Gifty Boahemaa Appea

Second cohort of the African Fellowships for Research in Indigenous and Alternative Knowledges / Deuxième cohorte du programme de Bourses africaines pour la recherche sur les savoirs autochtones et alternatifs (AFRIAK) .

Affliation: Youth Advocates Ghana – Nsawam, Ghana
Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research – University of Ghana,Accra

Discipline: Sociology

Country / Pays: Ghana

Project Title / Titre du projet: Beyond Clinics: Indigenous Knowledge, Care Economies, and Women’s Reproductive Wellbeing in Peri-Urban Ghana

Biographie / Biography: My work has consistently engaged local and community-based knowledge systems, particularly in youth development, sexual and reproductive health, gender relations, and social organisation. Through community dialogues, participatory research, and youth-led programmes, I have worked with elders, women leaders, peer educators, and traditional authorities to understand how indigenous norms, practices, and belief systems shape health-seeking behaviour, livelihoods, and social cohesion.
I have supported community-based learning spaces where local narratives, storytelling, customary practices, and lived experiences inform programme design and advocacy strategies. In research contexts, I have used qualitative and participatory methods to document how indigenous understandings of wellbeing, land use, gender roles, and care systems coexist with—and sometimes resist—formal policy frameworks. This work has reinforced my commitment to valuing endogenous knowledge not as static tradition, but as dynamic, adaptive, and central to sustainable development and dignified livelihoods.