The Center for Democratic Development (CDD) Ghana has launched the Prevention of Violent Extremism (PVE) project funded by the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF).
This initiative will be implemented in 15 districts across the North East, Upper East, and Upper West regions and is aimed at helping build the resilience of these communities against violent extremism.
Speaking to journalists in Tamale at the launch of the project on Monday, May 26, the Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist for CDD-Ghana, Peter Annor Mensah, explained that violent extremist groups operating in Ghana’s neighboring countries pose a significant threat.
He noted that these groups can exploit intergroup conflicts and unaddressed grievances in border communities to spread their ideologies, for which reason CDD-Ghana is working to build capacities in these regions.
“We are looking at the vulnerabilities of communities to violent extremism. So violent extremist groups can take advantage of inter-group conflicts and subtle grievances within people, and so we felt that these are some of the entry points violent extremists within countries around the borders of Ghana can take advantage of and infiltrate these communities and propagate their ideologies within these communities. That is why it is important to build the capacities of the various communities,” he explained.
Mr. Annor Mensah added that the project would be implemented in the communities by locally based non-governmental organizations in the three regions to ensure that community members are able to properly relate to the implementing partners.
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The project, dubbed “Bridging the Gap: Promoting Socio-Economic Inclusion, Social Cohesion & Peacebuilding for Vulnerable Communities,” will empower vulnerable communities by fostering socio-economic inclusion, social cohesion, and resilience against violent extremism.
The GCERF PVE project will be implemented in the Upper West region by the Center for Advancing Rural Opportunity (CARO), in the North East region by the African Students for Interfaith Tolerance (ASFIT), and in the Upper East region by the Rural Initiatives for Self-Empowerment (RISE).
