The 2018 International Summer School has been opened under the auspices of the Centre for Gender Research Advocacy and Documentation (CEGRAD) at Pempamsie hotel.

The summer school will examine the connection between land policies and politics of belonging and how these shape gender relations and influence women’s access to land.

It is also aimed at deepening the understanding and skills that incorporate feminist epistemology and methodology in research.

Participants at the 2018 International Summer School are PhD holders and post-Doctoral candidates from Ghana, Germany, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

The Director of CEGRAD, Dr. Genevieve Adukpo, said the purpose of the gathering was to foster collaboration and unity among participants. She said one major problem in Ghana was the shortage of land, so there was the need to find out how to make good use of the little available. “Our predecessors couldn’t make good use of the land, so it is about time we make good use of it”, she said.  

Opening the programme, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, said it was his expectation that participants were going to enhance their control of skills that would provide access to theoretical, conception and technical tools that in turn, allow for contribution to knowledge. 

“Our assumption, of course is that, several skills acquired and tested, will be independently applied in the drive to move the frontiers of knowledge” he noted.

Prof. Ampiah described the thematic focus of the school as attractive indicating that “discourse on the land and land legislations are connected to politics of identity and belongings, because rights to land are closely linked to the membership and identification in a specific group”.   

Prof. Ampiah explained further, that this may be the family, the clan, ethnic group or nation state. The Vice-Chancellor said recent debates on belonging as well as national and ethnic identity stressed on the right of indigenes over new comers, the right of citizens over refugees and the right of farmers over pastoralist.

He noted that, these have led to innumerable conflicts, including civil wars, over land, eviction and displacement.

He indicated that land ownership and land right play pivotal role in the process of peace building, repatriation and reintegration of refugees and displaced people.