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Akwasi Owusu Sarpong

PhD-Candidate

Akwasi Owusu Sarpong is a PhD researcher at the One Health and Urban Transformation Graduate School, hosted by the Centre for Development Research (ZEF) at the University of Bonn. He holds an M.Phil. in Geography & Resource Development from the University of Ghana. His Master’s thesis on fire risk in informal urban settings resulted in a research paper in the journal “Disasters”.
During his time at the One Health Graduate School at ZEF, Sarpong’s doctoral research unfolds at Africa’s largest e-waste recycling site (in the capital, Accra), where a significant number of migrants from northern Ghana are informally employed. The main focus of his research is the trade-off that informal workers and urban planners/city authorities face between livelihood security/economic interests (through e-waste processing) and addressing crucial issues such as ensuring the right to healthy working conditions, maintaining a clean environment, securing urban spaces, and advancing the city’s modernization and cleanliness.

Avatar Owusu Sarpong

Akwasi Owusu Sarpong

Website

0228/73-3688

U 1.032

Meckenheimer Allee 176

53115 Bonn

© Akwasi Owusu Sarpong

Office Hours

Monday to Friday 10am - 5pm

Focus/Research Areas

  • Urban Transformation
  • Urban Informal livelihoods
  • Infrastructure and Service Provision
  • Environmental Health

PhD Thesis 

Urban Transformation and Informal Livelihoods: Insights from E-waste Recycling Sites in Accra, Ghana

Curriculum Vitae

2021 to Date.    University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF) PhD Researcher in Urban Geography

Dissertation Topic: “Urban Transformation and Informal Livelihoods: Insights from E-waste Recycling Sites in Accra, Ghana.”

2012 to 2021     Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications, Accra Research & Innovations Manager 

2010 - 2012       University of Ghana (UG) M.Phil Geography

2005 - 2009       Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) B.A. Geography

2001 - 2004       Prempeh College Senior High School Certificate

Key Achievements

  • Grants of $18,000 and $20,000 in 2019 and 2020 from UNESCO for the ICT Skills for Entrepreneurial and Women Empowerment (ISEWE) programme.
  • World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum prizes awarded by GIFEC in 2017 and 2020
  • Winner, WSIS Forum 2021 Photo Competition.

Key Research Activities

  • Project Implementation Team Member, Ghana Digital Divide Study - CTO/ISSER/GIFEC - 2012
  • Project  Implementation Team Member, AMA Urban Community Profile: Korle Gonno - A Joint Project between the Millennium Cities Initiative (MCI), University of Ghana and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) - 2010.
  • Project Implementation Team Member, ICT Use among SMEs Survey in Ghana- GIFEC/NBSSI/GSS - 2020.

Publications

  • Co-author, “Fire Risk Reduction through Community-Based Risk Assessment Initiative- Reflections from the Makola Market, Accra, Ghana”- 2010
    Fire Risk Vulnerability in Informal Settlements: The Case of Ashaiman - 2013

Fellowships

Young Scholar Fellowship Program - Zanzibar, Tanzania

Conferences Attended 

  • WSIS Forum in Switzerland (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020)

Capacity Building and Training Experience

  • Certificate of Participation in a two (2) week training programme in Introduction to Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in Urban Areas and Community Information Base for Environmental Management (EHM) and Disaster Risk Reduction.
  • Certificate of Participation in a two (2) day Knowledge and Skill Enhancement workshop on Planning and Managing Graduate Research.
  • Certificate of Participation in a two  (2) day Knowledge and Skill Enhancement workshop on Thesis Writing.
  • Certificate of Participation in a two (2) week short course on Research Methodology and Report Writing organized by the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER). 
  • Certificate of Participation in a two (2) week short course on Project Cycle Management organized by ISSER . 
  • Certificate of Participation in a two (2) week short course on Data Management and Analysis organized by ISSER.
  • Certificate of Participation in Advanced Leadership & Emotional Intelligence Master Class by Alica Consulting.
  • Certificate of Participation in a two (2) week Monitoring and Evaluation Course by the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA).
  • Certificate of Participation in a one (1) week training programme in Project Monitoring and Evaluation by the Pan African Training in Pretoria, South Africa.
  • Grant Proposal Writing Training by the Centre for Professional Development, Ghana Technology University College.
  • Honours Diploma in Information Technology and Business Skills from NIIT.
  • Certificate of Participation in a two (2) week ICT Capacity Building workshop in Microsoft Unlimited Potential (For Multimedia Packaging).
  • Certificate of Facilitation in a two (2) week ICT Capacity Building workshop in Microsoft Unlimited Potential.
  • Certificate of Participation in a workshop organized by the Bonn Graduate Center in Introduction to Statistics.
  • Certificate of Participation in a workshop organized by the Bonn Graduate Center in R for Statistical Computing.
  • Certificate of Participation in a workshop organized by the Bonn Graduate Center in Designing and Preparing Virtual Scientific Posters.

Publications

Fire risk reduction through a community-based risk assessment: reflections from Makola Market, Accra, Ghana
Martin Oteng-Ababio, Akwasi Owusu Sarpong First published: 09 January 2015  https://doi.org/10.1111/disa.12116 

Scholarships

Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia