Abstract

Hesky B. L

There has been serious concern about the nexus between development assistance and conflicts in the recipient nations. Thus, donors have been rethinking their assistance packages to ensure a conflict sensitive response to the development needs of poor countries. This paper examined the level of conflict sensitivity of two development projects in Ejisu-Juaben District in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. A framework of indicators was developed to analyze the survey data. One project (a borehole construction) was found to be moderately sensitive to conflict while the other (a livestock development project) was found to be highly sensitive. The former suspended operations due to land conflict, a situation mainly attributable to a discovered policy weakness surrounding the operations of the District Water and Sanitation Projects. The continuity of the livestock development project suggested a remarkable integration of conflict management concepts into its operations.