Local Livelihoods and Rural Poverty Reduction: A Study of the Bolgatanga Handicraft Industry in the Upper East Region of Ghana

Poor people draw their livelihood from diverse range of portfolios; some are creative such that they transform their daily activities within their culture into livelihood means by developing these activities such as weaving, artifacts and rituals with their entrepreneurial knowledge into businesses. This is the exact case in the Bolgatanga municipality where people have transformed local craft making into business ventures thereby diversifying their income stream and helping them fight poverty. The handicraft industry, is part of the fragmented tourism sector, is an important local livelihood alternative in Bolgatanga municipality of the Upper East Region of Ghana. The focus of this book assesses the activities of the craft sector, its impact on the livelihood of the poor in the municipality and makes appropriate recommendations for the growth and development of the sector. This book first and foremost aims to contribute to knowledge along local livehoods systems and targets practitioners of rural enterprise, academia in the field of Rural development, student seeking knowledge of practices of local livelihoods in Sub Sahara Africa.

The author is Ghanaian and currently holds a Joint European Masters in Comparative Local Development and First Class Bachelor Arts double major in Economics and Geography from KNUST, Ghana. His previous work experience include being a research/teaching Assistant at the Department of Geography and Rural Development of KNUST.