UNDP, WANEP-Ghana offer training on conflict, violent extremism early warning

Security agencies and members of 23 communities of the three northern regions in Ghana have attended a community peace, confidence and trust-building forum aimed at promoting peaceful co-existence and enhancing early warning alertness on violent extremism. 

The programme was also a training programme which forms part of a project dubbed, "Enhancing Social Cohesion and Social Contract, Through Empowerment of Women and Youth in the three northern regions of Ghana".

It is being implemented across eight project districts in the Upper West, Upper East and North-East regions of Ghana by the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding, Ghana (WANEP-Ghana) in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

Participants for the training were drawn from the security agencies, traditional authorities, religious groups, youth, women and livelihood groups, assembly members and local business leaders.

Raising awareness

A statement issued in Tamale at the end of the training by WANEP-Ghana said the training and dialogue activities focused on raising awareness among participants of the nature and manifestations of illicit economies, which were sometimes referred to as dark economic activities, and their effects on individuals, the communities and the country at large.

It also explained the locus of illicit economies in social conflicts and violent extremism.

It mentioned some of the outcomes of the training, including the fact that it had enhanced the knowledge of members of the 23 communities on their collective responsibilities for their security and peaceful co-existence; improved civilian-security relationships and trust resulting in enhanced information sharing among stakeholders to facilitate timely response to incidents of social conflicts and violent extremism and civilians and security agencies designing ways of working together to enhance their security and prevent violent extremism. 

Project

The statement explained that the project formed part of a comprehensive response to ongoing and potential social conflicts usually characterised by sporadic violence.

It said the overarching objective of the project was to empower local governance institutions, actors and customary governance structures so that they produced inclusive, responsive and accountable governance, economic development and quality service delivery as a peace dividend in the northern regions.

"Moreover, while social conflict is present, other social and security vulnerabilities have the potential to facilitate local emergence or attract spillover of violent extremist activities from Ghana's northern neighbour, Burkina Faso, and threats from the northern borders with Togo and Cote d'Ivoire," the statement explained.

It said the project would promote active citizenship through positive collaborations among state and non-state actors and security agencies in transborder districts as a means of facilitating conflict early warning and response continuum and preparedness to prevent them from escalating into violence while contributing to building local resilient capacities for conflict management.

To sustain the project’s contribution to resilience building, the participants would continue to engage in sensitisation through local radios.

Explaining why women and youth were critical and strategic actors in the project, the statement said, the project would enhance their resilience to enable them to participate fully and meaningfully in the attainment of local governance decision-making, as well as promoting conflict prevention and peace-building processes.