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) a local chapter of Transparency International (TI) in November 2011 ranked the media as one of the most corrupt institutions in the country (GII, 2011). The public increasingly questions the credibility of newspapers, magazines, and broadcast news (Mahama, 2011).

The media and for that matter journalists are now having to grapple with complaints and accusations of intrusion and invasions into people's privacy, libel, outrageous behaviour and unprofessional conduct among other things (Ankomah, 2011). There have been instances where media houses and journalists have been hauled before the law courts for defaming individuals and organizations. Approximately 90 per cent of libel cases at the Fast Track Court (specialised courts set up to speed up trials) involve journalists and media houses (Ankomah, 2011).

Therefore, this paper seeks to look at sports development in connection with the role and contributions of the Sports Writers Association of Ghana popularly known as SWAG.

The current state of Sports in Ghana

When it comes to sports, Ghana is a force to reckon with. In recent times, Ghanaian sportsmen and sportswomen have exhibited to the world, some superior skills in the sports disciplines (Agyemang – Badu, 2014). Specific mention is made of the Black Stars in 2006, 2010 and even 2014 (Agyemang – Badu, 2014).

Also in the world of boxing we have seen excellent boxers like Azumah Nelson, Ike Quartey,

Joshua Clottey and Joseph Agbeko. However, despite the success, Ghana Sports is plagued with some challenges. A cursory look at the horizon reveals a very worrying state across all major sporting disciplines, including football (Agyemang – Badu, 2014).

Several sports discussions revealing the problems confronting our sporting disciplines often centred on lack of infrastructure, lack of funding, corruption, lack of motivation, inefficient administrators and the like (Agyemang-Badu, 2014). From journalists to ex-sportsmen and sportswomen, administrators to sports fans, everybody seems to have their own ideas about what has to be done to ameliorate the situation (Ibid). For some of us who started following sports in the country from the 1980s, it is sad to note that there was better organisation of sports in the country from the schools level to national level than we have at the moment (Agemang-Badu, 2014).

What is happening now is worrying in the sense that, every competition that we attend these days be it the All Africa Games, the Olympics, the World Cup or the African Cup of Nations tournament, ends in some sort of scandal (Agyemang-Badu, 2014).

We cannot continue on this path and therefore need a radical shift from how sports is being organised in Ghana (Ibid). Funding has long been identified as the mother of all the problems facing the development of sports in Ghana (Agyemang – Badu, 2014). Every sporting discipline under the National Sports Authority suffers from this “malaise” and until we find a solution to the “no money syndrome”, the nation would not make any headway in sports (Agyemang – Badu, 2014).

Finding solution means finding alternate means of funding aside from government because government alone cannot fund sports in Ghana. Although government alone cannot fund sports in Ghana, government has a big role to play in the organisation and development of sports, which of course, includes funding (Ibid). Even in football, which generally is regarded as fairly resourced, it has emerged that there are serious organisational and funding issues that are hampering the development of the game at the grassroots level and also at the National Team Level (Ibid).

It is an undeniable fact that the Black Stars is the Nation’s Team A and would naturally swallow a chunk of the football budget, but the near neglect of the Black Queens and both male and female junior teams is unacceptable (Ibid). If the Black Stars is attracting a $3 million annual sponsorship from the GPNC, it should be possible for GNPC to give something to the junior national teams where players are nurtured to feed the Stars (Agyemang-Badu, 2014).

The Ghana Football Association (GFA) should ensure that the Black Stars pull all the National teams along by way of funding and sponsorship. The clubs are suffering even more and now playing in a continental competition is a financial catastrophe (Agyemang-Badu, 2014). That is where the clubs under the umbrella of Ghana League Clubs Association (GHALCA) should come together to attract corporate funding in order to lessen the burden facing it.

After 50 years of nationhood, Ghana still has no proper policy document on Sports development. Despite amendments to the SMC 54 decree to allow for democratic elections of Sports Associations, successive governments have stalled working on a new Sports bill and passing it into law (Kwaw, 2014). While many countries have started new program aimed at getting their athletes on the podium at upcoming major international competitions, Ghana’s Sports Leaders are still talking about winning medals without first having a plan in place (Kwaw, 2014).

Pharouk (2014) conducted a study on Sports Journalism and its contribution to Sports development in Nigeria; A study of Brilla 88.9 FM. From the study, it is realised that sport journalism plays a vital role to sport development in Nigeria. It also plays an even more important role through coverage of sporting events to the discovery of talents and athletes with great potential as well as exposing the entertainment and economic value of sport to audience and interested investors.

From the analysis gotten from this research, Brilla 88.9fm enjoys adequate listenership and most of the respondents agree that sport journalists in Nigeria understood their role to sport development. Also from the finding of the research, it was discovered the mass media have a high level relationship with sports in the country as is the case in many part of the world. The study also found areas where sport journalism in Nigeria was deficient especially as it relates to coverage of major sporting events, for which findings from research conducted revealed that foreign sporting events and competition enjoyed more attention on local media at the expense of local sport event and talents. One reason found for this from the study conducted was that the media in Nigeria is wrestling with limited operational finances and it staffs are poorly remunerated which explains why they pay greater attention to promoting more foreign sport events with greater advert potentials than local sporting events.

Peltz-Steele (2010) looks at the development sportswriter: covering African football. He posits in his paper that, football is Africa’s game, but performance in world competition reveals the sport as metaphor for African development is stymied by political corruption, infrastructure deficiency, and neo-colonial exploitation. He revealed that the media-sport complex has perpetuated this cycle as the ideal of objectivity dominates traditional news, development journalism stresses nation-building.

However, emphasizing news, development journalism overlooks the powerful role of sport in African life according to Peltz-Steele. Through meta-analysis, this paper compares the values and practices of development journalism and of sports writing. The paper concluded that sportswriters are well positioned to act as development journalists. As mediator of football, the sportswriter can capitalize on the promise of sport to effect nation-building and development in Africa.

Marwat et al (2014) conducted a study on mass media and promotion of sport. The study defines the mass media as simply the interaction of communication taking place at a wider scale, encircling vast population and wide spread territorial jurisdiction. Basically, media is the disseminating medium of different types of news and information to the public at large through print and electronic sources.

He echoes that, the role of mass media has always been vital in boosting any activity of sport. Media has got focal position particularly in communication of the fresh information, shaping viewpoint of the masses, and bringing live sport and the like other activities to the consumer at his/her convenience. In the present era, close interaction between the media and sport are indispensable. Both feed one another; sport needs publicity and mass approach to majority of the population, which media do, whereas media feeds on the sport news provided by the different activities of sport.

Formerly print and electronic media, mainly consisting of newspapers, magazines, TV coverage, were the chief sources of media for the dispersal of information. But with the explosion of the IT technology and with the advent of internet, the horizon of the media has significantly been widened. Examining the available literature, this study is an effort to separately evaluate the impact of different tools employed as a source of interaction of the mass media with various aspects of sport.

The study reveals citing Acosta (2002) that competitive sports would only survive and develop with the cooperation of the media. To get wide spread popularity and to make respectable space in most of the playing arenas, sport needs to have the support of media. All sporting events either played indoors or outdoors, major or minor, have been struggling hard to attract media’s attention to get prompt exposure and resultantly more financial benefits. On account of media coverage, many players showing outstanding performance have become sport stars of their respective event.

Now one can watch online and enjoy the sport event of his/her choice without any difficulty regardless of the fact that wherever it is conducted, either it is in the space, on the mountains, in the plains or it is on the surface of water. At present, it has been an everyday experience that a number of Radio and TV channels remain round the clock busy in the coverage of sport activities and disseminating information about sport throughout the world.

The study concluded that, since the inception of the media concept, print media has been regarded as the pioneer source of communication. Despite the present technological advancement in the means of communication, the role, status, and vitality of print media still stands like a hill. Increase in the number and circulation of the newspaper is a testimony to the fact that print media has the capacity to compete and survive in the prevailing era of global technological competition. Initially, on account of speedy mode of communication, radio got very rapid popularity.

Resultantly radio gave very tough time to the print media, but time has proved that if worked professionally, challenges and difficulties could be overcome successfully. With the same professional approach, print media faced the challenges and remained successful in making way-out from the crucial and critical situation. During the first half of the twentieth century, both print media and radio were the two common sources used for the dispersal of information. Both mediums played significant role in popularizing different games among the masses.

In the next episode, TV was introduced which was technologically more advance as, in addition to immediate dispersal of information, it also telecast live motion picture of the activity. One can see the real action on the TV screen rather than to go to the venue of the action. On account of prompt TV coverage, sport has become the field of investment, it is more competitive, more commercial and more business oriented. Sport news has become the integral part of the news channels.

A player showing outstanding performance, become the hero and star. His/her actions are closely watched and recorded by the media and presented to the audience as a role model. In many cases, countries are known with the reference of sport stars on account of sport performance. TV has got pivotal role in the whole story of fame and popularity of sport.

The Media in Direct Sports Development

The media’s role in sports development does not begin and end with paying for broadcast rights and exposure for sponsors and other brands associated with sports in the media (Abdullahi, 2013). In some countries, including Nigeria, media houses conduct seminars and workshops with the aim of fashioning out strategies to develop sports (Abdullahi, 2013). They push for good governance and ethics in sports administration and also fight racism and corruption (Abdullahi, 2013).

Stories in the media about the success of sporting idols have also inspired generations of young athletes, and led to the discovery of new talents. Some media houses have even been more directly involved in sports development by directly organizing championships (Ibid). Unarguably, the most competitive and lucrative cycling race in the world today, The “Tour de France”, is an initiative of a French media house, L’Auto, whose editor Henri Desgrange created the cycling race to build favorable publicity and excitement for his publication and boost sales for the magazine (Ibid).

The race has since been held annually since its first edition in 1903, except for when it was stopped for the two World Wars. From a media house’s idea of boosting sales and contributing its little quota to sports development, the Tour gained prominence and popularity and became a global event. From a primarily French field, riders from all over the world began to participate in the race each year (Abdullahi, 2013).

Another media house that has engaged in direct participation in sports development is BSkyB of Great Britain. BskyB determined to ensure that the British embrace the sports of cycling and that a British wins the prestigious Tour de France, BSkyB set up Team Sky as a British professional cycling team to compete in the UCI World Tour. The relationship began with British Cycling getting £1 million sponsorship from the television company (Ibid).

BSkyB’s initial 2010 goal was to ensure that a Briton won the Tour de France. This was achieved in 2012 when Bradley Wiggins won that year’s Tour de France, thereby becoming the first British winner in the history of the competition, while fellow Briton Chris Froome finished as the runner up (Abdullahi, 2013).

It is also worthy of note that two of the most prestigious football awards: the African Footballer of the Year and European Footballer of the Year (Ballon d’Or) were started by media houses. The African Footballer of the Year award, presented to the best African football (soccer) player each year, now a project of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) since 1992, was an initiative of France Football magazine (Abdullahi, 2013). Initially, it was called African Footballer of the Year Golden Ball award between 1970 and 1994 and was organized by France Football magazine (Abdullahi, 2013). Similarly, the European Ballon d’Or was also awarded by the magazine since 1956 before it was taken over by UEFA (Ibid).

The above essay goes to confirm how indispensable the media is when it comes to sports development. How media initiatives and efforts have gone a long way to develop sports across the world. This points to the challenge being thrown to the Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG) in its quest to influence policy direction and transform Ghana sports, as well as promote professionalism in sports journalism (Yeboah, 2015).

The traits of a good Sports Journalist

Sports reporters are journalists who specialize in writing and broadcasting about sports and the people who participate in them (Strofer et al, 2010). Sports stories are based on facts and verifiable information and are written in journalistic style (Strofer et al, 2010). In general, a journalistic-style story will have facts and information, short, subject-verb-object sentences, short paragraphs, short words with precise meanings, action verbs, quotations with attribution, numbers and statistics (Strofer et al, 2010).

Facts and Information

Sports stories are based on facts, information and quotations. Information is gathered from sources or observed by the reporter. If the information is used in the form of a quotation or paraphrase, it is attributed to the source. Quotations may contain the source’s opinion, if the source is identified. Stories do not include the reporter’s opinion. Opinion is reserved for columns and should be clearly labeled as such. In print or online, a column is identified by the writer’s column head and by line. In broadcast, opinion segments are introduced as opinion and often delivered by the author in a neutral setting so viewers have audio and visual cues by which to identify opinion as different from game coverage or sports news. Facts are verifiable. Opinions are often expressed in sweeping generalizations laden with superlatives: most famous, best ever, greatest play.

Verify Information (Accuracy)

The first goal for journalists is to be accurate. Journalists never assume anything. They always verify information before putting it in a story (Strofer et al, 2010). Verification is checking information by comparing it to information from reliable sources (Strofer et al, 2010). A generally accepted guideline is to check information with three unrelated sources. If three sources agree, it’s probably correct and safe to use the information (Ibid). Note the word probably in the last sentence; if there’s any doubt in your mind or you have a gut feeling that something is not quite right, don’t use it until you’re satisfied that it is correct (Strofer et al, 2010).

The best way to gather facts and information is to attend the event, observe the activity and the people and take notes or record the action yourself (Ibid). What you observe may be reported without attribution, but verifying statistics and spelling ensures the accuracy of your story. After the event, verify your notes using data and stats sheets from the sports information office, the news conference with the coaches and your own interviews (Ibid). If you cannot attend the event, contact the sports information director ahead of time to get players’ names and numbers and background on both teams (Ibid). Make arrangements with the coaches or media relations director for phone interviews after the game and ask for game stats to be faxed or uploaded as soon as they are available (Ibid).

Short, S-V-O Sentences

Short sentences make text easier to read according to readability tests (Strofer et al, 2010). Standard readability, or a level easily understood by most media readers, contains about 17 words per sentence. Not every sentence will be 17 words. Using a variety of sentence lengths creates writing that is more interesting to read (Strofer et al, 2010). Subject-verb-object is the preferred sentence organization pattern in journalistic writing. It’s easy to read and understand. It makes the subject do the action, and it helps the reader move through the story quickly and easily.

Subject-Verb-Object sentences pack in enough of the who, what, where, when, why and how for readers to have an overview of the story in one sentence (Strofer et al, 2010). S-V-O is the preferred sentence order in broadcast as well, because it creates easy-to-say units of thought that the listener can understand and absorb while the sports caster is speaking. Online readers read in chunks: a blurb, a lead or a paragraph. They, too, are looking for easy-to-read, easy-to-understand information, and that’s what S-V-O sentences deliver (Strofer et al, 2010).

Short Paragraphs

In journalistic style, one and two sentence paragraphs are the norm (Strofer et al, 2010). Newspaper and online stories appear in narrow vertical columns with only a few words on each line, making even short sentences fill three or more lines (Strofer et al, 2010). Paragraph indentations create small white notches along the left margin that make stories appear easier to read by giving readers frequent entry points (Strofer et al, 2010). When set in columns, longer paragraphs give the impression of black pillars holding up the headline. Readers tend to skip the longer paragraphs because they are perceived to be more difficult to read (Strofer et al, 2010)

Short Words with Precise Meanings

Short, simple words are easier for a reader scanning a print story or someone listening to a broadcast story to comprehend (Strofer et al, 2010). When there’s a choice, choose the shortest, simplest word that does not diminish the meaning of the more difficult word (Strofer et al, 2010).

Action Verbs

Text that uses descriptive nouns and action verbs helps readers and listeners visualize (Strofer et al, 2010). When the verb implies an action not indicated by the rest of the image, it interrupts the reader’s expectation and makes the listener pause (Strofer et al, 2010). It’s like the sound of chalk on a blackboard. It draws attention to itself and away from the flow of the story. Tennis players don’t amble when responding to a serve. They sprint, stretch, bound, leap and swing (Strofer et al, 2010) . Soccer players don’t dance when moving the ball toward the goal (Strofer et al, 2010). They may race, run, kick or score, but leave dancing to the ballroom. Horses anxious for a race to begin snort, rear, stomp, strain, almost anything but stand quietly (Strofer et al, 2010).

Attributive Verbs

An exception to the action verb guideline is attribution. When someone is quoted in a story, quotation marks indicate that the person spoke those exact words (Strofer et al, 2010). The name of the speaker is linked to the quotation along with a verb of attribution. Said is the appropriate attributive verb to use when identifying the speaker (Strofer et al, 2010). Any other verb carries a shade of meaning that the writer has put on the speaker’s words, giving the reader an impression that may not be what the speaker intended. Shouted, growled, stated, assured, blurted, mentioned, commented and other words that describe vocal inflections connote meaning beyond the words being said (Strofer et al, 2010). Words that describe facial expression describe action: smile, grimace, scowl and wince. Words are not actions, and they cannot be smiled, cried or growled. Let the reader decide from the content of the quotation and context of the story how the speaker might have sounded saying the words (Strofer et al, 2010).

INFORMATION SYSTEM'S ROLE IN VESSEL TERMINAL OPERATIONS

2020-09-14T15:43:00.002-07:00

Information system's role in vessel terminal operations.

Shipping, or the matter of transport, is a fundamental that encourages universal exchanging exercises. Because of its savvy multi-purpose tasks, the vast majority of the worldwide exchange made merchandise and an expanding offer of items are transported through holder shipping benefits so as to convey the enormous amounts of freight. This compartment shipping administration is generally given by liner delivery organizations. (Hoffmann, Wilmsmeier, and Lun, 2017). Oceanic/Maritime transport is at the center of worldwide exchange stock. Roughly 80% of volume of products traded on the planet are transported through the ocean, as far as their capacity to convey a ton of load with a generally minimal effort. (UNCTAD, 2008). Identified with the abnormal state of oceanic transport use, the ship's structure is likewise made to be bigger so as to convey the huge limit also, and with certain varieties (Nurtjahjo, Rianto; SE, 2016).

As of late, the sea business has seen an advancement in port improvement, the utilization of data innovation and in it this data innovation has worked to improve the information availability so as to get a precise information so as to guarantee the effective conveyance of merchandise, ventures profit by at least two methods of transport (Dobler, D. W., and Burt, 1996) (Whardana, n.d.). Multimodal transportation is the transportation of merchandise performed with at any rate two distinct methods of transport. Undertakings occupied with multimodal transportation should be progressively agreeable, have a decent and present day reloading hardware and new incorporated IT frameworks. (Jarašūnienė, Batarlienė, and Vaičiūtė, 2016)

The impact of administration development on upper hand and business execution has expanded observably. Administration development is a viable technique for improving firm execution and guaranteeing long haul survival. (Ryu and Lee, 2017). For the national advancement through ports, notwithstanding offices and framework at the ports that must be satisfactory, IT Systems additionally has a significant job in its obligation to process data related the merchandise from beginning to goal (Sitorus et al., 2016).

A decent and present day hardware with the new coordinated IT frameworks has an extremely cozy association with the port administration and port execution, they are still emphatically and exceptionally influenced by IT advancement. IT might have upgraded advertise openness and improved market coordinations for transportation. (Nath and Liu, 2017). The great port exhibition can expand the aggregate of Port throughput as well. (Triyani, n.d.) Notwithstanding, that IT access can positively affect this administration exchange things just in nations with adequately high IT expertise client. On the off chance that the IT aptitude client are not adequately high, IT access won't deliver critical constructive outcomes on administrations exchange (Nath and Liu, 2017).

Ports are currently viewed as an 'administration focus' (UNCTAD, 1999). Ports assume a significant job in practical supply chains through high operational and proficient coordinations exercises for the advantages of community oriented firms (Compes Lopez, R. furthermore, Poole, chain: the instance of Valencia, 20, and Journal, 3(1), n.d.) The significant thing about its administration cannot be denied and kept away from by organizations identifying with delivery, on the grounds that even their brief stockpiling administration is such something imperative (Umagapi et al., 2016).

Since the introduction of containers in the 1960s, determination of the optimum capacity of container terminals has been a major issue for port authorities around the world. This is primarily due to the requirement of a huge capital investment for the expansion of a port. For example, the construction cost of a two-berth container terminal would be around $150 million (£98 million) excluding dredging and navigation channel modifications (1999 price).

When the capacity of stacking area does not meet the demand (through-put), the operators have two options:

(1) The extra containers must be taken away from the terminal to the designated inland depots near the port for distribution; or

(2) The terminal must be expanded. The former applies to most congested ports (e.g. port of Sydney in Australia) that experience congestion particularly prior to the arrival and shortly after the departure of ships (Kia, 1997). This raises the question of when a terminal reaches its maximum capacity since the stay time of containers varies from one port terminal to another. For example, the maximum stay time of containers in tranship ports (i.e. Singapore) is eight hours, whereas, Australian ports offer 72 hours' stay (free of charge) to the exporters and importers. Container stay-time is affected by other factors that cause congestion within the terminal and longer ship's time at berth (Kia, 1999): .inadequacy in container handling from ship-to-shore and within terminal; .container through-put (total TEU/year/area of the terminal); .height of stacked containers; the high ratio of imported containers against exported ones; and ratio of empty/full containers.

During the past two decades, the maritime industry has witnessed the evolution of one of the most important trends in the history of port community with the increasingly sophisticated use of computers. Although these devices and electronic commerce have found applications in port/transport industry, the business sector is a major beneficiary (Burt, 2015). Electronic commerce (EC) may be defined as the use of technology to facilitate the exchange of information in commercial transactions among enterprises and individuals, enhancing growth and profitability across the supply chain (Heffernan, 2016). Based on the estimates produced by the US Government, the global free market of information technology and telecommunications via Internet is doubling every 100 days by individuals and businesses (Phillips, 2014). As a transaction payment method and delivery medium, the cost-effectiveness of the Internet and EC is now disputable. In Australia, approximately 1.5 million organisations and individuals have access to the Internet; of those, approximately 250,000 are business related. The worldwide volume of EC conducted over the Internet and its derivatives is expected to reach US$300 billion a year by the early part of the next decade. It is in the business-to-business application of EC that the Internet is beginning to transform the global supply chains of international trade. In international transportation and logistics services, the already vigorous growth in the volume of global trade is likely to be further accelerated as EC facilitates new connections of buyers and suppliers. In the Australian maritime industry, terminal operators and port/transport industry intend to develop a longer-term approach to EC to improve the efficiency of operations, aiming to enhance the competence of their existing operational system (Cox, 2015).

Given the complexity of the supply chain, with multiple participants, there is ample opportunity to increase efficiency and reduce costs by EC, which enables integration of the increasingly tighter links in the supply chain. The efficient usage of EC in shipping and cargo distribution could provide: transportation management, including optimising the choice of carriers based on service requirements and freight rates; logistics management, including the tracking of containers from the port of origin to the port of unloading in Australia, on the rail track and between origin and the final destination and flexible routeing, storage and distribution as necessary; trade and transportation documentation, including the electronic development and transfer of shipping documents, customs clearance and other regulatory requirements; international trade finance; and .insurance.

To shorten time spent by vessels in the terminal requires that special emphasis be placed on receiving details of containers (e.g. shipment, physical location) prior to the arrival of the vessel to reduce the US$45,000/day (£30,000) stay of a third generation of containership or US$65,000 (£42,000) of a large vessel at port. Hence, the development of containerisation is accompanied by the application of computerised tele-transmission of manifest and stowage plan details from the port of loading to the port of discharge. Transmitted data are used to plan discharging operations, as well as to print required report documentation. For a container terminal equipped, for example, with ship-torail technique, accurate and current information on all container operations is vital. A properly-designed, computerised container control system increases the operating efficiency of the terminal. However, the main benefits provided by such a system are the following: faster discharging and loading of containers; Increased productivity through faster turnaround of containers; Better monitoring of the storage of containers (leading to increases in stacking area's capacity); .high level of accuracy of information; and high level of consistency of the information given to various parties in the chain of transport. Depending on the number of containers handled, three types of data processing systems are also required in port terminals: off-line central system, online multi-point system and online multipoint system with direct telecommunication to yard mobile equipment. The first type records the container movements centrally, usually in the operation centre of the terminal, the point of loading on train, the length of transportation and the terminal that the containers are to be unloaded. Basically, the information is recorded in the computer system rather than using the old methods of board or card file system. One of the advantages of such a system over a manual one is that data can be automatically validated during data entry. The second type consists of a multipoint system giving direct access to the computer from the points where movements of containers take place (e.g. portto-inland depots). This system provides updated information on the status of the train/truck such as travelling time, departure time and the time of arrival at destination. This is the area that provides necessary information to the freight forwarders. The third type offers the possibility for communication of yard operations via computer, particularly between the operator of the crane and container management personnel. The cabin of the crane operator is equipped with visual display units (VDU) and simplified keyboards. The driver receives on the VDU an order to move a container. Confirmation of the excecution of the order on the keyboard causes automatic updating of the container layout. This solution makes it possible to follow container movements very closely and also facilitates execution of loading or discharging operations. The above data process systems are currently in place in several US, European and Asian ports.

THE PROBLEM

Information technology plays a major role in this modern day and age. Industries of various size and magnitude make use of information technology be it hospitals, schools, manufacturing industries just to mention a few (Asamoah, 2016). In relation to terminal operations and information system’s role, much needs to be done in communicating its relevance to the shipping industry as there is a thorough lack of understanding of the importance of information systems in terminal operations (Quinonez, 2014). Also, limited or few research works conducted on the subject has contributed to the general lack of information or detail on the subject (Hillary, 2017). Thus, this study seeks highlight the role of information systems in vessel terminal operations.

The idea of Information Literacy aptitudes have been generally talked about by expert bodies, for example, the Society of College, National and University Libraries (SCONUL, 2011), Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL, 2011), American Association of School Librarians (1998), and the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO, 2008). The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) (2006:17) depicted data education as the capacity to recognize when data is required, capacity to complete a particular undertaking or for critical thinking purposes, cost-proficiently scan for data, sort out or redesign wellsprings of data, translate, break down and recover vital data, evaluate the precision and unwavering quality of the data, and watch the moral utilization of data sources. IFLA (2006:7) recognizes the Information Literacy idea from different parts of education like PC proficiency, arrange proficiency, advanced proficiency, data innovation education and media proficiency despite the fact that these kinds of education are much related. UNESCO (2004) considered Information Literacy as all exercises worried about instructing and picking up with respect to the entire assortment of data sources and organizations. UNESCO (2004) noticed that to be data educated, an individual must be outfitted with the why, when, and how to apply all IL apparatuses and build up the capacity to contemplate the data they give.

As per the Scottish Information Literacy Project (2013), Information Literacy is the panacea for advancing critical thinking capacities, particularly those issues that accompanies the utilization of present day offices channel towards getting to data. The archive further demonstrates that Information Literacy furnishes researchers with basic reasoning aptitudes, capacity to look for answers to basic inquiries, capacity to discover data from different sources, structure wise feelings, and assess wellsprings of data for educated judgment vital for basic leadership. Data Literacy is significant for various reasons particularly to instructors.

As indicated by Scottish Information Literacy Project (2013), it helps in advancing critical thinking capacity, helps basic reasoning, supports the capacity to pose inquiries and look for consistent answers, discover data, shape conclusion, and assess wellsprings of data. For an individual, being data proficient is basic so as to be a practical individual from the general public. Along these lines, an administration is required to incorporate the learning of Information Literacy into scholastic projects in order to cause individuals to turn out to be progressively gainful and prepared as practical worldwide natives of the 21st century (Rodney-Wellington, 2014:75).

Lincoln (2011: 4) saw that Information Literacy is basic in view of the plenty of promptly available data and that individuals are relied upon to secure suitable aptitudes befitting the twenty first century to find, assess, examine and put to powerful utilize data from different sources. The learning of Information Literacy is an absolute necessity for everybody since it will decide the dimension of accomplishment at each expert dimension and is a key segment of instruction. Davis, Lundstrom and Martin (2011:17) advised that there might be misinterpretations among the cutting edge age who are data clever that since they've experienced childhood in a situation driven by innovation that they are data educated, however capacity to you current data device does not mean being data proficient.

The information of Information Literacy is significant on the grounds that entrance to data is driven by innovation which must be scholarly for a person to be a skillful data client (Encyclopedia Britannica 2010; Mordini 2007:544). Juutinen, Huovinen and Yalaho (2011) stress that grasping innovation can help in progress of individuals' lives. Data Literacy is a basic ability that is utilitarian in nature in view of the advantageous impact it has on an enormous number of the individuals who grasp the learning. As per Sasikala and Dhanraju (2011: 1), it can prompt autonomous, self-deciding and understudy driven adapting, rather than an over dependence on teachers to offer answers for all issues. This, they contend, will give understudies more noteworthy capacity to control their learning procedure, which will impact the development of their creative mind, rationale and genius rather than instructors essentially disgorging actualities. Data Literacy is significant on the grounds that it prompts an edified network. Shane (2011) conceded that the sign of Information Literacy is the ability to conclusively assess and morally apply data in discover answers for issues and move people with the soul of request. He is of the view that despite the fact that in this data age there is a fast increment in data in the library, web, TV, radio, and so on, the accessibility of data does not really imply that it is quality data. Sadly, knowing a specific IT information today does not mean it will be helpful for the future in light of the consistent changes in the application (Girard and Allison, 2008: 111). In this way, the learning of Information Literacy will outfit researchers with the capacity to adjust to a changing data condition.

Kumar and van Dissell (1996) contend that between authoritative data frameworks (IOIS) comprise the fundamental framework of vital coalitions (Monge et al, 1998). IOIS is a gathering of two or more associations connected by a PC, media communications and concurred benchmarks (Vukmirovic et al, 2013). Haiwook (2001) characterized (IOIS) as an "accumulation of IT assets, including interchanges systems, equipment, IT applications, models for information transmission, and human aptitudes and encounters. It gives a system to electronic participation between organizations by permitting the preparing, sharing and correspondence of data" (Haiwook, 2001). IOIS is an extranet utilized by two closures of the production network; the clients communicate with organization workers and with business accomplices as providers and strategic organizations (article UK, 2017). IOIS improve the aggressiveness of a firm just as the focused position of the associations' system associated through the framework, both vertically and on a level plane connected associations. IOIS give administrations secured by two interorganizational frameworks for instance; Portbase framework in port of Rotterdam encourages correspondence of business network with port expert and with traditions. Hong Kong Oneport framework empowers correspondence between business network and port expert while Tradelink framework helps the interface among business and traditions (Romochkina, 2011). IOIS empower the advancement of hierarchical abilities to help vital objectives of incorporation. Writing found that IOIS increment data sharing, improve coordination, limit chance, and lessen exchange costs (Nicolaou, 2011). All transportation entryways bolster vertical connections between cargo forwarders or shippers. The client can present the request and directions by means of the framework and track the shipment status. Shippers and cargo forwarders use organize association, just as electronic apparatus or a PC based programming to make delivery reports and appointments (Romochkina, 2011).

World exchange, in our inexorably globalized and organized economy, relies upon the quick and convenient transportation of products from assembling spots to showcase territories (Gidado 2015). In such manner, port exercises and transportation organize activities are indistinguishable, as great execution of the port is connected to its data frameworks utilization (Wilson et al. 2015). Port blockage in Africa is an unavoidable occasional event that is to a great extent connected with inappropriate arranging and deficient gear or foundation that could some way or another help the vehicle and coordinations organize African ports need. Data frameworks comprise one of the answers for tending to the difficulties that happen in numerous procedures that are significant for the financial improvement of a country (Pierson and Harner 2006). Data frameworks gather, supply, orchestrate, and use data to guarantee the proficiency and adequacy of an association's tasks (Pierson and Harner 2006). As per Nowduri (2011), data frameworks empower the executives to rapidly settle on choices about various issues in the association. These data frameworks have turned out to be significant in coordinations administration (Salin 2000) and involve a noteworthy instrument to lessen expenses and adequately serve customers through better customisation of the administration gave (Salin 2000). The essential motivation behind any data framework is to enable its clients to get a specific kind of significant worth from the data in the frameworks, paying little mind to the sorts of data put away or wanted worth sort. The joining of data frameworks in coordinations has added to aggressive supply chains that agreement certain organizations focused edges in the market, with new techniques actualized to counteract any inborn risk and death toll (Weiss 2011).

Dar es Salaam port, claimed by the Tanzania Ports Authority, is Tanzania's chief port, with an appraised limit of 4.1 million tons dry load and 6.0 million tons mass fluid freight (Tanzania Ports Authority 2017). Improved effectiveness at the port can convert into extra tonnage of imports and fares. Truth be told, the volume of load has kept on account an upward pattern, mostly because of an expansion in the utilization of data frameworks. The port handles practically the majority of Tanzania's worldwide exchange freight and serves its landlocked neighboring nations of Malawi, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda. These nations are associated with the port through two railroad frameworks and street systems, notwithstanding a pipeline on account of Zambia.

Be that as it may, the postponement in payload leeway and the resultant clog at the port of Dar es Salaam has turned into a matter of genuine worry to all clients of the port (Raballand et al. 2012, Daudi 2010, Kunaka et al. 2016). As Dar es Salaam is a noteworthy port that serves neighboring area bolted nations, the Tanzania Ports Authority the board ought to guarantee that port administrations fulfill territorial client needs, as clog at the port outcomes in the port losing a high level of its potential pay. Potential salary could emerge out of Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, and even Zimbabwe. The changing business condition and globalization kept on uncovering the port of Dar es Salaam to solid challenge, particularly with the port of Mombasa in the north for load beginning from and bound to Uganda, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo (Kivu Province), the northern piece of Tanzania and South Sudan. To its south, Dar es Salaam port contends with the Mozambican ports of Nacala, Beira and Maputo and the South African port of Durban for Zambia, Malawi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (Katanga Province) load. In the west, it contends with the Namibian port of Walvis Bay and the Angolan port of Lobito for traffic with Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (Katanga Province).

Generally speaking, the utilization of data frameworks at a given port ought to encourage process the board and control of the progression of work, information interface to limit the recover of information (both inside the association and with outsiders), information approval to anticipate the expenses of revamp, execution estimation to deal with the exercises attempted and consistence with nearby administrative necessities (Weiss 2011). Thusly, data frameworks in ports hold the potential for noteworthy advancement, especially in business the executives and open organization, by blending the way of working together for the two traditions organizations and dealers, subsequently incredibly decreasing the conveyance times and enabling quick access to data (Arnold et al. 2011).

Indeed, the headway of data frameworks empowers compartments' administrators to lessen the manual exertion in giving administrations and encouraging the opportune data stream and upgraded quality control in administration and basic leadership (Kia et al. 2000, Ally and Mbamba 2009). Also, the utilization of PC reenactments has rearranged taking care of complex load offices, prompting critical investment funds got from the usage of electronic gadgets in port terminals activity (Kia et al. 2000). Against this setting, this examination explored the job of data frameworks utilization in port coordinations execution utilizing the Dar es Salaam port as a contextual analysis.

Of the few ways of thinking with respect to the impact of data frameworks use on execution, an outstanding one is the efficiency Catch 22, which claims that regardless of interests in data innovation, there might be no relating profitability gains. The Catch 22 has been generally talked about and discussed. Albeit experimental information have uncovered no improvement in efficiency, those people who support more interests in data innovation contend that the data age isn't a mechanical age; in this manner, new measurements to gauge profitability are important and not really equivalent to those of the modern age. Furthermore, they contend that efficiency is a yield of numerous different factors notwithstanding data innovation. This discussion likewise requires the correct assessment of data frameworks utilization; generally, the resulting impact may not be estimated appropriately.

The profitability Catch 22 ruled the discussions in the mid 1990s, which included more created nations than creating nations. Hence, a discussion about the impact of data frameworks use in creating nations developed. While one way of thinking accepts that creating nations can jump from utilizing data frameworks, i.e., there are beneficial outcomes of skirting a few phases of improvement, negative impacts are additionally common; that is, data innovation builds the hole among creating and created nations since creating nations don't have the essential foundation to help new advancements, and consequently, their usage may include a greater number of issues than it illuminates. In any case, successful use of numerous new data mechanical instruments may require high transmission capacity and some essential innovative foundation that may not be available in some creating nations. In such manner, this investigation intended to decide if interest in data frameworks utilization has any impact – especially a positive one – on execution.

THE IMPACT OF AGRO -TECH ON COCOA PRODUCTION IN GHANA

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The Impact of Agro-tech on Cocoa production in Ghana.

In Ghana, the cocoa sector forms the economic backbone of the country. Cocoa contributes significantly to GDP, is a major earner of foreign exchange and provides employment for hundreds of thousands of people throughout the chain. Ghana is World’s 2nd largest producer of cocoa: more than 1.000.000 MT in 2011, produced by approx. 1 million cocoa producers, predominantly smallholders, being male and female farmers, owners, sharecroppers, who also employ farm labour (Asamoah, 2012). Cocoa generates employment and income for around one third of all Ghanaians. Over the last decade Ghana doubled its output; in 2003 cocoa output was 500.000 tonnes, in 2011 Ghana officially recorded slightly over 1 million tonnes. However, productivity levels are still low. Between 50 and 65% of cocoa farmers produces 400kg/ha (low technology). Between 20 and 40% produces 650 kg/ha (medium technology) (Asamoah, 2012). The remaining part produces on average 1400 kg/ha (high technology) (CRIG 2010; personal communication Francis Baah - CRIG). Ghana is known for the reliable supply of large quantities of high quality cocoa, for which CMC is rewarded with a premium price on the world market (Aneani, 2011).

We have seen that a distinction is made between three classes of cocoa farmers, based on the kind of practices and level of technology used (low, medium, high) (Owusu Ansah, 2012). This classification can be adjusted for sustainable cocoa production (Anchirinah, 2011). This includes a clear vision on the future generation of cocoa farmers, and insight in what incentivizes this group. It also requires a longer-term and shared vision on the development of the sector and the development of different scenarios (Owusu Ansah, 2012). But, while industry has committed itself to the use of certification as a means to achieve this, for Cocobod certification is not necessarily the way forward. Sustainable cocoa production requires stronger linkages and more exchange between governments from producing and consuming countries, at different levels (build stronger relationships between Dutch research community and CRIG or between Amsterdam Port and Tema) (Cocobod, 2019). Advocacy at government level is recommended to privatize input pricing and distribution systems (Aneani, 2011).

For farmers to benefit from sustainable cocoa production they have to become more entrepreneurial, and take more control over their own business. Cocobod in the past has lacked to give economic incentives to farmers to behave as entrepreneurs, but they did protect the farmers from price-fluctuations by offering stable prices, introduced subsidized input schemes (paid by FoB margin) and made sure the quality of the exported cocoa was high (Cocobod, 2019). The advantage of this system is stable prices and cocoa farmers in Ghana are relatively well-off, but on the downside there are many inefficiencies due to the fact that a public entity is running a private business (Asamoah, 2012). Liberalization of inputs and extension services would help farmers to gain more control over their business (Cocobod, 2019). In addition objective market information would put farmers in the driving seat of their business. Farmers should be placed first (and not their cocoa), not from a perspective as being a critical stakeholder to reach objectives others have defined for them, but as a lead entrepreneurs in a sustainable cocoa chain (Owusu-Ansah, 2012). To support entrepreneurship interventions should support capacity building, building own capital, access to markets and full information as well as business skills to take business decisions (Aneani, 2011). It is recommended to support farmer organizations in building their own capital, both financially, human capital as well as social capital (Anchirinah, 2011). Agribusiness is a significant supporter of Ghana's export earnings, and a significant wellspring of contributions for the assembling segment (Kerali 2018). It is likewise a significant wellspring of pay for a dominant part of the populace, however there have been an ongoing decrease in development in agribusiness, which should be turned around through suitable arrangements and expanded ventures (Kerali, 2018). The seismic effect of innovation in farming far and wide is too clear to even think about missing. In reality, agribusiness has transformed from oversimplified procedure to tech refinement. Today, advancements of different kinds have on the whole made a transformative commitment to a segment that has reliably demonstrated to be something else under the surface the eye (Kerali, 2018). In spite of the mammoth enhancements made conceivable by innovation, Africa is unfortunately falling behind. Recently, agrarian profitability in Africa has been believed to diminish extensively (Business & Financial Times, 2019). This is obvious from the low homestead efficiency, shorter neglected periods and ranch networks losing youngsters to rustic urban movement. Besides, in as much as the African governments utilize numerous arrangement instruments, ranch yields have just improved imperceptibly (Business & Financial Times, 2019). Besides, an extensive extent of ranchers still utilize customary procedures that depend intensely on verifiable standards. All around, the agrifood division is the business liable for bolstering the planet and contracting over 40% of the world's laborers (Vidal, 2018). Likewise, tragically, it is liable for an enormous piece of worldwide ozone depleting substance outflows since horticulture alone contributes around 33% of all carbon discharges, not including the commitment of the procedures of the chain supply before it arrives at the customer, for example, nourishment handling, transportation and retail (Vidal, 2018). In the 1950s, as a result of government policy and various aid programs, schemes were devised by various agencies to introduce Western mechanized agriculture to many areas, particularly in Africa. This involved the import of four-wheel diesel tractors (often with government assistance) and associated tillage implements (mainly inversion plows). These units were then loaned or hired to farmers. However, in practically all cases these schemes failed, often due to the poor technical knowledge and the educational skills of the local farming community. Tractors and implements were often not maintained correctly and predictable breakdowns occurred. There were also insufficient resources and mechanical skills available, as well as insufficient spare parts to keep these machines operational. These schemes have now been largely abandoned (Sims et al., 2006).

Ulusoy (2013) defined agricultural mechanization as the use of machines for agricultural production. In a similar manner, Ulger et al. (2011) viewed mechanization as the use of modern agricultural machines in place of traditional tools, equipment, machinery, and facilities. In practice, agricultural mechanization involves the provision and use of all forms of power sources (manual, animal, and motorized) and engineering technologies to enhance agriculture production (Viegas, 2003; Clarke and Bishop, 2002). These engineering technologies include post-harvest handling methods, storage system, farm structures, erosion control, water management (water resources development, as well as irrigation and drainage), meteorological systems, and the techniques for optimally utilizing the above (Chisango and Ajuruchukwu, 2010; Asoegwu and Asoegwu, 2007). Furthermore, agricultural mechanization also encompasses the design, manufacture, distribution, maintenance, repair, and general utilization of farm tools and machines (FAO, 2013).

According to Akdemir (2013), the most commonly used indicators of the level of agricultural mechanization are the instrument/machine weight per tractor (kg/tractor), tool/machine number per tractor, tractor power per cultivated area (kW/ha), number of tractors per cultivated 1000 hectares field (tractors/1000 ha), and cultivated area per tractor (ha/tractor). In a nutshell, agricultural mechanization minimizes drudgery, which hitherto makes it difficult or rather impossible to achieve or practice effective food and agricultural production. Effective agricultural mechanization can help in maintaining improved competitiveness and low consumer price. This can go beyond the application of tools and power machinery, to the application of automation, control, and robotics (Reid, 2011). In fact, agricultural mechanization was identified as one of the top ten engineering achievements of the twentieth century. It has been established that most developing countries currently practice the first and second levels of mechanization, compared to developed countries (Clarke and Bishop, 2002). However, in terms of agricultural mechanization, countries such as Japan, Brazil, Korea, and Egypt could be classified as developed countries because they currently practice a more advanced level of mechanization when compared to their counterparts (Diao et al., 2014).

In spite of this, most countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America are still classified as developing countries (Anelich, 2014; Mondal and Basu, 2009). Overall, some of the most important present-day technology for the mechanization of large- and small-scale agricultural fields includes precision agriculture, mobile and web applications for agriculture, digitalizing crop varieties and yield, forecasting farm weather and modeling, Geographical Positioning Systems and Geographic Information System (GNSS/GIS) applications, remote sensing, automated tractors and farm equipment, robotics, data mining and warehousing, and Internet of Things (Suprem et al., 2013; Zhang et al., 2002). Many countries such as the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, England, and Germany have already applied some of these advanced technologies in agricultural production, and have been able to improve their agricultural technology, reducing the total cost of agricultural production, and increasing farm size successfully. For example, farmers in these countries can now routinely use portable mobile devices like PDAs to collect and share data and information to interested parties and stakeholders (Suprem et al., 2013). Furthermore, electronic sensors and imaging tools are also used to characterize crop growth and development (Onwude et al., 2016). Remote sensing has now been applied using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) (popularly known as “drones”) (Everaerts, 2008). Precision agriculture has been around since the 1990s, but it really took off when GPS technology became cheap and ubiquitous in the mid-2000s.

Wireless remote sensing is also being increasingly applied to various equipment (Wang et al., 2006). In the future, robotics and automation can play a significant role in meeting the future agricultural production needs, and will revolutionize the way food is grown, tended, and harvested. Research development in this area, although still largely experimental, has received an enormous amount of attention from both the government and private sectors due to robots improving productivity, the scarcity of labor, and practicable design that is easier to handle (Suprem et al., 2013).

Compared with developed countries, there are significant limitations to the application of these present-day technologies in the mechanization of agricultural production units in many parts of Africa, Asia, and Latin America (Clarke and Bishop, 2002; Kishida, 1984). This could be because of the high purchasing cost of advanced technology, amount of unskilled labor, education of farmers, government policies, and high cost of maintenance, among other reasons. Nonetheless, modern day technology has also been progressively adopted and applied in certain activities in developing countries. For example, recent agricultural projects in South Africa, Egypt, Malaysia, Brazil, Mexico, Thailand, the Philippines, and India utilize satellite positioning systems and geographic information systems to aid in farming management. This technology also helps to select the appropriate type of fertilizer and application method to the soil (Devi et al., 2011). Furthermore, one of the important operations in agricultural production is harvesting. Currently, this operation is done manually in many parts of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. However, the situation is different for countries like China, Japan, Korea, India, Brazil, and South Africa, where most harvesting activities are now carried out with modern machines (Binswanger, 2014; Singh, 2006; Spoor et al., 2000). Harvesting is actually one of the most labor-intensive types of work in crop production, and mechanization of this activity has greatly improved the agricultural productivity.

Technology has assumed a major job in building up the agricultural business. Today it is conceivable to develop crops in a desert by utilization of agricultural biotechnology (Ramey, 2012). With this innovation, plants have been built to make due in dry spell conditions. Through hereditary designing researchers have figured out how to bring qualities into existing qualities with an objective of making crops impervious to dry seasons and vermin (Ramey, 2012).

Let’s take a genuine model. A bacterium known as "Bacillus Thuringiensis" acts like a supply, it empowers yields to be bug safe, so these hereditarily altered harvests will develop with no obstruction from bugs (Ramey, 2012). The invention of this innovation is being utilized in creating nations to develop money crops like cotton, since this hereditarily built cotton plants are bug safe, they develop superior to anything the ordinary cotton plants consequently yielding great outcomes (Ramey, 2012).

From his past article "Utilization of innovation today and tomorrow" he referenced the utilization of versatile applications by a rancher to ascertain the measure of grass accessible in the field. This spares the rancher time and cash, they will realize what amount is left and what to sustain their animals (Ibid). Innovation has transformed cultivating into a genuine business, presently ranchers have zapped each procedure, a customer can put in a request straightforwardly on the web, and the item will be shipped from the homestead to the purchaser in time when it's still new (Ibid). This sets aside the rancher cash and it removes arbiters who will in general purchase low from ranchers and offer high to end buyers. Each rancher utilizes this innovation in their own specific manner. Some utilization it to make manures, others use it to showcase their items, and others use it underway. So as a rancher, you need to indicate what you need. Utilization of machines on ranches. Presently a rancher can develop on multiple sections of land of land with less work, and can reduce expenses significantly more when they are searching for a utilized tractor and other reaping innovation, versus new hardware. The utilization of grower and collectors makes the procedure so natural. In farming, time and creation are so significant; you need to plant in time, reap in time and convey to stores in time (Ibid). Present day rural innovation allows few individuals to develop huge amounts of nourishment and fibre in a briefest timeframe.

Agro-technology in Ghana

The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) Information Communication and Technology Unit has executed the E-Agriculture Program which is an ICT activity through the West African Agriculture Productivity Program (WAAPP) with assets from the World Bank (FAO, 2017). The program covers all parts of Agriculture in Ghana with center around crops, domesticated animals, vegetable creation and Gender (FAO, 2017). The fundamental target of the E-Agriculture Program is to give moderate, immediate and effective rural assistance conveyance using the web; Information Communication Technologies (ICT's) (FAO, 2017).

This gives the players of the agribusiness esteem anchor access to far reaching and forward-thinking data on Crop and Animal Production, Market Prices, Farm Management Techniques and Practices, and Traceability in the Ghanaian Agriculture (Ibid). The E-Agriculture Program has an idea to grasp models that improve the correspondence and learning procedure of the on-screen characters in the horticultural worth chain. This will help in overcoming any issues between information generators and clients, where ICT is utilized to improve Agriculture, Food Security and Rural Development. Agriculture sends out from Ghana have developed massively since 1997.

Pineapples and citrus organic products structure the significant majority of plant sends out, and these are sent to nations utilizing air and ocean course. The administration has found a way to help plant exporters by connecting them to the SPEG. This empowers a ship to grapple at the port of Tema, where at least one holds are stacked with the fare and afterward moved Problems with Horticultural Exports from Ghana Quality is a significant issue with regards to cultivation (Ibid). The greatest test that Ghana faces today is instructing the cultivators about quality issue. Utilizing ICT stages and entryways can support ranchers and cultivators on best cultivating and taking care of practices. The national e-Agriculture program focus has a call focus office with a toll free number where ranchers call for data on different Agricultural augmentation and warning administrations. Other private division associations, for example, ESOKO and VODAFON has call focuses filling the need of e-Agriculture in Ghana. We have to expand private segment interest on ICT applications in Sustainable Horticulture generation.

The segments of the E-Agriculture Program Platform incorporate the accompanying:

• E-Farm Information (Farmer Audio Library/Interactive Voice Response System [IVR]); where an intrigued individual calls a particular toll free line and is taken through the methodology of the ideal yield/animal generation in their neighborhood dialects, anyplace and whenever (FAO, 2017).

• E-Field Extension; where augmentation officials are furnished with present day advances and application for rancher information assortment and report on events on singular homesteads to help precise and brief reaction to handle needs and early control frameworks to shield nourishment security. Call Center; where people in general can call the toll free line and get all the data required concerning agribusiness from the call focus specialists, in whatever neighborhood language they can best impart in. You can call the toll free number and IVR framework on 1848 and 30037 in Ghana to get to any data in Agriculture (FAO, 2017).

• E-Learning and Resource Center; a middle for data and innovation preparing to advance youth in horticulture. Web-based interface; for the distributing of news and current exercises in the farming part and have the data on all on-screen characters in the agrarian worth chain .

Agro-technology in Ghana

The segments of the E-Agriculture Program Platform incorporate the accompanying:

GHANA'S SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAM AND ITS IMPACT ON EDUCATION

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Ghana's school feeding program and its impact on education.

Each nation over the globe endeavors to address the staggering social issues related with globalization and social change (Husein, 2014). The United Nations planned the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to fill in as a manual for member nations intending to address social issues. The initial two objectives of the SDG centers around the mitigation of extraordinary destitution and appetite. With these objectives, the United Nations planned for decreasing the number of inhabitants in individuals who experience the ill effects of yearning and neediness over the world by over half (United Nations, 2015b). As indicated by the World Food Program (WFP) (2015), one of the approaches to accomplishing the SDG 1 and 2 is by the execution of the school feeding program (SFP). Also, the United Nations Hunger Task Force (UNHTF) suggested that the execution of the SFP will help in lessening hunger among individuals and improve instructive results, explicitly on school enlistment, participation, finish and the scholastic performance of schoolchildren. Besides, the UNHTF likewise referenced that executing the SFP utilizing privately created merchandise as opposed to imported products will give job opportunities to numerous individuals in the nation which could in the end decrease the neediness rate. The SFP ought to incorporate micronutrients supplements, improved sanitation, deworming and standard adjusted weight control plans important to guarantee the development and advancement of schoolchildren (Husein, 2014; WFP, 2013). Numerous associations over the globe have received the UNHTF approach in actualizing SFPs (Del Rosso, 1999; Husein, 2014; NEPAD, 2002). The New Partnership on Africa Development (NEPAD), which was established in 2002 and part of the African Union and the European Union consolidated SFP and farming advancement (Husein, 2014). The target of this effort is to lessen lack of healthy sustenance among younger students and extend neighborhood interest for nourishment creation. This would improve nourishment security, increase job creation and extend agribusiness in Africa and other growing nations (NEPAD, 2002). Different associations and accomplices like the United Nations, WFP, the Government of the Netherlands, and the World Bank have likewise added to the execution of the school feeding program. There is an obvious input by the government of Ghana to elevate access to instruction in the nation. The 1992 constitution of Ghana determines the privilege of each kid in the nation in relation to essential training. It is accordingly basic as well as a duty of the administration to guarantee that obstructions to training are diminished and citizens’ access education (Husein, 2014). Therefore, the administration has actualized different approach systems and structures to elevate access to training for all. A portion of these measures incorporate the Capitation Grant, Free and Compulsory Education, Education for All, Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy, and Education Strategic Plan in 2003-2015 (Ghana Government, 2015; Husein, 2014). In spite of the critical commitments of these endeavors towards access to education, participation and finishing were still low among younger students (Ghana Government, 2015; Husein, 2014). As indicated by Husein (2014) and WFP (2013), yearning and neediness are issues that influence school participation and completion among younger students. Besides, yearning and neediness can unfavorably influence the scholastic performance of younger students (Yendaw and Dayour, 2014; Osei-Fosu, 2011; UNESCO, 2013). In light of this, the Government of Ghana presented the SFP in the year 2005 to reduce hunger which is a prevention to access training and scholarly exhibitions of schoolchildren. As indicated by NEPAD (2002), Ghana is the first of the 10 nations in Sub-Saharan Africa that executed the SFP as per rules set by NEPAD. The Ghana School Feeding Program (GSFP) was begun as an experimental run program in 2005 and executed the nation over in the year 2006 (NEPAD, 2002; Husein, 2014). The momentary destinations of the GSFP are to lighten craving and lack of healthy sustenance among schoolchildren, to energize nearby nourishment creation just as advance school enlistment, participation, and finish. The long haul advantage of the program is to add to the general destitution decrease through an expansion in work opportunities for individuals and the advancement of nourishment security (Ghana Government, 2015). Since the beginning of the program, inclusion has expanded from 1.04 million school children in 2010 to 1.7 million schoolchildren in 2014 (Ghana Statistical Service, 2015). The legislature of Ghana has picked up help from the WFP, the Netherlands Government and other global associations for actualizing the program in numerous country networks. Furthermore, the WFP helped the administration of Ghana by giving school meals to 122,000 schoolchildren in 304 schools in 2015 (WFP, 2015). In addition, the UNHTF has additionally upheld the program by giving seven proposals that fill in as a rule in the effective utilisation of the program.

As per WFP (2006), hunger is one of the most tenacious and harming issues suffered by schoolchildren of today. Likewise, Adelman et al. (2008) states that hunger overwhelmingly affects the performance of younger students in school. This is on the grounds that it influences the mental health and hinders the scholarly limit of kids (Bloom, 2009). As indicated by numerous researchers and therapists, intense and interminable starvation influences kids' capacity to remain mindful and perform well scholastically in school (Bloom, 2009; Dauncey, 2009; Kazal, 2002; Shariff, Bond, and Johnson, 2000). Also, the WFP (2006) and Grantham (1988) feature that starvation and poor instruction are interrelated in that a ravenous kid is less inclined to go to class. As per the World Food Program (2015), factors, for example, factors such as the distance from home to school, child labor, running family errands before school, and poor quality of food consumed at home can also contribute to poor academic performance.

Del Rosso et al., (1999) additionally specifies that SFPs and other school-based sustenance and wellbeing projects rouse guardians to enlist their youngsters in school and help guarantee that they go to class consistently. An expansion in enlistment and participation guarantees positive scholarly execution of kids in schools (UNESCO, 2015) which in the long run advances positive instructive results. An exploration led in Jamaica by Grantham-McGregor (1988) demonstrated that giving breakfast to elementary younger students expanded the participation and execution of the youngsters, particularly among the hindered and helpless kids. Furthermore, an investigation of the SFP in Burkina Faso uncovered that schools with containers or nourishment storerooms that give nourishment to the youngsters during school hours were related with expanded enlistment, participation and higher fruition rate (WFP, 2006). Regardless of the enormous improvements made in instruction crosswise over developing nations combined with a high increase in enlistment rate, numerous issues trouble training frameworks over the world (UNESCO, 2011; WFP, 2015). Destitution and starvation have kept around 67 million youngsters over the world out of grade school, 53% and 47% of these kids speak to young ladies and young men individually. Roughly 43% of these youngsters are found in the Sub-Saharan African district. Besides, the school dropout rate is expanding in numerous developing nations. In Sub-Saharan district alone, the assessed number of kids who dropped out of school expanded from 29 million of every 2008 to 31 million in 2010. What's more, the enlistment pace of younger students in grade schools has eased back in the previous decade (UNESCO, 2011; WFP, 2015).

As indicated by World Food Program (2015), SFPs upgrade sustenance and wellbeing of kids in schools. An upgraded sustenance blocks unhealthiness, diabetes, and dismalness among youngsters. Correspondingly, UNESCO (2015) reports that SFPs destroy extreme craving among younger students as well as more significantly upgrade youngster development and improvement. As determined by the WFP, dishes given under the school feeding program ought to contain micronutrients, and kilocalories vital for solid development and improvement. As indicated by World Health Organization (2015), micronutrients insufficiencies are the main source of diseases that are across board among kids particularly in developing nations. The mortality and bleakness rate among youngsters younger than five raised to over 90% and 80% individually from 1990 to 2015 (WHO, 2015). Likewise, in Nigeria, the significant reasons for mortality among kids have been related with ailing health, looseness of the bowels, intestinal sickness, immunization preventable illnesses and respiratory contaminations (Nigeria Federal Ministry of Education, 2007). In Nigeria, youth diseases represent 49% of school non-attendance among younger students. The SFP is along these lines actualized to address such issues and advance child development. Moreover, an expansion in the micronutrient especially in nutrients and irons are fundamental to the psychological improvement and learning limit of schoolchildren (Bloom, 2009; Dauncey, 2009; Kazal, 2002; Shariff, Bond, and Johnson, 2000). Additionally, proof backing that iron insufficiency and pallor are the significant reasons for grimness among younger students, which influence the greater part of the number of inhabitants in younger students over the globe (Grillenberger et al., 2003; Kristjansson et al., 2009). Ongoing examinations led in Kenya and Uganda on the effects of SFP, notwithstanding, uncover that the SFPs essentially decrease paleness and worm disease pervasiveness among schoolchildren (Adelman et al. 2008; Grillenberger et al., 2003).

PROBLEM

After the institution of the Millennium Development Goals by the United Nations to address social problems across the globe, many countries including Ghana have employed various approaches towards realizing the MDG’s (United Nations, 2015). The introduction of the SFP in Ghana has brought about the raise in access to education, attendance and completion among schoolchildren by reducing hunger (Husein, 2014; Yendaw & Dayour, 2014; Osei-Fosu, 2011; UNESCO, 2013). Regardless of the gains that the SFP has made on education, some scholars have found the program to be ineffective in achieving its stated goals (Agyeman, 2011). According to Agyeman (2011), the departure of many partners from the program has weakened the general coverage of the program as financial support has been reduced. Furthermore, although there are scarce findings that have been conducted to measure the impact of the SFP on enrollment, attendance, and completion in Ghana (Husein, 2014), there is no specific study that focuses on enrollment, attendance, and retention in the Akyem Swedru municipality of the Eastern Region of Ghana. There is, therefore, the need for an investigation that will fill the gap in the literature and provide specific information on the impacts of the SFP on educational outcomes among schoolchildren in Akyem Swedru municipality.

Importance of School Feeding Program

According to World Food Program (2015), SFPs enhance nutrition and health of children in schools. An enhanced nutrition precludes malnutrition, diabetes, and morbidity among children. Similarly, UNESCO (2015) reports that SFPs not only eradicate severe hunger among school children but more importantly enhance child growth and development. As specified by the WFP, meals provided under the school feeding program should contain micronutrient, and kilocalories necessary for healthy growth and development. According to World Health Organization (2015), micronutrient deficiencies are the leading cause of infections that are widespread among children especially in developing countries. The mortality and morbidity rate among children under the age of five escalated to over 90% and 80% respectively from 1990 to 2015 (WHO, 2015). Also, in Nigeria, the major causes of mortality among children have been associated with malnutrition, diarrhea, malaria, vaccine-preventable diseases and respiratory infections (Nigeria Federal Ministry of Education, 2007). In Nigeria, childhood illnesses account for 49% of school absenteeism among school children. The SFP is therefore implemented to address such issues and promote child growth.

Furthermore, an increase in the micronutrient particularly in vitamins and irons are essential to the cognitive development and learning capacity of schoolchildren (Bloom, 2009; Dauncey, 2009; Kazal, 2002; Shariff, Bond, & Johnson, 2000). Similarly, evidence supports that iron deficiency and anemia are the major causes of morbidity among school children, which affect more than half of the population of school children across the globe (Grillenberger et al., 2003; Kristjansson et al., 2009). Recent studies conducted in Kenya and Uganda on the impacts of SFP, however, reveal that the SFPs significantly reduce anemia and worm infection prevalence among schoolchildren (Adelman et al. 2008; Grillenberger et al., 2003).

Moreover, the SFP could give a child the potential to focus on his/her studies with limited health complications. This will allow children to fulfill their future desires and reach their fullest potential (Grillenberger et al., 2003; UNESCO, 2015; World Food Program, 2015). Also, Grillenberger et al. (2003) reveal that poor nutrition in early childhood can affect the cognitive development and learning capacity of a child. Additionally, Jukes et al. (2008) mention that poor health among children in primary schools could affect their educational outcomes, especially in areas regarding enrollment, attendance and completion. Despite the nutritional benefits associated with SFP, Jukes et al. (2008) noted that the SFP should not be seen as a substitute to some nutrition interventions such as mother and child health and supplementary and therapeutic feeding interventions. This is because the SFP does not directly target poor nutrition that occurs during pregnancy and at infancy and childhood, between 6 months to 2 years, which are the most important years to nourish a child’s cognitive development. However, according to Grillenberger et al. (2003), some of the challenges faced during pre-primary school that are related to hunger and malnutrition can be prevented through SFPs. In support of this, the WFP also indicated that SFPs should include nutritious meals to support an optimal growth in height and weight of children in schools.

According to WFP (2006), hunger is one of the most persistent and damaging problems faced by schoolchildren of today. Similarly, Adelman et al. (2008) states that hunger has an overwhelming impact on the performance of school children in school. This is because it affects the brain development and impedes the intellectual capacity of children (Bloom, 2009). According to many scientists and psychologists, acute and chronic hunger affects children’s ability to stay attentive and perform well academically in school (Bloom, 2009; Dauncey, 2009; Kazal, 2002; Shariff, Bond, & Johnson, 2000). Additionally, the WFP (2006) and Grantham (1988) highlight that hunger and poor education are interrelated in that a hungry child is less likely to attend school. According to the World Food Program (2015), factors such as the distance from home to school, child labor, running family errands before school, and poor quality of meals consumed at home can also contribute to poor classroom performance.

Del Rosso et al., (1999) also mentions that SFPs and other school-based nutrition and health programs motivate parents to enroll their children in school and help ensure that they attend school regularly. An increase in enrollment and attendance helps ensure positive academic performance of children in schools (UNESCO, 2015) which eventually promotes positive educational outcomes. A research conducted in Jamaica by Grantham-McGregor (1988) showed that providing breakfast to primary school children increased the attendance and performance of the children, especially among the stunted and vulnerable children. In addition, an analysis of the SFP in Burkina Faso revealed that schools with canteens or food pantries that provide food for the children during school hours were associated with increased enrollment, attendance and higher completion rate (WFP, 2006).

According to Nelson Mandela (1994) “education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world. Concurringly, Sen (1999) believes that providing quality and adequate education for the youth is the only way to build a strong nation. People who are educated are better able to become responsible people in the world. Persons such as politicians, policymakers, scientists, and economists that a country depends on all need education in order to become successful (Food and Agricultural Organization, 2005; World Food Program, 2015). Education imparts training, knowledge, and skills that every person needs to become responsible in the society (Sen, 1999).

Ahmed (2002) and Edstrom et al. (2008) found that children who are educated are more likely to feed themselves and their immediate families when they reach adulthood. Additionally, Kristjansson et al. (2009) also mentioned that SFP guarantees limited challenges in school attendance and ensure that children who enroll in schools attend regularly. Furthermore, the SFP has promoted female youth education and reduced child labor in Malawi (Edstrom et al., 2008). Despite the massive developments made in education across developing countries coupled with a high increase in enrollment rate, many problems burden education systems across the world (UNESCO, 2011; WFP, 2015). Poverty and hunger have kept about million children across the world out of primary school, 53% and 47% of these children represent girls and boys respectively. Approximately 43% of these children are found in the Sub-Saharan African region. Furthermore, the school dropout rate is increasing in many developing countries. In Sub-Saharan region alone, the estimated number of children who dropped out of school increased from 29 million in 2008 to 31 million in 2010. In addition to this, the enrollment rate of school children in primary schools has slowed in the past decades (UNESCO, 2011; WFP, 2015).

According to the World Food Program (2004), the impact of the school feeding program on enrollment cannot be overemphasized. Kazianga et al. (2009) identified a positive relationship between the SFP and school enrollment, academic performance, and cognitive development. Similarly, Akanbi (2011) identified a significant increase in the attendance and enrollment rates in schools after the introduction of the SFP in Nigeria. Furthermore, a research conducted by Alderman et al. (2012) to assess the impacts of the SFP in Northern Uganda found a significant increase in school enrollment and attendance in primary schools as a result of the SFP in the first five years of implementation. Alderman et al. (2012) however mentioned that the impact of the SFP varies by location depending on the type of SFP implemented. The authors assessed how the implementation of the on-site SFP and the take-home ration differently impacts enrollment rates among girls in Northern Uganda. The authors identified that in schools where there is a combination of the on-site school feeding program and the take-home ration, enrollment rate among girls was sustained at thirty percent after the first year. However, in schools that have the on-site school feeding program, the increment rate recorded after the first year reverted to that recorded before the implementation of the SFP. In congruence with these results, Moore and Kunze (1994) also found a positive relationship between school enrollment and school canteens. They found that in Burkina Faso, schools with canteens have higher enrollment rates than schools without a canteen system. Moore and Kunze also found that school canteens have a positive influence on school attendance, academic performance, and educational success. These results, however, contradict the findings of Meme et. al (1998) that there is no difference in the enrollment rates among schools with canteens and schools without a canteen system in Kenya.

Many studies have investigated the impacts of the SFP on cognitive development and academic performance. Simeon and McGregor (1989) conducted a research on the effects of breakfast on the cognitive development of children between the ages of 9 and 10 years. The authors utilized a crossover design on three different groups comprised of children who were malnourished, stunted and non-stunted children. They found that serving breakfast for children is crucial to their cognitive development and the impact is even more significant among malnourished children. Similarly, a study conducted on two groups from four primary schools in Jamaica, a group of malnourished children which was the experimental group and another group with nourished children that served as a control group. The researchers performed four cognitive tests; verbal fluency, information processing, visual search and digit span on both groups after breakfast was provided to the experimental group. The authors found an improvement in the verbal fluency of the experiment group while there was no change in the control group. The authors then concluded that providing breakfast to children helps improve their cognitive development (Chandler et. al, 1995). This result is consistent with the results of Simeon and McGregor (1989). However, Lopez et al. (1999) found a contradictory result when they assessed the impacts of breakfast on the cognitive development of primary school children. The authors found that there is a disassociation between breakfast and cognitive development, specifically in problem-solving, visual memory and attention task of children. The authors concluded that in the short-run, missing breakfast does not affect the cognitive development of children. However, Husein (2014) mentioned that these researchers did not pay attention to the food that children ate the night before the research was conducted and the time they had that food as that could have influenced their findings.

Nonetheless, Ahmed (2004) have also found that iron and iodine nutrients are crucial for cognitive development in children. Del Rosso (1999) also emphasized that children who lack iodine and iron nutrients perform poorly in schools. A similar assertion was also made by Seshadri and Gopaldas (1989) that the provision of iron to children is crucial to their IQ development which eventually improves their performance in schools. The provision of micronutrients in the SFP supports the cognitive development and academic performance of children in primary schools. (Jacoby et. al 1996). This implies that the implementation of the SFP to malnourished children is a significant step to improving children’s academic performance and cognitive development.

Challenges of the School Feeding Program

According to Chelangat (2011), there are several factors that affect the successful implementation of the SFP in schools. Some of these factors include lack of adequate financial resources to sustain the program and problems associated with the policy and regulatory framework in charge of the SFP implementation. Various literature has been reviewed on the challenges facing the implementation of the SFP in schools.

Lack of Financial Resources. According to Koontz and Weirich (2001), the availability of financial resources is a major factor to consider when implementing a national program or policy. Just like any other national program, the successful implementation of a school feeding program depends on a strong financial commitment typically by the government and all other interested parties to fund the program. Ayieke (2005) also mentioned that national programs like the SFP should be included in the government fiscal budget spending for the year according to the national planning process. In addition to this, money allocated to the program must also be distributed to the appropriate institutions on a timely basis to support the program (Ayieke, 2005; Nkethia, 2011). However, according to Kootnz and Wierch (2001), the unstable source of funding for SFPs continue to be one of the major challenges of the program. Similarly, Olubayo et al (2013) also found that even though there are resources allocated to the spending on the SFP, there is no proper spending plan on how the funds are distributed in Nigeria. Similarly, Nkethia (2011) found that schools in Kenya that receive resources directly from the government to carry out the SFP reported delay in the timely distribution of funds to them affecting their ability to implement the SFP successfully and in a timely manner. As a result of this, some of the children in these schools are not able to receive adequate meals to sustain them. Furthermore, the few schools that provide enough food for the children are usually not able to meet the basic nutritional elements specified under the program (Nkethia, 2011).

Policy and Regulatory Network Problems. According to Chelangat (2011), in order to ensure a successful implementation of the SFP, there should be an institutional arrangement that is responsible for carrying out the program. The author also recommends that the institutions set to carry out the implementation of the program must have qualified and adequate staff to help in the implementation process and the system of operation must be transparent to the general public. In addition to this, WFP (2008) mentions that the implementation of the SFP must involve all stakeholders and the system must be monitored and evaluated. This according to Briggs (2008) will ensure a successful implementation of the program. However, a research conducted by Olubayo et al. (2013) on the SFP in Emuhaya County in Nigeria revealed that there is lack of adequate skilled personnel to successfully implement the program. The authors also mentioned that lack of transparency and effective communication between the policy networks in charge of the problem were found to be a major challenges associated with the SFP implementation. According to WFP (2013) and United Nations (2008), issues such as corruption, political instability and lack of proper monitoring and evaluation are also problems with the policy administrations that inhibit the successful implementation of the SFP in many developing countries.

Implementation of the School Feeding Program in Ghana.

The major partners involved in the implementation of the SFP in Ghana include, the government of Ghana, the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, the Ministry of Children, Gender and Social Protection, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the WFP, School Enterprise Development organization, and the Netherlands Development Cooperation among others (GSFP Report, 2007-2010). In order to achieve the objectives of the program, each major partner performs specific responsibilities that help in carrying out the program. The Government of Ghana, which is made up of the Parliament and the Cabinet, is responsible for the establishment and passing of the SFP bill into law. The government also serves as the primary source of funding for the program. The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development are collaboratively responsible for the implementation of the SFP at the national level. The Ministry of Food and Agriculture also ensures that the program meets its intended agricultural outcomes. Furthermore, the Ministry of Finance and Economics ensures that money allocated for the program is distributed to the respective institutions responsible for carrying out the program whereas the Ministry of Children, Gender, and Social Protection is responsible for the monitoring and evaluation of the program (GSFP Report, 2007-2010). Moreover, at the regional level, Duah (2011) mentioned that the Regional Coordinating Councils (RCC) have also been created to coordinate the implementation of the program in all the ten regions in Ghana.

The RCCs are responsible for the planning and execution of the program in the various regions. In doing this, they are responsible to establish a steering committee that assists them in carrying out their roles. The District Implementation Committee (DIC) and School Implementation Committees (SIC), which are also established at the district and school level respectively, in collaboration with the District Assembly are responsible for the implementation of the program at the local level. The DICs oversee the planning and monitoring of the program in the schools where the program is implemented and the SICs oversee the implementation and supervision of the program in each school. The School Enterprise Development Organization and the Netherlands Development Cooperation are also responsible for the training of caterers and cooks involved in the implementation of the program. The caterers who are recruited for carrying out the program must meet some academic and food hygiene qualifications that will enable them to carry out their roles effectively towards meeting the goals of the program (GSFP Report, 2007-2010).

PUBLIC RELATIONS AS A TOOL IN ATTAINING ORGANISATIONAL GOALS

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Public Relations as a tool in attaining organisational goals.

Public relations can be considered and defined from the perspectives of public relations campaigns. Here, a public relations campaign is thought of as the efforts a firm puts into the creation and maintenance of relationships that are socially acceptable through the application of objectives that based on evidence and presented through the adoption of communication strategies and through measuring of these outcomes (Kendall, 1996). Rinrattanakorn (2016) posits that the objectives of campaigns are targeted at the achievement of certain firm purposes and for that matter public relations campaigns conducted with the aim of improving the situation or to solve an issue in an organisation.

In Africa, scholars and researchers have proposed and advocated the use of public relations in addressing a wide range of challenges. On the menace of campus cult, Akande (2001) called for the adoption of public relations techniques that are in line with McGregor’s carrot and stick approach as the tool for addressing the menace. Igben (2001) whiles proposing solutions for perennial crisis in Nigerian Universities believed that positioning public relations among other recommendations to management was the way to go. In a similar study, Salau (2001) made a call for the strategic placement and professional training for public relations professionals in other to make such professional effective in their operations in the various higher institutions in Nigeria. Arguments in favour of public relations among African scholars did not leave out the relevant of public relations in the operations of businesses. In business public relations has been seen as a tool relevant to the needs of business, especially for ensuring customer satisfaction and exceeding the expectations of customers as well as for the purpose of stimulating policies that are deemed advantageous (Ogudoro, 2001).

Public relations as stated earlier is not being practiced for the fun of it rather it is aimed at achieving targeted objects which are necessary for the growth of the organisation through improved relationships with the publics. There is therefore the need to be able to evaluate and measure the impact of executed public relations strategies in various organisations. Rinrattanakorn (2016) for instance sees the evaluation of a public relations campaign as encompassing the systematic measurement of the campaign. It is not until when practitioners in the field of public relations are able to measure the results of their public relations activities against the objectives, which such activities targeted that practitioners are able to provide accurate answers to their clients regarding the success of their public relations campaigns.

The need for the evaluation of public relations campaign is as a result of certain factors including pressure to give clients with real returns on public relations campaigns which is not only limited to the coverage levels but captures the impact of public relations campaigns as well. In line with this, McNamara (2014) noted that there are several factors accounting for the need for putting in place standards for the evaluation and measurement of public relations.

PROBLEM

Even though Public Relations performs important communication functions in the organisation there is still doubt that Public Relations contributes to realizing organisational goals with respect to image (Yeo &Sriramesh 2009). As organisations become complex and try to survive in an increasingly complex, interdependent and turbulent world (Yeo &Sriramesh, 2009), Public Relations becomes more and more essential because relationships with stakeholder publics become even more important boosting organisational image. The purpose of the study is to explore how the contribution of Public Relations (establishing mutually beneficial relationship between an organisation and its publics and attaining good corporate reputation) goes to assist the Ghana Revenue Authority achieve its organisational goals (responsive customer service, professional and credible organisation, optimum revenue collection in a cost effective manner and a voluntary tax environment to ensure voluntary compliance) (GRA, 2018).

Public relations describes the various methods a company uses to disseminate messages about its products, services, or overall image to its customers, employees, stockholders, suppliers, or other interested members of the community. The point of public relations is to make the public think favorably about the company and its offerings. Commonly used tools of public relations include news releases, press conferences, speaking engagements, and community service programs.

Although advertising is closely related to public relations as it too is concerned with promoting and gaining public acceptance for the company's products the goal of advertising is generating sales, while the goal of public relations is generating good will. The effect of good public relations is to lessen the gap between how an organization sees itself and how others outside the organization perceive it.

Public relations involves two-way communication between an organization and its public. It requires listening to the constituencies on which an organization depends as well as analyzing and understanding the attitudes and behaviors of those audiences. Only then can an organization undertake an effective public relations campaign.

Many small business owners elect to handle the public relations activities for their own companies, while others choose to hire a public relations specialist. Managers of somewhat larger firms, on the other hand, frequently contract with external public relations or advertising agencies to enhance their corporate image. However, whatever option is chosen, the head of a company is ultimately responsible for its public relations.

Some of the main goals of public relations are to create, maintain, and protect the organization's reputation, enhance its prestige, and present a favorable image. Studies have shown that consumers often base their purchase decisions on a company's reputation, so public relations can have a definite impact on sales and revenue. Public relations can be an effective part of a company's overall marketing strategy. In the case of a for-profit company, public relations and marketing should be coordinated to be sure they are working to achieve the same objectives.

Another major public relations goal is to create good will for the organization. This involves such functions as employee relations, stockholder and investor relations, media relations, and community relations. Public relations may function to educate certain audiences about many things relevant to the organization including the business in general, new legislation, and how to use a particular product as well as to overcome misconceptions and prejudices. For example, a nonprofit organization may attempt to educate the public regarding a certain point of view, while trade associations may undertake educational programs regarding particular industries and their products and practices. Public relations is a multifaceted activity involving different audiences as well as different types of organizations, all with different goals and objectives. As a result, there are several specific areas of public relations.

Product public relations

Public relations and marketing work together closely when it comes to promoting a new or existing product or service. Public relations plays an important role in new product introductions by creating awareness, differentiating the product from other similar products, and even changing consumer behavior. Public relations can help introduce new products through staging a variety of special events and handling sensitive situations. For example, when the Prince Matchabelli division of Chesebrough-Pond's USA introduced a new men's cologne, there were twenty-one other men's fragrances being introduced that year. To differentiate its new offering, called Hero, Prince Matchabelli created a National Hero Awards Program honoring authentic male heroes and enlisted the participation of Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America to lend credibility to the program. Similarly, when Coleco introduced its Cabbage Patch Kids dolls, public relations helped increase awareness through licensed tie-in products, trade show exhibits, press parties, and even window displays in Cartier jewelry stores.

Public relations is often called on to give existing products and services a boost by creating or renewing visibility. For example, the California Raisins Advisory Board organized a national tour featuring live performances by the California Dancing Raisins to maintain interest in raisins during a summer-long advertising hiatus. The tour generated national and local publicity through media events, advance publicity, trade promotions, and media interviews with performer Ray Charles. Other public relations programs for existing products involve stimulating secondary demand—as when Campbell Soup Co. increased overall demand for soup by publishing a recipe booklet—or identifying new uses for the product. Public relations can interest the media in familiar products and services in a number of ways, including holding seminars for journalists, staging a special media day, and supplying the media with printed materials ranging from "backgrounders" (in-depth news releases) to booklets and brochures. Changes in existing products offer additional public relations opportunities to focus consumers' attention. An effective public relations campaign can help to properly position a product and overcome negative perceptions on the part of the general public.

Employee relations

Employees are one of the most important audiences a company has, and an ongoing public relations program is necessary to maintain employee good will as well as to uphold the company's image and reputation among its employees. The essence of a good employee relations program is keeping employees informed and providing them with channels of communication to upper levels of management. Bechtel Group, a privately held complex of operating companies, published an annual report for its employees to keep them informed about the company's operations. The company used surveys to determine what information employees considered useful. A range of other communication devices were used, including a monthly tabloid and magazine, a quarterly video magazine, local newsletters, bulletin boards, a call-in telephone service, and "brown bag" lunches where live presentations were made about the company. Suggestion systems are another effective way to improve employee-management communications.

Other public relations programs focusing on employees include training them as company public relations representatives; explaining benefits programs to them; offering them educational, volunteer, and citizenship opportunities; and staging special events such as picnics or open houses for them. Other programs can improve performance and increase employee pride and motivation. Public relations can also play a role in recruiting new employees; handling reorganizations, relocations, and mergers; and resolving labor disputes.

Financial relations

Financial relations involves communicating not only with a company's stockholders, but also with the wider community of financial analysts and potential investors. An effective investor relations plan can increase the value of a company's stock and make it easier to raise additional capital. In some cases, special meetings with financial analysts are necessary to overcome adverse publicity, negative perceptions about a company, or investor indifference. Such meetings may take the form of full-day briefings, formal presentations, or luncheon meetings. A tour of a company's facilities may help generate interest among the financial community. Mailings and ongoing communications can help a company achieve visibility among potential investors and financial analysts.

Annual reports and stockholder meetings are the two most important public relations tools for maintaining good investor relations. Some companies hold regional or quarterly meetings in addition to the usual annual meeting. Other companies reach more stockholders by moving the location of their annual meeting from city to city. Annual reports can be complemented by quarterly reports and dividend check inserts. Companies that wish to provide additional communications with stockholders may send them a newsletter or company magazine. Personal letters to new stockholders and a quick response to inquiries insure an additional measure of goodwill.

Community relations

A comprehensive, ongoing community relations program can help virtually any organization achieve visibility as a good community citizen and gain the good will of the community in which it operates. Banks, utilities, radio and television stations, and major retailers are some of the types of organizations most likely to have ongoing programs that might include supporting urban renewal, performing arts programs, social and educational programs, children's programs, community organizations, and construction projects. On a more limited scale, small businesses may achieve community visibility by sponsoring local sports teams or other events. Support may be financial or take the form of employee participation.

Organizations have the opportunity to improve good will and demonstrate a commitment to their communities when they open new offices, expand facilities, and open new factories. One company increased community awareness of its presence by converting a vacant building into a permanent meeting place. Another company built its new headquarters in an abandoned high school that it renovated. One of the more sensitive areas of community relations involves plant closings. A well-planned public relations campaign, combined with appropriate actions, can alleviate the tensions that such closings cause. Some elements of such a campaign might include offering special programs to laid-off workers, informing employees directly about proposed closings, and controlling rumors through candid and direct communications to the community and employees.

Organizations conduct a variety of special programs to improve community relations, including providing employee volunteers to work on community projects, sponsoring educational and literacy programs, staging open houses and conducting plant tours, celebrating anniversaries, and mounting special exhibits. Organizations are recognized as good community citizens when they support programs that improve the quality of life in their community, including crime prevention, employment, environmental programs, clean-up and beautification, recycling, and restoration.

Crisis communications

Public relations practitioners become heavily involved in crisis communications whenever there is a major accident or natural disaster affecting an organization and its community. Other types of crises involve bankruptcy, product failures, and management wrongdoing. In some cases, crises call for an organization to become involved in helping potential victims; in other cases, the crisis may require rebuilding an organization's image. In any case, experts recommend that business owners prepare a plan in advance to deal with potential crises in an honest and forthright manner. The main objective of such a plan is to provide accurate information quickly in order to reduce uncertainty. After the San Francisco earthquake of 1989, for example, the Bank of America utilized its public relations department to quickly establish communications with customers, the financial community, the media, and offices in 45 countries to assure them the bank was still operating.

Government and political relations

Public relations in the political arena covers a wide range of activities, including staging debates, holding seminars for government leaders, influencing proposed legislation, and testifying before a congressional committee. Political candidates engage in public relations, as do government agencies at the federal, state, and local levels.

Trade associations and other types of organizations attempt to block unfavorable legislation and support favorable legislation in a number of ways. The liquor industry in California helped defeat a proposed tax increase by taking charge of the debate early, winning endorsements, recruiting spokespersons, and cultivating grassroots support. A speakers’ bureau trained some 240 industry volunteers, and key messages were communicated to the public through printed materials and radio and television commercials.

Public relations in the public interest

Organizations attempt to generate good will and position themselves as responsible citizens through a variety of programs conducted in the public interest. Some examples are environmental programs (including water and energy conservation) and antipollution programs. A wide range of nonprofit organizations, healthcare providers, and other businesses and industries sponsors health and medical programs. These range from encouraging other companies to develop AIDS-in-the-workplace policies to the American Cancer Society's Great American Smokeout. Other programs offer political education, leadership and self-improvement, recreational activities, contests, and safety instruction.

Consumer education

Organizations have undertaken a variety of programs to educate consumers, building good will and helping avoid misunderstandings in the process. Opportunities for educating consumers might include sponsoring television and radio programs, producing manuals and other printed materials, producing materials for classroom use, and releasing the results of surveys. In addition to focusing on specific issues or industries, educational programs may seek to inform consumers about economic matters and business in general.

Other public relations programs

Other types of programs that fall under the umbrella of public relations include corporate identity programs, ranging from name changes and new trademarks to changing a company's overall image. Special events may be held to call attention to an organization and focus the public's good will. These include anniversary celebrations, events related to trade shows, special exhibits, or fairs and festivals. Speakers bureaus and celebrity spokespersons are effective public relations tools for communicating an organization's point of view. Speakers bureaus may be organized by a trade association or an individual company. The face-to-face communication that speakers can deliver is often more effective than messages carried by printed materials, especially when the target audience is small and clearly defined.

BILLBOARD ADVERTISING AND CONSUMER PATRONAGE: AN OVERVIEW.

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Billboard advertising and consumer patronage: an overview.

When one starts a business or is running a business, one needs to make people aware. Promotion is important for any type of business to let others know about the business. Any type of business, whether it is run online or offline requires customers so that it can experience a good business turnaround (Trand, 2014). However, the only means of reaching customers is advertising. This is why advertising is important for a business. Once a business advertises about its products and services, it is able to run in a competitive environment (Trand, 2014).

Advertising is unique to your brand. For some companies, they may have the marketing budget to support broad campaigns through every outlet (Ibid). For most companies though, particularly the many local and regional businesses we work with, it is a careful balance to and the right place for your advertising dollars (Ibid). You want to minimize wasted money while maximizing efficiency (Trand, 2014). Billboards are significantly cheaper than television and traditional media advertising (Simons, 2016). Although there are many different forms of advertising, out of home advertising billboards remain one of the tried and true methods of grabbing customers’ attention and reaching a targeted geographic audience (Simons, 2016).

Advertising is important for every aspect of a business. It plays an imperative role for both manufacturers and consumers (Kahn, 2016). Advertising is important for the business on the whole as it lets the business gain more customers, thereby increasing business turnaround. Advertising can be achieved using various media like television, newspapers, radio, banners, pamphlets, and websites (Kahn, 2016). Each advertising media has its own pros and cons and one must evaluate all of them before selecting a particular media. The main thing that needs to be considered is that the advertising medium selected must be able to reach a large number of customers (Kahn, 2016). Generally, businesses hire the services of an advertising agency to promote their products and services. The advertising agency selected by the business owner can handle the entire advertisement campaign and all aspects of the company’s marketing. This way the businessmen can focus on other aspects of the business and need not worry about how to attract more customers (Kahn, 2016). The advertising agency handles the entire process of promoting a product or service by breaking it down into stages and then working on each stage. These stages are described below:

Market analysis- The advertising agency first studies the market to know the target audience and the needs of the target audience. The Small Business Marketing Consultant at the advertising agency also studies the competition present in the market to know how the advertising campaign will do in the market. This is done to know whether the product or service will be able to stand in the competition or not.

Selecting the advertising media- Once the advertising agency has decided to go ahead with the advertising campaign, it starts to select the advertising media. The small business marketing consultant at the agency studies the benefits and drawbacks of all the available media like television, radio, newspaper, and internet. On the basis of their comparison, the consultants select the media which they feel will do justice to the advertising campaign.

Cost-benefit analysis- The small business marketing consultant at the advertising agency then performs a cost benefit analysis. This analysis is performed for two reasons. The first is to decide whether the advertising campaign will benefit the business in the sense will advertising help to earn good business turnaround. If yes, then advertising agency starts with an advertising campaign. The other reason why a cost benefit analysis is done is to check whether the cost of promoting a product or service using a particular advertising media justifies the benefits it reaps. This is done to make sure that advertising using a particular media benefits the business by helping it get more customers and thus high business turnaround.

Deciding the mode of advertisement- The market consultant at the advertising agency then decides about how the message will be conveyed to the target audience. The advertising agency may use simple pamphlets or banners to let the customers know about the product or service. On the other hand, the advertising agency may film an attractive video to make sure that the target audience is conveyed the message.

Creating the actual advertisement- Once all aspects are looked into, the Small Business Marketing Consultant at the advertising agency proceeds with the creation of the advertisement. For this, the consultant may take the help of experts at the advertising agency or he may seek the help of professionals from outside. In either case, the end result is the creation of an attractive and appealing advertisement by the advertising agency. The advertising agency charges for the completion of the advertising campaign. So, it must be ensured that a business man goes in for an advertising agency that completes the work in the specified budget. Also the advertising agency must make sure that it does not exceed the budget because if it does so, the cost will out-shadow the benefits of the advertising campaign. This will not help the business in any manner. The advertising agency must also be clear about the goals and objectives which the business wants to achieve using the advertisement. When promoting the products and services, the advertising agency must also make sure that the right message gets across to the right people at the right time. If the advertising agency fails to provide the advertisement at the right time, the consumers may shift to another product or service.

Promotional initiatives taken in the consumer durable industry need to be really thought over and contribute in convincing the consumers as these kinds of products need information and conviction in decision making. An advertisement is one of the oldest, yet the most widely used strategy for brand promotion. It has the objective to gain attention of majority of the target population. This is particularly true for billboard or outdoor advertising because the objective is to not just create association with consumers but also create brand retention for the purpose of recall of the product in the mind of the consumer.

Billboard advertising gets its name from the term billing board. It attributes to a large outdoor advertising space that is specifically designed to capture the attention of the pedestrians as well as the motorists (Kahn, 2016). Billboards are deliberately and typically placed around areas of high traffic on foot as well as automotive traffic and are kept striking and creative along with being simple at the same time (Kahn, 2016). Relative to other advertising strategies, billboard advertising can be cheaper and varies according to the size and the location. Advertisers have great thrust on billboard advertising as a technique, though it comes with its own set of height and width restrictions and also lot of distraction rules but still they have the liberty and the freedom to create ads that are not just newsworthy but a great source to push sales (Kahn, 2016). This is because advertising by and large is a push mechanism for increasing sales. The world has witnessed some highly innovative outdoor advertisements in the past with creative inputs such as simulated car crashes, smoke emission or even live persons living inside them have been witnessed. Majority of the investment goes in the space rental, getting innovative with billboard advertising is relatively cheaper. Advertisers are and should be aware that creativity of this type is worth exploring as it gives a much higher ROI and offers better credit to media to get more witnesses to the message (Kahn, 2016). In the present times, the variety in billboards have increased with classic, vinyl, painted, mobile, three dimensional, scented as being some of the few options.

Ever since Jared Bell presented and explained a huge poster in the public in the mid1800, the advertising of billboards remains as one of the top medium for promoting a brand (Thomas and Alexa, 2015). As per Outdoor Advertising Association of America, Inc in Bulletins (2015), billboards are the largest with strong and impactful form of advertisement. If looking at the progress of adverting, roadside advertising has remained very relevant till the existence of land transportation. Billboards are a form of outdoor media but in many cases different scholars also distinguishes it from outdoor media and see them as a form of advertisement. (Anna, 2006) According to (Meurs & Aristoff, 2009), this form of advertisements presents an appeal for the brands and products which could be used to gain more market share. Moreover, it develops clear branding through large text sizes, pictures of celebrities and brands/products, clearly explained features and benefits and other such information such as prices.

Hoardings and Billboards are one of the main competitive edges in medium of advertising. Technological changes also impacts this industry as well as the traditional mode of billboards have shifted to electronic boards. Cut-out billboards are considered to be the new trend in the industry. The industry spends much each year to influence the central and local billboards control, hence, it is taken widely accessible, cheaper, convenient and more attractive. (Hussain & Nizamani, 2011).

PROBLEM

Billboards have remained an important tool to share the information with the target market (Kahn, 2016). On the other hand, many have argued that, the stationary nature of Billboards require consumers to rely on their recall ability where with online ads they can revisit as many times as possible (Chron, 2019). Also, billboard advertising provide an extremely brief, if not momentary, exposure time to assimilate the information as it is considered as a short term advertising tool unless there is a commitment to often change the message (Chron, 2019). Due to the above and many other concerns, the relevance of billboard advertising has witnessed a significant decline as businesses most prefer to promote their brands via broadcast mediums such as TV, radio and the internet so as to achieve value for their money for their advertising efforts (Kahn, 2016). This study seeks to provide an overview of billboard advertising & consumer patronage of goods and services with focus on the CocaCola brand.

BILLBOARD ADVERTISING

An organization cannot dream to become a known brand until it invests in promotional campaigns for which consumer markets have been controlling through advertisements. (Hussainy et al., 2008). In the dynamic world of today, it becomes almost impossible for companies to share their information with the consumers without using any form of advertising. Certainly, this is because of accessibility of thousands of viewers of hundreds of channels of this era. Billboards are one form of advertising your product/brands and communicate your message effectively and with cheaper rates (Hussain & Nizamani, 2011). (Till & Busler, 2000) explored that there was a strong effect of attractiveness of the endorser on the attitude of respondents towards the product/brand and the intention of their purchase. Research conducted by (Kahle & Homor, 1985) has also shown that the recall rates of a brand are higher when endorser is attractive as compare to unattractive one. The celebrity endorser is a person who enjoys recognition of public and uses that recognition on behalf of a customer good by appearing in a particular advertising. Several studies by (Bhargava & Donthu, 1999); (Donthu et al. 1993); (Meurs & Aristoff, 2009) have shown the effectiveness of outdoor media marketing in terms of advertising message and awareness. (Donthu et al. 1993) have selected ten outdoor billboards in American settings to check the attention of the passengers/customers pass nearby. Two of them were posted on smaller streets while 8 are posted on main highway road where traffic was comparatively on higher side. In American settings diver is on right hand side was found higher attentive to the billboards and people on left hand side and billboards on small streets were less recalled. To help companies who advertise through this medium it is important to know which segment of the audience is more attentive to this medium. There is very less literature available which dig into the effect of this form of advertising on sub groups among audiences. Contrary to this, there are studies related to the demographics with the perception of outdoor advertising. (Prendergast & Yuen, 2005) have investigated that respondents from youth perceived handbills as more entertaining and informative than older and those who are mode educated reported that this form is easy to understand. Maximum chunk of companies adopt outdoor advertising that have an impact on geographic locations and effective sales response (Schlossberg, 1990).

ATTRIBUTES OF BILLBOARD ADVERTISING

Findings of (Hussain & Nizamani, 2011) have revealed that size of boards, colors used in the board, locations and the images selected in the boards does matters for gaining the attentions of the audience/customers. The research concluded that advertising is now moving towards modern trends with rapid growth, therefore the variables such as size, locations, images used in the board and color schemes of the billboards that have a positive impact on attention should be used adequately. Thus the research provides the evidence that as cheaper, convenient and accessible medium billboard advertising comes out to be one of the most attractive ways to the target market.

For advertising to be successful, it is not enough to send out a message and then hope for a result. Customers are today exposed to more advertisements each day and this can be annoying to them. On the market today, customers tend to have a more negative attitude towards advertising and this makes it harder for organisations to reach their audience. Because of all this advertising strategy is getting of higher importance and it essential for organisations to have a clear strategy to follow (Zanot, 1981). Many may believe that creating advertising is all about creating the ultimate message and choose the perfect media channel, but there is so much more behind all of that. The right strategies have to be created and an advertising plan has to be set in action. There are several theories and models on how organisations can create a good advertising campaign today (Jobber, 2004).

According to Kamran Khan Syed Karamatullah Hussainy, Abdullah Khan and Habibullah Khan, (2016), there are important features that should be considered while creating billboard advertisement to attract the customer. This study highlights the elements that are necessary to create effective billboards so that customer attention can be sought. The study brings out various aspects linked to billboard advertisement, such as, colour, size, celebrity endorsement, logo, texture and the message on the board. The key findings of the study are that the response of the customer towards billboard advertising is dependent on many aspects, lower colour, size and celebrity image are the most crucial amongst all. With the involvement of technology in promotion at a very strong level, it is recommended that the future research brings out the implications of technology on the impact of response towards billboard advertisement.

Mitchell (1986) argued that the advertisements of 2 products having same attributes can have a different impression. The combination of the exact picture, color and the text in an advertisement makes an ad different among others. The visual is associated with the emotions and these emotions come from social needs generated by culture and from biology of the individuals. The visual part of an ad has two main duties, one is to draw the attention and make feeling good. It is believed that individuals translate visual elements of ad design into verbal information of the product (Messaris, 1996). It is important to understand that design is a combination of colors, shapes lines on a piece of paper and adding up these elements makes a visual information. Thing which is important is how well the design captures the eyes (Messaris, 1996). There are many elements in designing an ad which can construct an ad effective or not;

· Picture: this includes a model which endorses product or a picture of product/brand itself. Model itself has some characteristics like age, gender, fame, style and nationality.

· Appeal: this includes themes like fantasy, sex, slice of life, humor or rational etc.

· Text: this includes attributes color, font and size

· Color: this includes colors & groups of colors like cold and warm and black & white.

BILLBOARD ADVERTISING EFFECTS ON CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOURS.

E.K. Bonney (2014) did a research on the impact of advertising on consumer purchase decision. The researcher highlighted that besides advertising, other factors such as product packaging, quality, endorsement influence the action of the consumer towards the purchase decision. The main objective of the study was to identify the factors that motivate the companies to take up the advertising efforts. They identified six principles on which the advertising campaigns run the identified principles are: To score Attention, to arouse interest, to create desire, to incite action, to develop and sustain interest and to create good will. The key findings of their research were that advertising, whether in any form may just serve as a platform to remind the prospective buyer about the existence of the product and it is not the absolute measure that leads to the ultimate purchase decision. It is equally important for the customer to be satisfied as well as attracted to the other factors such as the quality, packaging, features and other things that lead towards the purchase decision. Companies should focus that their advertisements give adequate information to the customers, other than just attracting them towards the product.

In a study by Nwinyinya and Nneoma (2014) on the topic, the impact of Billboard Advertising on Product Promotion‖ identified that the problem of this research work majorly dealt with the ways in which billboard advertising can contribute towards the development of print media. It primarily tries to explain the way in which print advertising is explained or defined by billboard advertising. By the use of chi square the researcher concluded that billboard advertising is one of the most important tools for product promotion. It concluded that billboard advertising does create the platform for print advertising, especially for newly introduced product.

Thales S. Teixeira (2014) researched on a very interesting topic, which is the rising cost of Consumer Attention and the ways in which this cost can be handled. According to the researchers, there are two dimensions of attention: Intensity and Duration. Intensity can be defined as a measure the quality of attention during a break while the durations dimension means its quantity. Duration is far easier to measure as compared to intensity. The qualitative aspects of consumer attention have diminished significantly over the years. This has so happened because the consumers no longer depend upon the Advertisement for information. It is available at their disposal and in abundance on the internet. More over the price for high quality research have escalated significantly over the years. The current and future profits have been significantly diminished because of this. The alternative is to find cheaper attention sources, or increase the sales conversion.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY EFFECT ON CORPORATE IMAGE.

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Corporate Social responsibility effect on corporate image.

Businesses have been incorporating a lot of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities in their operations. Corporate Social responsibility has advanced into a strategic instrument for a firm’s sustainability as well as its brand image (Beckman, Colwell & Cunningham, 2009; Chen & Hung-Baesecke, 2014; Chung & Yang, 2016; Austin & Gaither, 2017). Firms all over the world have made attempts to align CSR with their strategic plans in response to the responsibilities placed on them by the society and are investing heavily in strategic CSR (Brammer, Millington & Rayton, 2007). The responsibilities of the organizations to the society in terms of CSR can be classified into four main groups that form the layers of CSR Pyramid – economic, legal (statutory), ethical and charitable (philanthropic) couched by Carroll (1991). According to the European Competiveness Report, published in 2008, the significance of CSR cannot be overstressed, particularly in times of financial crisis. The Vice-President of the European Commission, Günther Verheugen (Trapp 2009), added, that socially responsible firms will have a better position in the future than those that have not yet adopted a CSR policy, because they will enjoy more profits, including loyalty of employees, which they can rely on.

The banking sector responded relatively late to the challenges of CSR, it first considered environmental, then social issues (Viganò ‒ Nicolai, 2009). In developed market economies, financial institutions, searching for a way out, started to focus more on corporate social responsibility. Even their financial statements now pay attention to the social, economic and environmental impacts of their operations. Bank’s stable financial position, increasing economic performance, ethical and transparent activities as well as responsible financial services ensures its predictable and reliable operation. This also makes banks acknowledge and serve the interests of society to a larger degree.

Pomering and Johnson (2011) describe corporate image as the totality of perceptions of the stakeholders about the way in which the organization operates. On the other hand, Treadwell and Harrison (1994) define the corporate image as a set of cognitions which consists of occurrences beliefs, mindsets the organizational behavior that persons have on the organization. Corporate image can also be defined as the aggregate of conceptions that stakeholders (such as customers, suppliers, employees and the society) have about the organization. Corporate image as lauded by many leads to a competitive advantage since it builds the image of the brand in the minds of the consumers, which is formed over a period. Applauding corporate image can increase the sales and the customer loyalty as well as attract new investors and employees. The Economic responsibility is said to be a primary condition or requirement for existence of a business according to Carroll’s CSR Pyramid. The Focus of this research will base on Carroll’s (1991) four (4) dimensions. The purpose of this research therefore is to explore the effects that Corporate Social Responsibility has on the Corporate Image of some selected banks in Ghana.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN GHANA

In Ghana, the communist direction of her first president Dr. Kwame Nkrumah gave the impression maybe appropriately or wrongly that State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) had the option to take care of cultural issues (Amponsah-Tawiah, 2012). This, in a way constrained corporate organisations‟ social commitments to the installment of expenses. In any case, as of late there has been a clarion approach associations to attempt social projects, as government alone can't deal with cultural issues. This has influenced the execution of the idea in the nation. CSR exercises in Ghana are led by huge scale global organizations (Amponsah-Tawiah, 2012). The multi-faceted issues of the nation low per capita salary, powerless money, capital flight, low profitability and low investment funds make it practically unthinkable for indigenous organizations, the vast majority of which are occupied with the retail and in the creation of essential wares, to embrace social activities (Amponsah-Tawiah, 2012). Enormous scale assembling, media transmission and mining organizations, for example, MTN, Valco, Goldfields, and AngloGold have been instrumental in the social improvement of the nation (Amponsah-Tawiah, 2012). Be that as it may, similarly as it is universally, extractive ventures whose tasks have direct sway on nature and nearby networks are consistently in the news for evident reasons-they are either rupturing a portion of the precepts of the CSR motivation or satisfying them decisively (Ibid).

Until the year 2006 when the Ghana Business Code (GHBC) was propelled through the joint effort of the relationship of Ghana Industries (AGI), Ghana Employers Association (GEA) and the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI) to present and develop the act of CSR in business tasks, there was no set standards to manage the direct of business and adequate norms with respect to the earth and anticorruption in business (Amponsah-Tawiah, 2012). The GHBC, which is demonstrated along the lines of the United Nations (UN) Global Minimized, centers around the triple main concern (benefit, planet and individuals) as execution proportions of organizations working in the nation (Amponsah-Tawiah, 2012). The GHBC has ten noteworthy standards all of which underscore the substance of CSR and are designed subsequent to existing laws in Ghana. Curiously, associations are not obliged by law to join to the GHBC. It is a deliberate measure, which enables the activities of associations to be inspected along four expansive classifications human rights, work norms, condition and hostile to defilement (Amponsah-Tawiah, 2012). Part associations are granted testament of good practice when their activities are observed to be in accordance with the remedies in the GHBC. Due to its willful nature, relatively few associations have joined to it (Amponsah-Tawiah, 2012). Of the numerous Small and Medium Size Ventures (SMEs) and huge scale producing businesses that have a place with the GNCCI and the AGI, under 60 had joined to the GHBC as at 01-04-2011. This is maybe because of the dread of examination that goes with the accreditation process and mirrors the degree of adequacy and valuation for the idea in Ghana (Ibid).

PROBLEM

Corporate Social Responsibility is becoming an increasingly important activity for organizations in emerging markets because the expectations and the requirements of consumers are also increasing (Maruf, 2013). Researchers and advertising professionals reiterate the relevance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in consumers’ decision making process (Maruf, 2013). Due to the fact that social responsibility is becoming more pronounced on global scale, Corporate Social Responsibility is seen as vital in constructing attractive corporate image (CI), providing competitive advantage and differentiation, leading to business success accentuating the actuality of the chosen topic.

Ailawadi et al. (2011), Green, Peloza (2011), Lindgreen, Swaen (2010), Banyte, Brazioniene, Gadeikiene (2010), Yeo, Youssef (2010), Lizarraga (2010), Spitzeck (2009), Malmelin, Hakala (2009), Herstein, Mitki, Jaffe (2008), Chattananon et al. (2007), Visser (2006), Sciulli, Bebko (2005), Flavian, Guinaliu, Torres (2005), van der Heyden, van der Rijt (2004), Abratt, Mofokeng (2001), Moir (2001), Teng Fatt et al. (2000), Van Heerden, Puth (1995), LeBlanc, Nguyen (1995) and others agree that corporate social responsibility is a significant indicator constituting corporate image. There are various dimensions to corporate social responsibility and that of Carroll (1991) is the most dominant. Though dominant, very few researchers have examined Carroll’s dimensions.

In the Ghanaian context, studies due on corporate social responsibility and corporate image are very few focusing on the banking sector. It is crucial to emphasize that a lack of theoretical and empirical researches on causality between corporate social responsibility and corporate image provide the scientific problem examined in this article (Maruf, 2013). This research paper seeks to examine which of the dimensions of CSR by Carroll (1991) aids in the enhancement of corporate image on selected banks in Ghana which includes Ghana Commercial Bank, Fidelity Bank and Barclays Bank. The research seeks to also examine the perceptions that customers have about the corporate image of the selected banks in relation to CSR activities.

CSR AND CORPORATE IMAGE.

Most workers would concur that an organization that is known for its corporate social duty would have a superior picture than the one that isn't (Dowling, 2001). A case of the significance of CSR to the workers can be found in the exploration led by Rodrigo and Arenas (2008). One of the respondents depicted the reasons he went after the position in the organization is a direct result of the organization's notoriety in the market. In the wake of joining the organization, he understood that the explanation for such notoriety is expected to CSR duty of the association. The organization see genuineness, quality and obligation to society and condition as the organization trademarks that turned into the manner in which they work together. Representatives' impression of the association is created through their own understanding, relational correspondence or broad communications correspondence with the association. The association's CSR practices will pass on its authoritative qualities, (for example, genuineness, respectability, obligation and assorted variety) to its workers. These practices will impact the representatives' recognition about their association. This impression of their association turned into the psychological picture of the representatives known as corporate picture. How representatives see their corporate picture is significant in light of the fact that the workers work in the association and their association's corporate picture speak to them as they are a piece of the association. In the event that they see their association picture as great, this will imply that they are in the same class as the association. On the off chance that they see their association's corporate picture as poor, the representatives may disassociate themselves.

Economic responsibility & corporate image

When examining themes like morals and corporate picture it is critical to remember that these are two extremely complex issues. For instance, the meaning of morals can fluctuate from company to organization as well as from individual to individual. The Oxford Dictionary characterizes morals as "good rules that administer an individual's conduct or the directing of an action", yet this simply prompts another predicament. The ethical standards of people can change radically crosswise over for instance societies, mainlands, and religions. The exceptionally same difficulty applies to the idea of business morals; an organization situated in Finland may have an altogether different thought of profound quality and morals than, for instance, a business situated in China. These issues, combined with the way that our thoughts of what moral conduct is will in general change after some time, now and then quickly, make morals and profound quality a provoking subject to think about. In any case, regardless of how complex an issue may appear, by survey it from a few applicable edges and considering the way that in the case of something is moral may frequently be more a matter of feeling instead of actuality, no theme is too hard to even think about tackling.

When embarking to inquire about a subject that incorporates the nearby considering of business morals, one first needs to choose which meaning of morals to pick. As referenced before, the Oxford Dictionary characterizes morals as "good rules that oversee an individual's conduct or the directing of a movement" a clear clarification of the idea, no doubt. After looking into it further, however, we rapidly keep running into another situation; how would we characterize profound quality and standards? Regardless of whether we characterize profound quality as the capacity to recognize good and bad or great and awful, despite everything we don't have an authoritative answer as these things frequently mean various things to various individuals. Accordingly, when leading exploration on a specific subject, we need to pick the definition that we need to utilize.

Kozlowski (2008) features in his book that "morals is about the great and human ideals while financial aspects concern the plan of human establishments dependent on self-interest and monetary objectivity". Following this rationale, consolidating the ideas of morals and financial aspects is right around a conflicting demonstration in itself; all things considered, ethicality regularly manages benevolence and doing great, while then again it could be contended that, at its center, the goal of any business is to create however much incentive to its partners as could reasonably be expected. With the two ideas apparently conflicting with one another in a serious intense way, how is it that in the 21st century numerous organizations are finding that joining the two is an extraordinary method to discover accomplishment in the business field and addition the trust of shoppers. The idea of morals is looked distinctively in changed pieces of the world as well as in various examinations also. For instance, Velentzas and Broni (2010) decide business morals as "an arrangement of good standards applied in the business world". They likewise recommend that one reason why it's an especially intriguing point is that it joins different regions of study, for instance, theory and law now and again an organization probably won't concur with the profound quality of nearby law, however they are compelled to maintain it.

Then again, by and large, laws have a major influence in keeping certain organizations running in an increasingly moral way. Velentzas and Broni (2010) contend that business morals in its most fundamental structure were made simultaneously with exchange itself; tradesmen and clients needed to concur on a typical arrangement of standards that everybody would pursue from setting costs to the nature of the item. In a substantially more current sense, business morals as a piece of working together that organizations need to truly focus on has been around for around 100 years. Thus, not exclusively does the meaning of morals in business change from region to zone however it has additionally changed starting with one timespan then onto the next. Velentzas and Broni (2010) additionally contend that it's not as of not long ago that organizations have needed to truly concentrate on maintaining a moral business; the enormous crowd didn't turn out to be especially keen on (and mindful of) regardless of whether an organization is being run morally until the 70s. What's more, it's not until as of late, for the most part with the presentation of the web, that the regular shopper has had the option to acquire data about organizations successfully and precisely.

Philanthropic responsibility & corporate image

At the most noteworthy purpose of the pyramid, devouring the tiniest space is generosity. Organizations have for quite a while been rebuked for their carbon impression, their part in defilement, using trademark resources and that is just a glimpse of something larger (Carroll, 1991). To adjust these negatives, they should "offer back" to the system they take from. They are guided by business' yearning to check out social activities that are not requested, not legitimately fundamental, and not all things considered expected of business in an ethical sense (Carroll, 1991). Having said that, a couple of associations do give to some extent out of an ethical motivation. That is, they have to settle on the savvies choice for society (Carroll, 1991). Riordan, et al. (1997) portrayed corporate image as a person's discernments about the activities, exercises and achievement of an association. It along these lines turns into the partner's general view of the association, at any rate incompletely dependent on its capacity to meet or accommodate his/her specific needs and interests. All the above creators have a typical concurrence on corporate picture, that is, corporate picture is about the complete partner impression of the association got from their coming into contact with the association. Also, their picture of the association will hence shape the representatives' demeanors and practices (Dutton and Dukerich, 1991; Peterson, 2004) that are vital to this examination.

Economic responsibility & corporate image

The most decreased level of the pyramid addresses a business' first obligation, which is to be helpful. That is the reason it was made in any case; not out of voracity, yet a couple of associations have been accused for having unquenchability at their inside. Nevertheless, associations are made to be the work of their owners (Carroll, 1991). It's the manner in which the owners take care of their own one of a kind tabs. That goes for its theorists, also. Regardless of the way that the business may not be the sole occupation of the monetary pros, they contributed with the longing for benefitting (Carroll, 1991). Everything considered, their advantages are tied up around here, so getting salary from it is the reward for contributing. Associations in like manner ought to be productive to have the alternative to pay their agents, shippers and impermanent specialists (Carroll, 1991). If it isn't beneficial, these people will be impacted, shippers won't offer to them, laborers will stop and the business will miss the mark (Carroll, 1991). Riordan, et al. (1997) portrayed corporate image as a person's discernments about the activities, exercises and achievement of an association. It along these lines turns into the partner's general view of the association, at any rate incompletely dependent on its capacity to meet or accommodate his/her specific needs and interests. All the above creators have a typical concurrence on corporate picture, that is, corporate picture is about the complete partner impression of the association got from their coming into contact with the association. Also, their picture of the association will hence shape the representatives' demeanors and practices (Dutton and Dukerich, 1991; Peterson, 2004) that are vital to this examination.

Riordan, et al. (1997) portray picture acknowledgments as essential to both the accomplices what's more, the association since they in effect promote trades, for instance, clients' impression of significant worth level for items or organizations, work searchers decisions to apply for work, decisions to place assets into the firm and agent outlooks/rehearses toward their affiliation. A poor legitimate picture may inconveniently influence an agents' self-thought and accordingly, may achieve lower various leveled duty (Peterson, 2004). Corporate picture has the going with impacts to a definitive value (Treadwell and Harrison, 1994): Images are accepted to be related to people and non-part loaded with inclination and lead responses to the affiliation. Pictures give information about the character of affiliations and are thusly inclined to be critical in summoning and keeping up the unwaveringness of people, potential people and the people who are to some extent included. Similar picture or the sharing of a picture by legitimate people can be fundamental to definitive upkeep and working. What it means is that these common pictures empower the social affair to encourage or act with bound together purposes. Thusly, managing this image perception is critical. Further composition review concurs with this dispute. Youngsters (2007) found that laborers who have positive points of view on their affiliation will by and large similarly have positive view in the affiliation's uprightness, heading, forcefulness in the business focus and are happy of their affiliation. Koh and Boo (2004) found that, laborer who sees their relationship to be good are moreover at risk to consider their to be as being sensible for them. Carmeli and Weisberg (2006) found that laborers who interpret the eminence that the contenders and customers attribute to their relationship as incredible, itemized loaded with inclination obligation that mirrors a sentiment of rapture rising up out of the relationship as a social class (work). This finding infers the essentialness of regulating corporate picture to ensure positive legitimate duty is cultivated. This assessment endeavor is to discover corporate social obligation impacts on corporate image.

Legal responsibility & corporate image

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has turned into an outstanding idea in the course of the most recent decade and a half. Workers, government delegates, scholastic researchers, NGOs and global associations have been pondering which job they need to play in respect of CSR. Laws have been drafted that advance socially capable conduct by companies.3 International associations have advanced standards. Organizations have embraced CSR statements of purpose and programs, and are sharing their endeavors through manageability reports. NGOs have reached organizations and called attention to how they can work in an increasingly dependable manner, and scholastics have examined all. CSR is a subject that has joins with numerous territories of law, including worldwide law and European law, corporate law and corporate administration, tort law and contract law, procedural law, work and environmental law, and criminal law. These regions contribute significantly to the advancement of CSR, and at last to react to the genuine difficulties that this world countenances. This exceptional issue of the Journal of International and European Law covers a few of these zones and offers intriguing bits of knowledge with regards to the developing course of the lawful parts of CSR. When comprising CI, the most significant objective is to frame uplifting disposition towards the organization among present and potential customers. CI is contained making a constructive corporate character, showcasing correspondences and channels just as steady criticism from the intended interest group. Worcester (2009), Pina et al. (2006), Meehan et al. (2006), Flavian, Guinaliu, Torres (2005), Abratt, Mofokeng (2001), Teng Fatt et al. (2000), Stuart (1997) and others stress the significance of making and overseeing CI. These creators concur that CSR has positive effect on CI. Lizarraga (2010), Pina et al. (2006), van Heerden, Puth (1995) express that positive CI furnishes organization with individual highlights that lead to mark acknowledgment, improve purchaser and worker dependability just as corporate notoriety.

Christensen, Askegaard (2001), Flavian, Guinaliu, Torres (2005), Chattananon, Lawley (2007) express that CI is the comprehension about the organization by any partner. CI is dictated by the components given by controllable and wild wellsprings of data. Worcester (2009) noticed that CI comprises of item picture, brand picture and brand customer picture. Yeo, Youssef (2010) express that CI is a wellspring of upper hand: because of the way that CI must be framed over quite a while, it ends up hard to copy. Other than CI makes purchaser trust and hinders contenders from entering the market. Pina et al. (2006) accentuate that positive CI can raise deals, client steadfastness, pull in new financial specialists and representatives.

LeBlanc, Nguyen (1995) note that CI is dynamic and it can change on account of specific occasions, moves in consumer’s condition or his character. Rindell, Edvardsson, Strandvik (2010) express that CI can be partitioned into picture being used and picture legacy. Picture legacy depends on purchaser past experience and made by buyer himself. Picture being used is the consequence of company’s picture framing exercises. CI must be checked on continually and refreshed by popular conclusion, convictions and qualities (Herstein, Mitki, Jaffe, 2008). Wei (2002) states that organization which can change, is viewed as creative, open and winds up extraordinary in its business sectors. Rindell, Edvardsson, Strandvik (2010), Flavian, Guinaliu, Torres (2005), LeBlanc, Nguyen (1995) express that the more extended the collaboration among organization and buyer, the more grounded consumer‟s CI. Leblanc, Nguyen (1995) characterize 5 components which Constitute CI: corporate personality, singularity, physical condition, administration offering and contact faculty.

GHANAIAN PERCEPTION ABOUT NEW ONLINE BIOMETRIC PASSPORT.

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Ghanaian perception about new online biometric passport.

For the purpose of identification and international travel, passport is a must have for each and every citizen of any country globally (Paintsil, 2018). Despite the relevance of this piece of document, it is sudden to come to the realization that Ghanaians have to employ unthinkable means to acquire passports in the country (Paintsil, 2018). The thought has always been that, people just wanted to channel their emotions and frustrations to the government when they complain about the difficulties they go through to get their passports, until one personally joins over a 100-person long queue between the hours of 3:00 am and 5:00 am at the Passport Office in Accra (Paintsil, 2018).

Having to reflect on an advice by a colleague who had his passport four years ago where he narrated all the problems he had to endure including the dawn-time queuing to finally get the Ghanaian Passport (Ibid). I did not really bother upon embarking on a journey to the passport office and mentioned to him that, this was 2015 and things must be different there by now. To utter surprise, five years down the line, things were even worse with passport acquisition in Ghana (Paintsil, 2018).

On the 21^st of December, 2016, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration launched the online passport application service for Ghanaians to ease the mode of application while ensuring maximum security for applicants (Gov’t of Ghana, 2016). This described as the e-Government strategy is targeted at ensuring the use of information technology to provide citizens with efficient passport services through a secure, fast and convenient means (Gov’t of Ghana, 2016).The introduction of the online version [PDF] forms part of measures to make passport forms readily accessible to all Ghanaians and that from November 1, 2018, more focus is on the online version (Gov’t of Ghana, 2016). The online application service is anticipated to help reduce the involvement of middle men in the passport acquisition process; reduce typographical errors and shorten the data capturing procedures currently carried out at the passport application centres as well as speed up the work flow for the passport processing and enhance passport service delivery. According to the Ministry (2016), helping to eliminate middlemen popularly known as ‘Goro boy’s whose illegal activities have perpetuated bribery and corrupt activities within the passport acquisition processes, is one of the focus of the online system (Gov;t of Ghana, 2016).

It is also aimed at injecting efficiency and reliability in passport service delivery and eliminate the existing difficulties that have bedevilled passport acquisition in Ghana (Ibid). Biometric passports, also known under names like e- Passport or ePassport, represent a combination between paper and electronic passport which is using biometrics to authenticate the identity of travellers. A biometric passport uses contactless smart card2 technology, being composed from a microprocessor chip (computer chip) and antenna which are embedded in the front or back cover, or on the middle of the page (Ibid).

PROBLEM

The challenges (Long wait in queues), that had surrounded the application for passport over the years necessitated the adoption of the online passport service by the ministry of Foreign Affairs (Gov’t of Ghana, 2016). An applicant would have to visit passport.mfa.gov.gh or passports.mfa.gov.gh after which he or she would be required to create an account with valid and active mobile number as well as email address (optional) as a new user or log in as an existing user (Gov’t of Ghana, 2016). The applicant would then be required to complete the passport form after which he or she would be required to select a preferred passport application center (PAC) from the available list (Gov’t of Ghana, 2016). The final stage of the application is the visitation of the selected PAC on the date of appointment with the appointment slip and relevant original documents to complete the process (Ibid).

Despite all these efforts by the government of Ghana, the new online system is not appreciated by a section of the population (Asamoah, 2017). Persons still lament about how complicated the process is stating unequivocally that, as 33% of the Ghanaian population not able to read nor write and with the lack of understanding of Information Technology processes, the new biometric system will fully not serve its purpose as many might not patronise it (Asamoah, 2017). Therefore, it is imperative to examine public perception about the new online biometric passports application system.

THE NEW BIOMETRIC PASSPORT

The biometric passport service is inherent in the e-Government strategy according to Hannah Tetteh (2016). She further added that, “The e-Government strategy is targeted at ensuring the use of information technology to provide citizens with efficient passport services through a secure, fast and convenient means.” (H. Tetteh, 2016). H. Tetteh (2016) said the challenges that had surrounded the application for passport over the years necessitated the adoption of the online passport service by the ministry adding that “it is aimed at addressing the existing difficulties that bedevilled passport acquisition in Ghana”. In her concluding remarks, H.Tetteh (2016) mentioned that, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would make every effort to deliver the highest levels of customer service and maintain the integrity and international standing of the Ghana passport. In addition to the online application, a decision had been reached by the Government of Ghana to establish application centres’ in some six regions in the country to offer requisite services to Ghanaians in need of travel documents (Foreign Affairs Ministry, 2016).

A biometric passport has other popular names like a digital passport or an e-passport. The microprocessor chip in this traditional passport has biometric which can easily identify the owner. The biometric passport use a unique technology referred to as countless smart card. The interesting bit about this biometric passport is that no one can forge it that easily, you either need to spend a lot of cedis to forge it or give up. This is because chip stores all the critical information and it has a public key infrastructure that can only authenticate that data. Biometric Passport in Ghana. A biometric passport have to have iris, fingerprints, and facial recognition. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Doc 9303 is where the chip characteristic of the biometric passport get documented. The documents characteristics are also documented there. New Biometric Passports. Government of Ghana decided after a keen thought that there was a need to issuance new biometric services and biometric diplomatic passports. This came up as a way of reducing fake travel documents, and applications in the country. They wanted to unify the country and suggestion needed a prompt action from 18th September 2009. The old passports were not be used once Ghana Biometric Passport Deadline reached and that was on 31st April 2010. Biometric passport Ghana requirements for a first time and when renewal is different. Here are the requirements for a first time Ghanaian applicant:

You need a birth certificate to prove that you are a citizen of Ghana.
You need an evidence to support you are fully a Ghanaian by maybe using your national ID card or you can use your Driver’s License.
Either you are a student or employed, you need a proof to truly tell your profession. A student ID, a work ID, or business registration certificate for the self- employed Ghanaians.

If you need a renewal for your biometric Passport if stolen or damaged there is a procedure and requirements that you need. If it was damaged, you will require showing that damaged passport and affidavit. And in the case your biometric passport was stolen or maybe you misplaced it, you need the following:

Your birth certificate
An abstract report from the police
Proof that you are a Ghanaian Affidavit

And if you need to change your passport names, here is a list of all you will require:

A gazette
Your marriage or divorce certificate
Affidavit

What are the Requirements for a Ghanaian of below the Age of 18? If you are a parent or a guardian and you need a biometric passport for you are under age child, you will require:

Your Identity Card (ID)
The child’s birth certificate

In applying for the biometric passport, a candidate would first of all have to visit passport.mfa.gov.gh or passports.mfa.gov.gh after which he or she would be mandated to create an account with a genuine and active phone number as well as email address (optional) as a new user or log in as an existing user. The financial institutions for transaction are GCB Bank, Zenith Bank and EcoBank through a payment channel of choice specifically VISA, MasterCard, MTN Mobile Money, and AirtelTigo Money.

The candidate would then be expected to fill and complete the passport form after which they would be expected to select a preferred passport application center (PAC) from the available list. The final stage of the application is to visit the selected PAC on the appointment date with the appointment slip and necessary original documents to finish the process.

In all, the new online biometric passport application system has been a success in the Madina Municipality as the people have a good perception about it. Out of 7143 persons within the municipality per the municipality database, 5000 representing 70% are said to have understood and have accepted it. Again, out of 7143 people, 3214.35 constituting 45% of persons are said to have successfully conducted the passport application process.

EMPLOYER BRANDING AND EMPLOYEE ATTRACTION AND RETENTION.

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Employer branding and employee attraction and retention.

A brand is a distinguishing name and/or symbol (such as a logo, trademark, or package design) intended to identify the goods or services of either one seller or a group of sellers, and to differentiate those goods from those of competitors (Aaker, 1991). A brand is a name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers (AMA, 1960). A brand that wants to be attracted by its own employees must not leave its branding to chance or competitors. Simply, a brand attains positioning when its customers show unflinching loyalty. The purpose of this research is to establish a distinctive place for the brand in the minds of the employees (Trout & Ries, 2001).

Employers are using branding as a strategic means in recent business atmosphere with increasing consistency. Brands and branding are not new philosophies, companies are applying them to more varied settings where the role of branding is becoming progressively significant (Wentz & Suchard, 1993). Branding is “the process of developing an intended brand identity” (Kotler & Lee, 2008:215). Branding is often used to distinguish products and companies in order to build commercial value for both the customer and the corporation. It’s concerned with the attraction, commitment and retention ingenuities targeted at enhancing a company’s trademark.

Company branding is a fairly new methodology toward recruiting and retaining the best possible human talent within an employing environment that is appealing increasingly competitive. It is often used to describe how establishments market their presents to potential and existing employees, connect with them and maintain their loyalty “promoting both within and outside the firm, a clear view of what makes a firm different and desirable as an employer” (Backaus & Tikoo, 2004:120). Employer branding is probable to be a valuable concept for both executives and intellectuals. Directors can use employer branding as a shade under which they can passage diverse employee recruitment and retention activities into a corresponding human resource policy.

Therefore, companies can control brand supremacy to engage their employees in emotional ways to achieve change, outstanding results or increase attraction and retention. According to Dell and Ainspan (2001), establishments have found that effective company branding leads to competitive advantage helps employees adopt company values and assists in employee retention.

Notwithstanding the growing acceptance of the employer branding practice, educational research on the concept is restricted to a few articles in the marketing literature. Priyadarshi (2011), observed that employer brand is gaining significant popularity in HR practitioner literature, empirical research is still comparatively inadequate (Cable & Turban, 2001; Backhaus & Tikoo, 2004 & Davies, 2007) echo the same sentiments and feel that the initiation of the company brand as a concept has been recent in academic arena and its conjectural foundation is increasingly being developed even though it is being careful applied by practitioners for some time now (Barber, 1998). One stream of existing research investigates organizational features and their effects on attraction to the business. Structural attributes such as decentralized resolution making and reward system (Bretz et al., 1989), are shown to influence sensitivities of appeal. The popularity of employer branding among HR experts and the lack of academic research on the topic raises interesting questions for management scholars. This study seeks to examine the role of employer branding in employee attraction and retention of the banking industry.

PROBLEM

As the new battle for positioning of brands in the minds of employees intensify by the day, businesses continue to take advantage of branding by using it to structure and restructure employees’ memory schema towards their brand benefit. However, the poor branding may be a hindrance to the benefits of attraction and retention of employees. It is in the light of the above that the researchers intend to delve into a study that aims at examining employer branding and its impact on attraction and retention of employees.

KEY CONCEPTS

Employee Attraction

In recent times employer branding has gained popularity among companies. Many organisations have taken a keen interest in branding themselves to project their image, therefore anything that identifies with the organization, they would brand to make it “unique”.

In 1986, Young Yun Kim’s contextual theory of interethnic communication conceptualised cultural identity as both a sociological (or demographic) classification and an individual psychological attribute with a particular group. Employees are internal stakeholders who are significant to the organisation playing an important part in the sustainability and growth of the organisation (Malati & Sehgal, 2013).

An organisation’s growth is dependent on the kind of employees it recruits to drive the vision and mission of the organisation in order to beat the competition and stay on top. Employees of a company would want to be associated with the brand, everything about the company makes it ‘the company’ they want to be linked with. Organisations are making conscious efforts to attract prospective employees and ensure that current employees are engaged in the culture and the strategy of the organisation.

The purpose of branding is essential to building the product’s image (Cleary, 1981). In the 1980’s The Economist also say image influences the perceived worth of the product and increases the value of a brand to the customer, leading to brand loyalty. Therefore, creating a compelling employer branding strategy is not a one-off exercise but rather a continuous effort to build a brand and maintain the status quo.

Employee Retention

Job satisfaction plays a very important role in creating customer satisfaction (Heskett, 1997) and its understanding of various attributes of employer brand image can help facilitate customer satisfaction. According to the Conference Board report in 2001, employer branding organisations that have effective employer branding lead to the competitive advantage which helps employees internalise the company’s values which eventually goes to assist in employee retention. For organisations to succeed in the fast-growing competitive market it has become a serious requirement, therefore, the onus lies on organisation’s to attract correct skills and retain them so they are not left behind in the industry where everyone is striving to be the leading preferable brand (Heskett, 1997). Competition by various brands in various institutions does not leave room for organisation’s to dwell on past glories but strive to maintain its lead (Ibid).

IMPACT OF EMPLOYER BRANDING

Organisations have come to understand there is the need to focus on strengthening their employer brands in order for them to achieve their growth ambitions (Heskett, 1997). Over the last few years, the tactics to building a strong employer brand has changed which has impacted on how employers attract and retain their employees (Heskett, 1997). The rise of social media has made organisations more transparent to the global market. The impact of employer branding, therefore, cannot be underestimated as the image of an organisation lies in its branding (Ibid). Keller’s Journal of Marketing (2005) says the conceptual model of brand equity is from the perspective of the individual consumer. Customer-based brand equity is the differential effect of brand knowledge on consumer response to the marketing of the brand. The company’s most important assets are intangible such as its name, brands, symbols, slogans, underlying associations, perceived quality, name awareness, customer base and proprietary resources like patents (Ibid). Keller journal of marketing (2005) explains that, employer branding impacts greatly on the organisation’s structure, incentives, planning, budgeting and controlling systems, recruitment, promotion criteria, institutionalised socialisation, education, training which elements that attract and retain employees (Ibid). Employer branding increases the customer base of an institution as people are attracted would stay with the institution because they want to be attributed to the brand (Ibid). Employer branding gives a sense of self-esteem as an organisation want to feel good about themselves with their operations and activities. The image of an organisation through employer branding makes an organization stand out from its competitors (Ibid).