The Foundation for Security and Development in Africa (FOSDA) is non-profit making organization that focuses on human security as one of its core areas of operation. FOSDA is based in Accra and has a regional office in Tamale in the Northern region of Ghana. The regional office was established in Tamale to promote human security, peace and development in the three Northern Regions where conflict and poverty feed on each other. It has been in operation since 2004 and has established good working rapport with other Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and Community Based Groups (CBGs) in the regions in consolidating the peace that the people of the area are yearning for.

FOSDA has also supported the police to curb crime by providing metal detectors to help retrieve illicit weapons in the Northern region which pose a threat to the relative peace that the people of the area are currently enjoying.

FOSDA has also worked with the Adibo and Gbungbalga communities which are mainly inhabited by the warrior clan of Dagbon. They hold the mandate to protect the Dagbon kingdom and therefore see any attempt to discourage them from possessing weapons as an effort to deny them of their identity. With the support of Oxfam Great Britain (OGB) and the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), FOSDA has worked with the communities to a level where they now appreciate peace as a strong element in addressing the high levels of poverty in their communities. Women in Adibo and Gbungbalga have been the primary beneficiaries through the provision of loans to empower them economically to build their confidence so that they will be able to prevent conflicts and also take part in peace building negotiations as spelt out in the United Nations (UN) Resolution 1325. Additionally, more than two hundred women in these communities have been given training in small scale business management. They now have bank accounts as individuals and also as groups. Two facilities (a multipurpose grinding mill and a grain store) were also donated to them by FOSDA which is currently being managed by the women themselves. Proceeds from these two facilities are deposited in their accounts which would only be withdrawn through a group decision for maintenance of the facility or as a soft loan to their members.

In 2003, FOSDA conducted a research on the state of education in the Northern region which revealed a low level of a culture of reading especially outside of formal class room situations.

Apart from the poor state of schools in the region, the research also revealed that libraries are few and far between with inadequate reading materials for those keen to study. Besides the regional library in Tamale, the only other public libraries are in Damango and Gambaga in the West Gonja and East Mamprusi districts respectively. There was one in Salaga in the East Gonja District but it was destroyed during the 1994 ethnic conflict where about eight different ethnic groups fought each other simultaneously resulting in the death of more than one thousand people and the destruction of several educational and historical sites.

As part of FOSDAs post-conflict reconstruction programme in northern Ghana a number of initiatives have been taken to promote human security through enhanced literacy efforts in conflict-prone communities. These include the establishment of learning centres for school children. Through the ECOWAS peace fund, the Nanumba north is earmarked for a learning centre. FOSDA is also working assiduously for counterpart funding for the project.

FOSDA has also opened a reading room recently as part of its arms for development project in the Tamale office located at Kanvilli Tuunaayili a small community in the Tamale metropolis. The basis of the reading room is to introduce the culture of learning and seeking knowledge among the youth. It is also to provide a place that is conducive for learning which will enable the youth to stay longer in school.

FOSDA also donated an assortment of books to schools in Bimbilla in the Nanumba north district and the Yendi municipal area including schools in Adibo,
Gbungalga and Gimli. So far, more than twelve first and second cycle schools in the Northern region have been given books which FOSDA solicited from the Ghana Book Trust and other international bodies.

With these FOSDA hopes to redirect the interest and energy of the youth from combative posture towards a more positive and knowledge-seeking stance.

Report by Fatimah Von Abubakari