Paul Opoku-Mensah’s research while affiliated with Aalborg University and other places

... And will neoliberalism cede to a Sino-centric 'world order'? On one hand, some argue that China's developmental presence in Africa, especially in infrastructure and investment, demonstrates that it is now a visible actor in the system (Opoku-Mensah, 2010). They point to the increased volume and size of Sino-African aid over the past two decades 11 as proof of this, claiming that is better adapted to Africa 'than the slow and sometimes patronising post-colonial approach of [Western] donor organisations' (Wade, 2008). ...

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China, Africa and the International Aid System: A Challenge to (the Norms Underpinning) the Neoliberal World Order?

... Thus, against the backdrop of the immense assumed potential contributions of the AD to the African development project, the AU and African governments have both sought to engage this resource in the continent's development efforts. This recognition notwithstanding and beyond the use of catchphrases as " turning brain drain to brain gain " or creating ministerial positions in cabinet or within the presidency to be responsible for diaspora affairs , serious efforts on the part of African governments in terms of strategies and instruments to constructively and effectively harness this potential had been lacking (World Bank, 2007; Xing and Opoku-Mensah, 2008; ). This, however , has begun to change as signs of institutionalized efforts and mechanism to court and harness the diaspora potential have emerged. ...

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The African union, African diasporas and the quest for development: In search of the missing link

... Researchers are increasingly shifting their interests to China's ever-increasing volumes of aid to Africa. According to Opoku-Mensah, 2009, Chinese aid differs remarkably from the US aid, as the former does not rely on the NGO channel, but rather rely primarily on government or the official channel. Africa, as the main recipient of China's aid, has drawn massive attention from academics probably due to its strategic importance. ...

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The environmental consequences of foreign aid and key economic indicators: the Sino-Africa perspective

... The difficulty in defining NGOs is further worsened by the plethora of labels given to varied types of organizations under this umbrella. They include government-organized NGOs (GONGOs), nongovernmental development organizations (NGDOs), donor-oriented NGOs (DONGOs), environmental NGOs (ENGOs), and donor-state NGOs (DOSTANGOs) to name but a few (Opoku-Mensah, 2007;Townsend, 1999). For purposes of this paper, Chaplowe and Engo-Tiega's (2007) classification, which is based on NGO locations in the world, shall be adopted. ...

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A Historical Account of NGO-Government Power Relations in Sub-Saharan Africa

... The strength and value of this paper is that these kinds of insights, following an in-depth study of internal operations and governance structures of the NGO sector, remain relatively rare within the academic literature (Billis & MacKeith 1992;Kuruppu & Lodhia 2019). Lewis and Opoku-Mensah (2006) argue that NGOs should be seen as subjects for research because of the important role they play in processes of change. Change within NGOs is still an under-researched topic, despite being the recipient of a fifth of global funding from governments (Kuruppu & Lodhia 2019); partly because it can be difficult to gain access as NGOs, in a competitive funding climate, may be reluctant to air internal discussions. ...

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“We forgot about the donkeys!” An institutional analysis of the shift in animal welfare from direct implementation towards advocacy-based programming