Researcher - West Africa Network for Peacebuilding

The West Africa Network for Peacebuilding, Ghana (WANEP-Ghana) is a non-profit making peacebuilding Non-Governmental Organization (NGO). It is a civil society institution meant to prevent, resolve, and transform violent conflicts through collective and coordinated efforts of NGOs, local and national state institutions as well as individuals actively engaged in peacebuilding practice in Ghana in order to avoid the duplication of efforts and maximize resources for more effective responses to conflict situations.

The organization seeks to facilitate the creation of a sustainable culture of non-violence, justice, peace and social reconciliation in Ghanaian communities.

SHORT-TERM CONSULTANCY

• Project: Sustainable and Empowering Peace Project (SEPP) 
• Position: Researcher    
• Location: Zabzugu, Tatale-Sanguli Districts, and West Gonja Municipality, Ghana
• Duration: Fifteen (15) Days

Background

The West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) is a regional peacebuilding non-profit making organization founded in 1998 in response to the civil wars that ravaged West Africa in the 1990s. Since its creation, WANEP has successfully established its regional office in Ghana and national network offices in all West African states, with over 700 member organizations whose expertise cover various thematic areas related to peace and security. As a leading peacebuilding organization in the region, WANEP works with various stakeholders to promote peace and stability across the region.

In Ghana, WANEP works to prevent, resolve, and transform violent conflicts through collective and coordinated efforts of NGOs, local and national state institutions as well as individuals actively engaged in peacebuilding practice in order to avoid the duplication of efforts and maximize resources for more effective responses to conflict situations. The organization seeks to facilitate the creation of a sustainable culture of non-violence, justice, peace and social reconciliation in Ghanaian communities. 

In that regard, WANEP-Ghana is implementing the DANIDA-funded Sustainable and Empowering Peace Project (SEPP) in partnership with OXFAM in the Zabzugu and Tatale-Sanguli Districts in the Northern Region, and the West Gonja Municipality of the Savannah Region to prevent and manage farmer-herder conflicts in fifteen (15) communities.  

Context of SEPP

Climate change is one of the phenomena that has negatively affected the world’s populations in diverse ways in contemporary times, assuming the centre-stage of global discourse on environmental issues. Vegetations and water bodies dry up at exponential rates because of climate change. This situation has compelled cattle herders and community crop farmers to find alternative ways of sustaining their livelihoods.

Cattle herders compete with communities for same sources of water communities for their cattle. They also intentionally or unintentionally herd their cattle onto farmlands where the animals graze crops owned by members of communities. This has often strained herder-farmer relationships with some tensions resulting into violence, further straining peaceful co-existence and social cohesion in communities.

It is against this backdrop that the Sustainable and Empowering Peace Project (SEPP) came into existence to contribute to conflict prevention and management of farmer-herder conflicts in the Zabzugu and Tatale-Sanguli Districts of the Northern Region, and the West Gonja Municipality of the Savannah Region where fifteen (15) communities have been targeted. These communities include Bekpanjibe, Dondoni, Nachamba No. 1, Nachamba No. 2 and 

Sanguli in the Tatale-Sanguli District; Binyinkumdo, Gbandi, Mognegu, Tindan and Woribogu in the Zabzugu District; and Achubunyor, Kojope, Kongo, Mempeasem and Yipala in the West Gonja Municipality.    

The design of SEPP mandates WANEP-Ghana to carry out a series of activities to successfully complete the project in the beneficiary districts. One of such activities is “Conduct a light study of WANEP’s intervention in the target project communities to ascertain the effectiveness and efficiency of the strategies deployed in the communities to curtail the conflicts spikes in the areas.” This activity is research based and would involve data collection from beneficiary communities and other stakeholders, analysis and reporting on the effectiveness of the intervention to prevent or manage farmer-herder conflicts.  

Roles and Responsibilities

During the consultancy, the researcher is expected to perform the following responsibilities:  

• Collect data on the effectiveness and efficiency of WANEP-Ghana’s interventions to prevent and manage farmer-herder conflicts across the fifteen (15) project communities;
• Draft a research report detailing the findings from all fifteen (15) project communities;
• Present the research findings during a national dialogue on farmer-herder conflicts.    

Required Skills or Experience

Qualifications and Experience

Considering the scope of this assignment, the required qualifications of the short-term consultancy are as follows:

• A Masters degree or a PhD holder in Social Science with professional working experience from 5 to 7 years in conflict prevention and management, and peacebuilding. 
• Strong understanding of farmer-herder conflicts in Ghana.
• Fluent in English and has secondary understanding of the local languages of the communities.
• Excellent analytic abilities and good report writing skills. 
• Excellent research report deliberative skills

Deliverables and reports’ requirements

• An inception report of the assessment
• A draft report detailing the findings on the strategies implemented by WANEP-Ghana in curtailing the conflict spikes in the fifteen (15) project communities.
• Presentation of final draft report at national dialogue forum for inputs
• Final report submitted to WANEP-Ghana 

Timeline

All the deliverables are expected to be completed within a maximum of fifteen (15) days spanning the period July-September, 2026 upon signing of the contract. 

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