Lessons from emerging conflict resolution mechanisms in the Volta Basin

One key expertise that remains untapped in Ghana is community-based arrangements for water resources management and how such arrangements are/or could be employed in developing an integrated framework to promote sustained management of the resource and improved livelihoods of the people. This paper presents the results of an in-depth investigation carried out on how community-based strategies are employed to resolve conflicts that confront communities in the White Volta and Lower Volta sub-basins of the Volta Basin in Ghana. Such strategies include promoting negotiations, instituting measures to prevent the occurrence of conflicts and institutionalising local organisations. The outcome provides some useful insights into the use of such community-based strategies in supporting development planning and policy formulation for managing water resources at the national and possibly regional level