University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository Chieftain: The Journal of Traditional Governance Chieftain, Volume 1, 2004- 2006-06-13T18:42:51Z Re-inventing African Chieftaincy in the Age of AIDS, Gender and Development. Volume I. Overview Ray, D.I.; Quinlan, T.; Sharma, K. http://hdl.handle.net/1880/43236 journal article Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca RE-INVENTING AFRICAN CHIEFTAINCY IN THE AGE OF AIDS, GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT VOLUME I - OVERVIEW Members of the Manya Krobo Queen Mothers Association, Ghana. (Photo D.I. Ray) Professor D.I. Ray, Project Leader (and Acting Ghana Country Team Leader 2002- present) Professor T. Quinlan, South Africa Country Team Leader Professor K. Sharma, Botswana Country Team Leader H.E. Professor A. Owusu-Sarpong, Ghana Country Team Leader, 1999-2002, (presently Ghana’s Ambassador to France) FINAL REPORT OF IDRC PROJECT # 003927, COPYRIGHT © TAARN, 2005 Navigating Guide: How to Most Effectively Read the Newly 2500 Pages of this Report A report that is nearly 2000 pages long presents a major challenge to the reader: how to most effectively ‘navigate’ the report in order to get what the reader most wants from the report? We would recommend the following strategy for the reader: start with Chapter 1 in Volume 1 which outlines what the project’s major objectives were, and in response to those, quick summaries of what we found. What we found is divided up into three categories: major findings, conclusions and policy recommendations. These are presented for each report author, country by country for Ghana, South Africa and Botswana. These are briefest summaries. Chapter 2 presented a more detailed set of summaries. Chapters 3, 4 and 5 present the extended and full set of summaries for Ghana, South Africa and Botswana respectively. Chapter 6 deals briefly with one perspective on certain lessons on North- South-South-South research collaboration for development that emerged out of our IDRC-funded project. Volume 2 contains the Ghana reports. Volume 3 contains the South Africa reports. Volume 4 contains the Botswana reports. Given the information above as well as the Table of Contents, the reader can get a quick overview from Chapter 1 and then follow-up particular interests, such as gender or HIV/AIDS or the nature of traditional leadership though the other chapters and volumes as she/he wishes. We hope this ‘navigation guide’ will be useful for you. 1 Executive Summary Traditional leaders are re-inventing themselves and their offices in terms of how they promote development for their communities. The IDRC-funded research found that in Botswana, Ghana and South Africa, traditional leaders remain, for a variety of reasons, important to the design and implementation of development regardless of whether or not traditional leaders have statutory jurisdiction granted by the post-colonial state. Traditional leaders seek to be active collaborators in development interventions. A major reason for the continuing involvement of traditional leaders in development in Ghana, Botswana and South Africa was that traditional leaders continued to have access, outside the state, to their own sources of political legitimacy (i.e. credibility) in their communities. The political legitimacy of traditional leaders is “differently-rooted” than that of the post-colonial state. The creation of the Botswana House of Chiefs is also seen as recognition by the post-colonial state of the continuing, if re-defined, legitimacy of the traditional leaders. The “differently-rooted legitimacy” of traditional leaders is based on the concept of “divided legitimacy” in which political legitimacy is seen to be divided between the post- colonial state and the traditional authorities or traditional leaders. That legitimacy is derived from their constituencies regarding themselves as both citizens of the state (with attendant rights as citizens) and as followers or subjects of traditional leaders (with expectations that traditional leaders can and should act as development agents) Especially in Ghana and South Africa where traditional leaders remain in large measure outside the immediate supervision of the state, traditional leaders may use their differently rooted legitimacy to advocate for their communities development not only with the state but also with organisations outside the control/boundaries of the state. The South African Team called this the “privatization of politics” for traditional authority. In the case of Botswana, the state is the major development partner of traditional leaders: hence the use of the term “administrative chiefs”. A major finding of the project was the discovery of a three-stage best practice model for measuring the depth and effectiveness of involvement of traditional leaders in promoting development, including fighting HIV/AIDS from the social vaccine perspective: (1) gate- opening, (2) social marketing/public education, (3) community-capacity building. The ‘best practice’ model actually questions the orthodox conception of traditional leaders as ‘gatekeepers’. Use of the model is one pillar/foundation for designing development interventions in areas where there are traditional leaders. In South Africa and Botswana there is a gradual progression to formally appointing and allowing women chiefs/ traditional leaders. Traditional leaders are keen to understand and utilise state law to enable them to be development agents. As our studies indicate traditional leaders are continuously redefining and reinventing themselves as development agents and gate-openers. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Volume 1 – Overview Navigating Guide: How to most effectively read the nearly 2,000 pages of this report. Executive Summary Table of Contents for the report Glossary Acknowledgements Photographs Chapter 1 - Overview of Project Objectives, Major Findings, Conclusions and Policy Recommendations (D.I. Ray, T. Quinlan, K.Sharma and T.A.O. Clarke) - Introduction - Ghana - South Africa - Botswana Chapter 2 – Overview of the Summaries of the TAARN report to IDRC on the “Traditional Leaders and Local Governance in Social Policy in West and Southern Africa” Project (D.I. Ray and T.A.O. Clarke) Chapter 3 - Ghana: Country Study Summaries (D.I. Ray and T.A.O. Clarke) Chapter 4 - South Africa: Country Study Summaries (T. Quinlan) Chapter 5 - Botswana: Country Study Summaries (K. Sharma) Chapter 6 - Research Collaboration (D.I. Ray) Volume 2 – Ghana: Country Study Reports Dr. Donald I. Ray and Ms. Gaelle Eizlini. “Fighting HIV/AIDS and Promoting Development: Will African Traditional Leaders Actually Do This?” 3 Dr. Wilhelmina Donkoh. “The Developmental and HIV/AIDS-fighting Roles of Traditional Rulers: Agency of Festivals” Dr. Donald I. Ray and Ms. Sherri A. Brown. “Building HIV/AIDS Competence in Ghana – Traditional Leadership and Shared Legitimacy in Ghana: A Grassroots Community Intervention Best Practices Model” Ms. Sherri Brown. “Building AIDS Competence in Semi-Urban and Rural Communities in Ghana – Traditional Leaders’ Roles and Involvement” Dr. Wilhelmina Donkoh. “Traditional Rulers as Partners in Education and Health Delivery” Dr. Wilhelmina Donkoh. “Report on the TAARN Conference on the Role of Ghanaian Rulers as Development Officers” Professor Christiane Owusu-Sarpong. “The Predicament of the Akan ‘Queenmother’ (Ohemmaa)” Professor Christiane Owusu-Sarpong. “Setting the Ghanaian Context of Rural Local Government: Traditional Authority Values” (Chapter 2 in Grassroots Governance) Mr. Morgan Nyendu. “Traditional Authorities and the District Assemblies’ System: A Case Study of the South Tongu District Assembly (STDA) Since 1988” Barima* Kusi Ankra. “National House of Chiefs” (* - denotes traditional authority title) Dr. Donald I. Ray. “Ghana: Traditional Leadership and Rural Local Governance” (Chapter 4 in Grassroots Governance Mr. Brian Keating. “Wechiau Hippo Sanctuary: A Partnership Success” Ms. Kimberley Schoon. “From Calgary to Krobo and Back Again: Becoming Manye Pi Yo Gu, the Honorary Queen Mother or How IDRC Research Funding Encourages Grassroots Links between Calgary, Canada and Odumase-Krobo Ghana. (A Note)” Hon. Prof. Kasim Kasanga, Minister for Lands and Forestry. “Integrating Land Issues into Poverty Reduction Strategies and the Broader Development Agenda: The Case of Ghana” Dr. W. Odame Larbi. “Chieftaincy, Land Rights and Security of Tenure in Ghana” Ms. Meghan Dalrymple. “Gender, Land Tenure and Traditional Authority in Rural Asante, Ghana” Dr. Donald I. Ray and Ms. Gaelle Eizlini. “Traditional Leaders Promoting Rural Development and Fighting HIV/AIDS: Inherent Contradiction or Actual Possibility (earlier draft of Dr. Donald I. Ray and Ms. Gaelle Eizlini. “Chieftaincy, Sovereignty, Legitimacy and Development: A Pilot Newspaper Analysis of the Role of Chiefs in Three Aspects of Development” ) Dr. Donald I. Ray and Ms. Gaelle Eizlini. “Chieftaincy, Sovereignty, Legitimacy and Development: A Pilot Newspaper Analysis of the Role of Chiefs in Three Aspects of Development” (more on the methodology) 4 Ms. Linda Kreitzer. “Queenmothers and Social Workers: A Potential Collaboration between Traditional Authority and Social Work in Ghana.” Dr. Donald I. Ray. “Chiefs in Their Millennium Sandals: Traditional Authority in Ghana – Relevance, Challenges and Prospects.” Volume 3 – South Africa: Country Study Reports Professor Tim Quinlan. “Report of the South African Component of the Traditional Authorities Applied Research Network (TAARN) Project” Mr. Sibongiseni Mkhize, Dr. Shahid Vawda, Dr. Pearl