Interfaith Dialogue as a Participatory Approach for Peace Building: Perspectives from Civil Society Organizations in Northern Ghana

Abstract

The Participatory Impact Analysis and Learning Approach (PIALA) was used as the main methodological approach. The use of PIALA facilitated participation and collaboration of the project stakeholders in assessing how Interfaith Dialogue (ID) as a participatory approach in promoting peaceful coexistence was effective. It adopted a convergent parallel mix survey methods design where quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 381 respondents with 14 religious’ leaders from various religious groups, and 5 traditional leaders (Chiefs). Key Informant Interviews (KIIs), focus group discussions (FGDs) and Observations were the main data collection tools used. The study found out that the use of interfaith dialogues increased communities’ knowledge and experience in peaceful co-existence with an increase from 4 % of respondents experiencing extremely high knowledge to 98 %. As high as 96 % of the respondents observed a very high peaceful co-existence among various religious groups due to the adoption of IDs and its associate actions. Similarly, 17 % of the respondents agreed that religious conflicts in the communities have reduced while 74 % of the respondents strongly agreed religious conflicts in the communities have reduced as a result of interfaith dialogue among them and other stakeholders. All respondents generally agreed to the assertion that there has not been any violent conflict in their communities which was directly associated with IDs. Interfaith dialogue as an approach to sustainable peace building demonstrated profound relevance by successfully addressing the root causes of conflicts stemming from religious or other group differences. It also demonstrated notable effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability in securing the needed peace among intra and inter groups. 84 % of respondents strongly agreed ID was efficient while 99 % respondents strongly agreed the adoption of IDs yielded sustainable outcomes. It is recommended that ID as a tool for promoting peace should be encouraged among communities and stakeholders in the peace building and coexistence initiative. Communities and stakeholders be equipped with the requisite interfaith dialogue facilitation skills and principles. There is a call for increased investment in livelihoods and entrepreneurship development among the youth and women as part of the holistic interfaith dialogue approach.