DATE: 19TH – 20TH JANUARY 2022
VENUE: KARAGA DISTRICT ASSEMBLY HALL
Executive Summary and Background
This report summarizes the key highlights and actions from the 2-day workshop on Mediation and Conflict Resolution organized for Community Monitors and other key stakeholders from 4 communities in the Karaga district where the CSSF project is being piloted.
Following a consultative forum that was held in Karaga – bringing together members and leadership of the selected communities and other relevant stakeholders to discuss and agree on a roadmap for addressing all farmer-herder related conflicts in the communities, Community Monitors were formed for the 4 pilot communities. The monitors are tasked to collaborate with district security agencies and traditional authorities to mediate and resolve conflicts between farmers and herders.
To build their capacities to perform their functions, a 2-day capacity building workshop on Mediation and Conflict Resolution was held. Facilitated by experts, participants were trained on understanding conflicts, violence, and violence extremism; causes of conflicts; role of women in peace and conflict resolution; response mechanisms to conflicts and violence; prejudice and perceptions as drivers of violence. Participants were also taken through the early warning framework as well as gender dynamics in conflicts and mediation.
The community monitors were introduced to community stakeholders and outdoored at the end of the workshop.
- Opening
The meeting commenced with a welcome address by Mr Mahama Osman, the Karaga District Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) who stood in for the District Coordinating Director. In his remarks, Mr Osman bemoaned the high number of farmer-herder conflicts in the district that have often turned violent and resulted in the loss of lives and property. He expressed appreciation to STAR Ghana Foundation for the project, stating that it is an avenue to empower community members to take steps to resolve conflicts in a non-violent manner and live peacefully. He called on participants to take advantage of the opportunity and be committed to the process.
Mr Aaron Atimpe, the Project Manager of the CSSF project underscored the importance of peace for development, indicating that though STAR Ghana Foundation is facilitating the project, the approaches being implemented are community-driven, hence, their success will depend largely on the commitment and support of all community members and stakeholders.
He commended the district assembly, traditional leaders, and security agencies for their support to the project so far and their commitment to ensuring that peace prevails in the district for socio-economic activities to thrive. He stressed that security is a shared responsibility. He therefore called on existing formal and traditional structures not to see the community monitors as a parallel structure or a competitor, but a community-led initiative that will complement and work to support existing structures to resolve conflicts and ensure peaceful coexistence in the district.
The Karaga District Police Commander, Alhajj Abdul Latif Mbonwura also commended STAR Ghana Foundation for the initiative and pledged the reliable support of the Police Service to support the initiative to succeed. He said the project is particularly important in fostering peaceful communities, building community resilience, and promoting community-security relations which he noted is critical in the face of terrorist and extremist advances in neighboring countries and in locations close to the border with northern Ghana. He urged traditional leaders and members to support the initiative and cooperate with the monitors to resolve and mediate issues that have the tendencies to degenerate into violence.
- Highlights of Training
Rev Father Thaddeus Kuusah, Executive Secretary of the Northern Regional Peace Council commenced the training session by taking participants through ‘understanding peace, conflict, violence, and violent extremism’. He reminded participants that peace is essential for the development of every community, hence the need to work together to ensure peace. He noted that conflicts are a natural part of humanity as people are bound to have disagreements so long as they live and interact with one another. Therefore, conflicts are not in and by themselves dangerous. However, it is the reactions and response to these conflicts and how they are managed that can result in negative outcomes in the form of violence and other consequences. He led the participants to brainstorm on the causes of conflicts in their communities as well potential conflict situations. Participants listed these to include competition over land, water sources, political contestations, chieftaincy etc. He also led the participants to brainstorm on some of the implications of violent conflicts including destruction of lives and property, destruction of socio-economic livelihoods amongst others.
Prejudices and Perceptions: Rev Thaddeus also facilitated a session on prejudices and perceptions – admonishing participants to always adopt dialogue and not violence, as the best mechanism for resolving conflicts. He noted cultural differences could give rise to misleading perceptions and prejudices that have the potential to result in conflicts. He urged participants to make efforts to understand and accommodate others’ cultures and be prepared to shift positions and perspectives to prevent violent conflicts.
Early Warning: Rev. Father Thaddeus assisted by the Programmes Officer of the Northern Regional Peace Council, Nuhu Mahama, took participants – mainly the community monitors, through the early warning framework. He stated that the rationale for early warning and early warning mechanisms is for the intelligence gathered to be acted on to avert violence/conflict or its escalation. Therefore, any early warning will be meaningless unless it is acted on appropriately and timeously. He admonished monitors on the need to report early warnings on time and to the right authorities so as to inform the appropriate response mechanisms. He advised community monitors to avoid the temptation of trying to mediate every case. He stated that purely criminal cases should be reported to the police and not mediated at home by monitors or through any other means. A Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officer with the Karaga district police took turn to educate monitors on the procedures involved in reporting cases to the police and collaborating with them for thorough investigation and resolution. He advised farmers and herders against resorting to physical assault when there is a disagreement of any kind between or among them.
Response Mechanisms and Mediation of Conflicts: The Karaga district Police Commander, Alhajj Abdul Latif Mbonwura, facilitated a session on mediation. He noted that about 90% of people in the district are farmers, while the settler community – the Fulani, are predominantly herders. He said it is no surprise therefore that majority of the recorded cases of conflict and violence in the district are farmer-herder related, mainly due to competition on the same lands and water sources for farming or rearing animals. Given the nature of the conflicts, the Police Commander underscored the need for community-led initiatives to amicably resolve these conflicts to avoid degeneration into bigger violence. He noted that the Ghanaian constitution makes provisions for mediation as a conflict resolution mechanism, and in most cases, a properly mediated resolution is binding on parties. He mentioned that a key element of mediation is that the process is owned by the parties and not the mediator. It is important therefore that project implementation is community-drive. He cautioned the monitors and participants that not all cases can be mediated. He mentioned criminal cases, environmental cases and cases of constitutional interpretation should not be mediated but addressed through the police or court. He listed impartiality, knowledgeableness, patience, trustworthiness, and honesty are key attributes that all mediators must possess. He urged the monitors to be fair and just in mediating matters, and reminded them that as non-judges, their role is to guide the parties through dialogue to come to an amicable resolution and not to pass judgements. He recommended that Community Mediation Centres be established to provide dedicated space for trained community mediators to mediate on farmer herder disputes.
Role and Dynamics of Women in Conflicts: Hajia Lamnatu Adam, Executive Director of Songtaba in facilitating this session noted that while women are mostly victims of violent conflicts, they can also play a very central role in resolving conflicts and achieving peace. She urged the monitors and other stakeholders to be gender sensitive in assessing and addressing conflicts. She also called for attention to socio-cultural biases that deprive women in so many ways, making them both susceptible to violent abuses of many forms and vulnerable during conflicts. She called for the skills and perspectives of women to be considered in mechanisms adopted to mediate on matters. She also advised women who are part of the community monitors not to allow cultural biases to dominate their voices in contributing to achieving sustainable peace in their communities.
- Views from Participants
After the 2-day session, participants shared their views generally about the influence of the project, but also particularly the training session, on their cross-ethnic relationships and perceptions. A selection of a few of these reflections include:
A pastoralist in the district made a two-way appeal “I want to appeal to my colleague herders to own up and avail themselves for nonviolent resolution of conflicts according to laid down rules anytime their cattle destroy a farm. At the same time, I also want to appeal to the farmers to avoid all generalizations and unhealthy stereotypes against herders. The community monitors constituted with the help of this project should be respected and used by all to resolve any disagreements between us”
A member of Kupali, one of the pilot communities in the district said “my thinking about the pastoralists has changed for good today. I used to harbour strong resentment for them due to past experiences with a few of them whose cattle destroyed farms in this district. But after this training, I have come to appreciate that we are all brothers and sisters, and we can coexist and depend on each other for many things. And when we disagree or feel angry towards each other, I have learnt that we can always adopt non-violence to addressing our conflicts, and thanks to STAR Ghana for creating this space for us to coexist and work together for peace”
A resident of the Nangun Nayili community remarked “this training is very useful, and everyone deserves to hear the lessons so that we can achieve peace in our community. On my part, I will engage my Assembly member and the chief to convene community members to share the lessons with the entire community”
“I have learnt from this training that peace is premised on fairness and justice. However, as a minority group (Fulani) in this district, we are marginalized and excluded in major decisions, and mostly exploited through inconsiderate charges and physical attacks whenever our cattle stray into farms to destroy crops. We have endured these injustices for the sake of peace. We are however excited with this project because we have been equally involved from the start, and most importantly, we have equal representation in the committees as farmers, and this gives us hope that things will be done differently and justly, so that together, we can have a peaceful community to undertake our various activities without fear, ” says a herder.
On his part, Rev. Father Thaddeus, the Chairman of the Northern Regional Peace Council who was the lead facilitator was impressed with the civil nature of the dialogue between pastoralists and farmers. He remarked, “I am impressed that unlike the many other such sessions that I have facilitated, these people are having a fruitful, respectful and civil conversation and not charging at each other even when they disagree. As far as I am concerned and compared to other places I have been to, I am convinced that this project is doing something right in this district and is on course to building lasting peace”
Appeal for training to be extended: an Assemblymember who represented the Presiding Member of the Karaga District Assembly commended STAR Ghana Foundation for the project. He stated that the community monitor’s role will be very relevant in complementing the police and security agencies to address conflicts in the district. He however called for the training to be extended to all Assemblymembers in the district, to build their capacities to be able to assist the monitors and existing structures as the first point of contact to the people to ensure peaceful resolution of conflicts.
- Closing/conclusion
After the training, a total of 48 community monitors – representing the four pilot communities in the district were inaugurated by the district NCCE Director. Each of the four committees is composed of twelve members – 6 farmers and 6 herders, with 6 of the 12 being women while the other 6 are men. The membership of the committees is also made up of equal numbers of younger people and adults. Rev Fr. Thaddeus after praying for the committee members encouraged them to be fair and transparent in their efforts to mediate and ensure peaceful resolution of conflicts. In his closing remarks, Mr Atimpe, project Manager of the CSSF commended the participants for their commitment to peace and stated STAR Ghana Foundation’s commitment to continue to facilitate and support spaces for community-driven initiatives towards peace and development. He commended the monitors for accepting the task to volunteer their time and comfort for peace in the district. While calling for popular community support and cooperation, he reiterated that the monitors are a complement to existing structures in ensuring peace and not a replacement of these structures.