The STAR Ghana Foundation with funding from the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) of the UK has commenced the implementation of the 2^nd phase of the CSSF-NG project after a successful 1^st phase implementation that resulted in the development and validation of a Roadmap for Sustaining Peace and Development in Northern Ghana.

Implemented in partnership with the National Peace Council (NPC), Northern Development Authority (NDA), and the Northern Development Forum (NDF) with support from an expert Technical Support Group (TSG), the development of the Roadmap under phase one of the project took an inclusive and participatory approach with stakeholders drawn from all levels.

Through dialogues at regional and national spaces, a wide variety of views were collated, with stakeholders reflecting on the drivers of conflict and insecurity in northern Ghana and how to catalyze and coordinate efforts to address the underlying causes of conflicts, insecurity, and underdevelopment in Northern Ghana. The roadmap outlines the drivers of conflicts, existing gaps, recent and ongoing peace and security interventions. It also explored opportunities for sustaining peace and proposed strategies for addressing the drivers of conflicts and insecurities.  

This 2^nd phase of the project adopts an integrated approach to link initiatives at the community levels focusing on salient local issues and piloting innovative local partnerships with strategic national level engagements to influence policy and practice in the areas of peace, security, and development. Building on the foundation and success of the 1^st phase, this phase aims to deliver on three key objectives of:

• working with stakeholders at all levels to facilitate the mainstreaming of the Roadmap into the planning and budgeting of relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), and MMDAs at all levels of governance.
• working with communities to identify and implement innovative integrated approaches to addressing the problems of conflict, insecurity, and under-development of northern Ghana, and
• enhancing multi-stakeholder collaboration and coordination at all levels for knowledge and experience sharing for effective outcomes.

The project focuses on fostering inclusive dialogues and collaboration with stakeholders across all levels to engender ownership of the issues to be addressed and the co-creation of implementation strategies.