Under the auspices of Caritas Africa, Caritas Ghana organized a one-day annual festival of learning on social cohesion and peacebuilding on the 10th of February, 2023, for the twenty Arch/Diocesan Development Officers (DDOs) or Coordinators who constitute the local Caritas Directors, and representatives from FAITH in Ghana Alliance (an inter-faith or ecumenical group, made up of Christians and Muslims).
It was a learning event under the APPROCHE project and funded by Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD) and Secours Catholique Caritas France, with the objective of institutional development and capacity strengthening of faith leaders entrusted with integral human development. It was held at the St. Pope John Paul II Conference Hall within the National Catholic Secretariat at Shiashie, a suburb of Accra. The festival was facilitated by Dr. Charles Lwanga Abugri, a consultant working with Sahel Peace Initiative project in Tamale.
In his welcome address, the Secretary-General, Rev. Fr. Lazarus Anondee, expressed his appreciation to Dr. Abugri for the support he is rendering the Catholic Church in Ghana in the area of institutional development and capacity strengthening; to the DDOs, for responding to the invitation to participate in the festival, and he urged them to work very closely with their bishops to better serve the lay faithful and partner each other to explore the opportunities out there. He went further to welcome members of the FAITH in Ghana Alliance and Mr. Michel Manfouo, the Accompaniment from Caritas Africa, based in Lomé.
To reflect and open the conversation on the theme for the festival, ‘social cohesion and peace building’, the Executive Director of Caritas Ghana set the context, outlining the ills and threats of social disintegration and conflicts on community development and evangelization.
In the plenary discussions, all the participants acknowledge the importance of social cohesion to our national health and development, and together, they identified the factors which could lead to social disintegration, beginning from the family level to the national level, namely: tribalism, ethnocentricism, nepotism, misuse or inappropriate use of the social media, land litigation and chieftaincy disputes, breakdown in family cohesion, misappropriation of community resources, power capture by community elites who assume local traditional roles like chiefs, politicizing social issues, greed and inequality, inequitable distribution of national resources, lack of national consciousness, lack of inclusion, mainly ignoring stakeholders’ voices, and lack of trust and mutual communal investment, just to name a few.
It became apparent, as agents of human development, the onus is now on the Diocesan Development Officers/Local Caritas Directors and members of the FAITH in Ghana Alliance to advocate for social cohesion at their respective localities to ensure peace, acceptance, and respect for each other to promote the vision: one people, one destiny, one nation.
