Ahead of the upcoming November 7 Presidential and Parliamentary elections, poverty alleviation donor fund managers, SEND-Ghana, is training about 200 peace animators in the Eastern Corridor of the Northern Region.
The beneficiaries are selected from 66 identified hotspots of eight districts in the Eastern Corridor.
These include Zabzugu, Tatale, Krachi, Nchumuru and Chereponi districts where there are frequent chieftaincy, land and political upheavals.
With funding from the Global Affairs Canada, the initiative is a component of the Food Security through Cooperative in Northern Ghana (FOSTERING) project.
In a Citi News interview on the side-lines of a day’s capacity building workshop in Zabzugu, SEND-Ghana’s Peace Building Officer, Daniel Kansake, said the participants comprised farmers, youth groups, women groups and persons living with disability.
According to him, the peace animators have been tasked to detect early warning signals and appropriately report to law enforcement agencies for rapid response.
He said they would also serve as peace educators in their respective communities.
He posited that SEND-Ghana’s commitment to poverty reduction in their operational zones through its FOSTERING programme, will be worthless without peaceful co-existence, hence the initiative.
Daniel Kansake emphasized that a proactive action plan would be factored into SEND-Ghana’s political campaign strategies in some carefully selected hotspots in the region.
He mentioned the Foundation for Security and Development in Africa (FOSDA), the Ghana Police Service, the National Peace Council (NPC) the District Assemblies and traditional authorities as some of SEND-Ghana’s collaborators.
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By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/Citifmonline.com/Ghana