A project to promote and strengthen social cohesion and provide economic resilience for the agro-pastoral sector and border communities in the Upper East Region has been launched in Bolgatanga. Dubbed, ‘Supporting Agro-Pastoralism to reinforce Social Cohesion in the cross-border territories of Ghana and Burkina Faso (SAPSOC),’ the project seeks to facilitate dialogue and intercommunity and a multisector approach to prevent conflict amidst violent extremism. It was launched by the Ghana Developing Communities Association (GDCA), a Non-Governmental Organisation and being implemented in collaboration with Acting for Life, a French-based organisation with funding support from Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the UKAid. The project would be implemented in three districts including the Bawku West, Bongo and Kassena-Nankana West and would also promote social cohesion among actors in the agro-pastoral sector border communities of Ghana. Mr Lukman Yussif, the SAPSOC Project Coordinator, GDCA, noted that over the years, his outfit had been working with various stakeholders especially at the community level to improve upon the living standards of people through social interventions. He said the deteriorating security situation in neighbouring countries such as Burkina Faso and Togo was not only posing a threat to Ghana but had compelled many affected persons to seek refuge in many Ghana border communities. He said Ghana’s porous borders underscored the need for communities especially those along the border, to live peacefully to prevent conflict that the violent extremists could take advantage of, to destabilise the country. ‘The agro-pastoral sector is a target because it is an area where we have a lot of actors coming in from outside our territory and you will agree with me that the three districts in the region share direct borders with Burkina Faso and Togo and it is important to sensitise them to appreciate the threat we face from the disturbances in our neighboring countries,’ he said. Aside that, Mr Yussif explained, the beneficiary communities particularly the youth would also benefit from some form of social interventions that would help provide economic stability and prevent them from being recruited into violent extremists’ groups. ‘These communities are also very vulnerable in terms of low economic output in the sense that majority of the youth in these areas are unemployed, so the project is looking at how some livelihood interventions can target the youth, to reduce their vulnerability to recruitment by extremists’ groups. ‘We are not bringing something new, we identify what is existing in the community and how we can facilitate by equipping and resourcing them through training and the needed materials to be able to improve the income generating activities that they are engaged in. We will support some of the youth with small ruminants to breed and expand and some women to expand their agro-processing business,’ he said. The Project Coordinator said apart from holding community dialogue, the project would collaborate with key stakeholders including the traditional authorities, security agencies and the District Assemblies to build synergies to resolve issues that could give rise to conflict. Mr Gerard Ataogye, the District Chief Executive for Kassena-Nankana West, lauded the initiative and noted that stakeholders within the region needed to be socially coherent to ensure that they lived peacefully with people coming from neighbouring countries. He therefore called on all the stakeholders including the security services, traditional leaders, and the District Assemblies to work together to ensure that foreigners being hosted were without suspicion.
Source: Ghana News Agency
