Nahouri: community days to strengthen living together

The first edition of the Provincial Days of Nahouri Communities (JPC-N) celebrating living together and cohesion between the different local ethnic groups took place from June 23 to 25, 2023, in Pô, with at program various socio-cultural, economic, educational and sporting activities.

The event is a concerted initiative between the NGO ”The Guardian Angels of Nature” (AGN), the High Commission of Nahouri, the Amazons of Peace and the communities of the province.

Fourteen (14) ethnic groups living within the provincial territory and three other ethnic groups from Ghanaian border towns (Nankana, Sissala and Kassena) are taking part in the activities.

A public conference on the issue of promoting cultural practices in order to strengthen peace and social cohesion, a craft products fair, performances by dance groups and traditional artists, football matches between parents in joking constitute, among other things, the activities that punctuate, according to the program, the days of the 2023 edition of the JPC-N.

At the same time, the NGO AGN holds on the site of the festivities, a space for meetings between processors, collectors, exporters and consumers of non-timber forest products (NTFPs), a gastronomic space for promoting local products and NTFPs, a listening office for young people, women and vulnerable people on the possibilities of support for entrepreneurship, in particular Eco-entrepreneurship….

The Executive Director of AGN, Benjamen Bassono, confided that in addition to supporting the organization of the YPC-N, AGN carries out these related activities within the framework of the “Resilient Communities” project that it is carrying out thanks to the financial support from the European Union.

This is a project, he said, which intends to meet the challenges of strengthening social cohesion and social organization, the development of income-generating activities (IGA) and the establishment of social safety nets in its area of intervention, including Nahouri.

To listen to Mr. Bassono, through this commitment to the effective holding of the JPC-N, AGN intends to promote the practice of joking relationships and the traditional mechanisms of prevention and management of community conflicts, to strengthen the relations of friendship and fraternity between the different communities living in the province of Nahouri and support reflection on the promotion of shared cultural practices promoting cohesion and peace.

Mr. Bassono said he was convinced that the results of the activities of the event will contribute to a better preservation of the PONASI landscape, an ecological complex which constitutes one of the areas of intervention of AGN as part of its mission of preservation and security. of biodiversity.

The official ceremony to launch the activities of the first edition of the JPC-N which was held on the second day was attended by a large crowd and distinguished guests including a ministerial delegation led by the Minister of State, Minister of Public Service, Labor and Social Protection, Bassolma Bazié, Living Human Treasures (THV), local and regional administrative, customary and religious authorities and a delegation of Ghanaian communities bordering Nahouri.

Their spokespersons maintained, in turn, in the messages delivered on the platform, that the promotion of shared cultural practices is a guarantee of peace and living together between communities.

For the Minister of State Bassolma Bazié in particular, the JPC-N take on an “unpublished and fundamental” character. Strengthening community ties and promoting traditional values, he said, are levers against conflict and violent extremism. “If indeed we manage to sit on these springs, there will be no insecurity in our country”, insisted the Minister of State.

The Governor of the Center-South, Yvette Nacoulma, said she was satisfied with the organization of the event. “This first edition, for a first attempt, is ultimately a masterstroke,” she noted.

Ms. Nacoulma also recalled that the JPC-N initiative is above all in line with the vision of the President of the Transition, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, who calls for the development of initiatives contributing “to stitching up the social fabric and restoring better living together “.

Also, she congratulated the organizers and the local communities by urging them to continue in the dynamics.

The chief of Pô, Pô Pè, reassured his hosts that the local communities will appropriate the initiative and work to perpetuate it in order to transmit to the younger generations the shared cultural values which constitute the cement of harmonious living together between the communities living in Nahouri.

The NGO AGN awarded trophies of honor for unity and social cohesion to personalities as well as to the President of the Transition, on the occasion of the official ceremony to launch the activities of the first edition of the JPC -NOT.

Source: Burkina Information Agency