Members of the Peace Council
The National Peace Council (NPC) has organised a two-day mediation training programme for women and youth from four communities in the Volta Region to strengthening their capacity in conflict resolution.
The programme, sponsored by the European Union in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (NNDP) attracted participants from Nkonya in the Biakoye District, Alavanyo, Some, and Adina in the Hohoe and Ketu South Municipalities respectively.
The training became necessary following a capacity needs assessment of actors in peace architecture, a peace initiative that reveals low level of participation of women and youth from these communities in peace building.
The Volta Regional Minister, Dr Archibald Yao Letsa, speaking at the opening ceremony, commended the participants for sacrificing their time to gain knowledge in peace building efforts.
According to him, “there is no too high prize to pay for peace hence their participation and contribution would go a long way to promote peace in their communities.”
The Minister indicated that the Regional Coordinating Council would continue to make use of advice from the NPC in relation to conflict prevention, management and resolution towards building sustainable peace to engender rapid development in the region.
He charged the participants to be agents of change and quickly report tendencies that were likely to spark conflicts.
The Executive Secretary of the Volta Regional NPC, Mr. David Normanyo said the country has retained the 4th position on the 2016 Global Peace index out of 163 countries surveyed.
He bemoaned the huge cost of violence to the country estimated at over 5.5million dollars which he said could have been channeled into other productive ventures and urged the youth to eschew all acts that could lead to violence.
Mr. Normanyo advocated the establishment of a Ghana Peace Index to rank the 10 regions towards promoting peace and brotherliness in the country.
Violence, he stated, is not only physical, it is also verbal, structural and cultural adding that “witnesses to violent acts must endeavour to mediate in order to avoid the spreading of such acts.
The peace analyst at the UNDP, Mr. Justice Agbezuge, reiterated the need to enhance the capacity of women and youth to increase the pool of insider mediators of conflict in the country.
He lamented the low presentation of women at peace negotiations and urged for more opportunities for women to bring their motherly roles to bare on peace initiatives.
By Lawrence Vomafa-Akpalu
Read Full Story
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Instagram
Google+
YouTube
LinkedIn
RSS