The Upper West Regional Department of Gender has engaged some communities in the Region to develop community-specific action plans towards promoting peace and security in their communities.
That was under the United Nations Population Fund's (UNFPA) Peace Building Fund (PBF) project being implemented in border communities in two districts of the region.
The communities were Fielmuo, Zini, and Jeffisi in the Sissala West District and Dorimon, Kpila and Olli in the Wa West District.
The action plans outlined the strategies by the communities towards averting conflicts and identifying and reporting suspected security threats within their communities, homes, and workplaces.
The communities' actions included reporting strangers who demanded sensitive information about their communities and strangers engaging youth in the communities to the security agencies and opinion leaders.
The women at the forum said people who bought cooked food and drinks in large quantities consistently would also be reported to the opinion leaders in the community for investigations.
Speaking at a social dialogue at Fielmuo to develop those plans, Mr Abdul Moomin Baba, a resident of the Fielmuo community, said the forum was an eye opener to them since it would enable them take action to counter violent extremism in their communities.
He said love for money was a key contributor to the insecurity threats in their communities since some people could 'sell the community secrets' in pursuit of money.
Mr Thomas Tanguo, a Border Monitor with Caritas Ghana said, 'The forum has taught me that it is not everybody that you pick as a stranger and leave with the person freely. We need to be careful.'
The security officers at the dialogue recommended that such forums should be organised regularly to bridge the gap between the security agencies and the community members to facilitate the fight against crime.
They also advised the people against engaging strangers and giving out sensitive information about their community to them for financial gains since that was detrimental to their security.
The communities pledged to work closely with the opinion leaders in their communities including the traditional leaders and security agencies to promote and maintain peace in the communities.
Madam Charity Batuure, the Upper West Regional Director of the Department of Gender, indicated that the initiative was to create an interface between the security agencies and the community leaders to establish pathways for prompt response to early warnings of conflicts.
'As a country, every election year is a critical year and there are always instances of pockets of violence but as a community we know the effects of that when we see any sign of violence let's counter it before it escalates', she explained.
Madam Batuure said the action plans were not only to pick early warning signs of conflicts but also to identify the appropriate institutions and individuals to report such issues too.
Representatives from security agencies including the Ghana Police Service, the Ghana Armed Forces, the Ghana Immigration Service, the Ghana National Fire Service and the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority participated in the action plan development forum.
Source: Ghana News Agency