Project description

Title: Food Security, Rehabilitation and Conflict Transformation in Gueckedou Region
Commissioned by: Bundesministerium für Wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Zusammenarbeit (BMZ)
Country: Guinea
Lead executing agency: Ministry of International Cooperation
Overall term: December 2004 to December 2009

Context

As many as 250,000 refugees from civil war in Sierra Leone and Liberia have sought a safe haven in the region of Gueckedou in Guinea. But in 2000 and 2001, armed bands from these countries invaded and drove out the refugees together with large portions of the local population. The livelihoods of small-scale farming families in Guinea’s crisis regions urgently need to be re-established to give the population, particularly young people, some prospects for the future and to forestall violent conflict of the kind that has erupted in the neighbouring countries.

Objective

Food security for poor population groups who have suffered from the conflict has been improved in a number of areas in Gueckedou region. People’s economic and social livelihoods have been stabilised and are sustainable.

Approach

This task is part of a project network in this crisis-ridden region of West Africa. From its location where Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone come together, it works in the fields of agriculture, nutrition, reconstruction, community development and crisis prevention.

In Guinea the project supports Guinean agricultural extension services with the development and dissemination of better rice planting techniques. Oil palm seedlings are grown in village nurseries for the population to use to reafforest waste land. This measure improves the environmental situation in the long term and increases farmers’ incomes.

Together with the state health and education services, the project informs the population about good habits for cooking, nutrition and hygiene.
 
As a measure to prevent conflict, GTZ promotes the integration of youths into society and a general process of social dialogue. Easier access to personal identification papers is intended to strengthen people’s sense of their civil rights and to make it easier for them to travel and take part in elections.

GTZ is attempting to integrate all of these measures into local development planning. It also supports transboundary interchange between the Guinean population and people in the neighbouring regions of Sierra Leone and Liberia.

The project is closely linked to the GTZ project Food Security, Reconstruction and Conflict Transformation in the border districts of Kailahun and Kono, Sierra Leone.

Results achieved so far

In the border areas, 52 km of roads have been repaired, so that transport time and costs have been halved. The population thus has readier access to hospitals, and they can market their agricultural products more easily. Spring-water casings built together with the population have improved access to clean drinking water in 20 villages. Women and girls have thus been spared the frequently long treks on foot to fetch clean water for their families.

Two community centres erected by the project are proving successful with the village population.