CARISCA’s key objective is to support higher education institutions in building the capacity necessary to provide best-in-class degree programs and training, facilitate research translation and utilization, and engage stakeholders in best practices and policy changes that strengthen supply chains.
One of CARISCA’s four project components focuses on research to strengthen the capacity of African higher education institutions to adopt innovative, locally relevant research. A second component focuses on stakeholder engagement and support, engaging policymakers, the private sector, and civil society organizations in supply chain research, education and knowledge transfer.
The CARISCA team is working on five research projects and five industry reports to establish KNUST as Africa’s preeminent source of supply chain management expertise and to become a world-class resource for researchers in Ghana and across Africa to drive innovation, research, and research translation.
Pursuing Locally Relevant Research
Faculty research teams are producing supply chain research to advance the knowledge base in Ghana. This activity prioritizes projects that could lead to solutions to real development issues identified by USAID and local stakeholders; topics for these projects were sourced from stakeholder engagements in year one of the CARISCA project.
- Entrepreneurial resilience to supply chain disruptions Lead: Dominic Essuman
- Examining capacity constraints and interventions of post-harvest losses
Lead: John Manso Frimpong - Towards the development of deterministic supply chain network design in the cocoa sector
Lead: Kwame Owusu Kwateng - Improving agri-food supply chain sustainability through digitalization Lead: David Asamoah
- Supply chain financing Lead: Abdul Muntaka
Industry-Focused Reports
To catalyze applied research, CARISCA will produce industry-focused reports. This will be an ongoing, multi-year effort. There is limited understanding of supply chain subjects in Ghana at both the micro and macro levels. These reports, with accompanying policy briefs and tailored summary documents, will serve as guides for industry partners and policymakers so that they can make informed decisions based on evidence and highlight the knowledge and expertise being developed by CARISCA.
These industry reports are designed to provide locally relevant research describing important segments of the Ghanaian economy. These reports may also serve as a basis to identify important gaps that inform future research activities.
- Women and disadvantaged groups in Ghana’s supply chains Lead: Dominic Essuman
- Activities of technology companies
Lead: Kwame Owusu Kwateng - Healthcare/pharmaceutical supply chain activities Lead: Priscilla Kolibea Mante
- Agricultural supply chain activities
Lead: Robert Aidoo - Transportation and logistics services
Lead: Listowel Owusu Appiah