A REPORT ON TRAINING ON CONFLICT MANAGEMENT AND EARLY WARNING FOR VARIOUS STAKEHOLDERS IN BAWKU.
Ghana has witnessed a number of conflict over the past years leading to serious consequences politically, economically and socially. Although, Ghana enjoys considerable peace compared to its neighboring countries, it is vulnerable to intermittent communal violence, ethnic and chieftaincy conflicts. Resolution and early warning signs have become tropical issues in debates and discussions in the country. This is so because of the negative impact of conflicts as most of these conflicts are violent. It is against this backdrop that Agricultural Governance, Resilience and Economic Empowerment (AGREE) organized a one day workshop on conflict management and early warning signs for various stakeholders on the 31st of August 2021.
The workshop which took place in the Bawku Municipal Conference Hall, drew various stakeholders from the office of the Bawku Municipal Assembly, the Department of Agriculture, the Municipal Education Office, Private Sector Actors, Bawku Inter-ethnic Peace Committee, the Department of Social Welfare and Community Development and the Traditional Authority. The lead facilitator, Ben Kasimu Wumbla, a conflict Mitigation Coordinator gave a brief overview of AGREE activity stating that, it was a successor of the Northern Ghana Governance Project. He added that, it was funded by USAID through the Feed the Future Initiative. AGREE activity goal is to ensure responsive governance for improved agricultural development in Ghana. Its scope had been extended to cover three initiatives namely Governance Initiative, Women in Share Initiative (WISH) and Covid-19 response.
Mr. Ben Kasimu Wumbla in his presentation touched on the meaning of conflict, its causes and tools for conflict analysis. He also talked about the importance of conflict analysis, the types of conflicts and the stages of conflicts. He also explained the strategies and approaches for conflicts preventions as well as its guiding principles. The co-facilitator, Charlotte Atinee, an early warning analyst touched on early warnings and response, explaining what it was and its elements. She also touched on the sources of early warning information and what to avoid in early warning.