The role of civil society organizations in deconstructing ethnopolitical conflict narratives through peace education: lessons from the Northern Region of Ghana

Abstract

ABSTRACT The collective adherence to contradictory conflict narratives has underpinned the intractable ethnopolitical conflicts that have occurred in the Northern Region of Ghana. Changing the conflict narratives that perpetuate ethnopolitical conflicts in the region through peace education is a prerequisite for any meaningful peacebuilding. Consequently, the study examined how civil society actors use peace education to deconstruct negative conflict narratives in the region. The study is qualitative and relied on both primary and secondary data sources. Primary data was obtained through in-depth interviews with 20 participants. The data was analyzed using an inductive-deductive thematic analysis approach with the aid of NVivo 12 software. The study found that civil society organizations’ (CSOs) peace education programs create awareness, facilitate mutual understanding, and engender values of human rights, non-violence moves to conflict resolution, reconciliation, and trust-building. Peace educational activities by CSOs, whether direct or indirect, and whether in educational settings or the community, are essential in changing the socio-psychological infrastructure that perpetuates a culture of violence. It is proposed for broader engagement with CSOs for the initiation and implementation of context-specific peace education programs to help deconstruct the conflict narratives that perpetuate identity conflicts in some parts of Ghana.