Communities benefiting from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) projects, have been urged to equip themselves with the information and education they are receiving under the project to maintain and promote peace.
Madam Adjoa Nyanteng Yenyi, the Programme Specialist for Adolescents and Youth at the UNFPA, said the Agency was hoping that by building their capacities, they would be able to identify signs and things that could disturb the peace of these communities and prevent them from happening.
Madam Yenyi said this during an interaction with some members of the UNFPA’s PBF project communities in the Upper West Region, when a team from the UN’s Agency, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Health paid a two-day monitoring visit to these areas.
During their interactions with the chiefs and people of Dorimon in the Wa West District and Zini in the Sissala West District, the team said they were content with the impact so far made on the people, under the project.
Madam Yenyi, also the Team Lead, told the community members that insurgences in neighbouring Burkina Faso for instance, had made it more demanding that they took firm actions and measures to maintain peace in their communities.
She reminded the people that all the investments the government was making in the country and in their communities, could be reaped by them only if peace prevailed within their respective localities.
“Use the appropriate authorities and the methods which the government has put in place, to ensure that you maintain peace. Issues around violence including Gender-Based Violence are all things that should be minimised so that we can begin to have a very peaceful society,” she explained.
Mr Peter Maala, the Chief Director at the Upper West Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) at a debriefing meeting after the community visits, thanked the UNFPA and the project implementing partners for the interventions in the region.
He assured the team of the commitment of the RCC to ensure the success of the project, as it would contribute to promoting peace in the region and the country in general.
Naa Sidiqui A. Songa, the Chief of Dontanga in the Dorimon Traditional Area, told the team that the people in the area recognised the importance of peace and would support any intervention that sought to promote tranquility.
He said they had learned a lot from the engagements they had with the project implementing partners, PronetNorth, which was helping them to identify security threats in the community.
The chief indicated that through the enlightenment they had through the project, they were able to spot and report a stranger in the Dorimon community to the police for interrogation.
“There will be conflict and disagreement, but how to settle them amicably for peace to maintain is the most important thing,” Naa Songa stated and thanked the UNFPA for extending the project to the Dorimon community.
Molo Naa Zinenuba, a representative of the Paramount Chief of the Dorimon Traditional Area, stated that involving gender-related issues and the Fulbe community in the peace-building process was laudable, as that was necessary to have an inclusive approach to maintaining and promoting peace.
At Zini, Alhaji Al-Hassan Fatchu, the representative of the Chief of Zini, appealed for more of such projects in the community due to the project’s impact on the area.
He said as part of the project, some community members were educated, and their attention drawn to issues that had a bearing on the peace of the locality, which they would have otherwise overlooked.
Alhaji Fatchu indicated that the training they had trickled down to the community members during their Jumah (Friday) prayers, to ignite the security consciousness of the people.
The UNFPA PBF project is being implemented in six communities in two border districts in the region involving Wa West and Sissala West Districts, to empower the people with information towards conflict prevention in these localities.
