Ghana strengthens community peacebuilding and security capacity

In Ghana, initiatives are underway to strengthen community-based peacebuilding and security. At the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), sixty-four traditional leaders from all 16 regions completed a five-day certificate programme in Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). Organized alongside the Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands and Awoonor Law Consultancy, the training combined indigenous practices with contemporary mediation and negotiation skills to help chiefs and traditional officers resolve disputes before they reach formal litigation.

Simultaneously, in the Upper East Region, the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP), and the Government of Japan conducted a workshop in Navrongo to address ammunition diversion. Participants from border communities near Burkina Faso, including traditional leaders and local security actors, were trained to identify and report signs of arms and ammunition trafficking. The project aims to bolster community-based early warning systems and serves as a potential model for ammunition management across West Africa.