Yendi (N/R), June 25, GNA – Norsaac, a civil society organisation (CSO), has built the capacities of selected young people with peacebuilding mechanisms to enable them become resilient to violence and conflict management in the Northern Region.
The two-day workshop, held in Yendi, brought together participants within age group 18 to 35, from five districts identified as hotspots for possible conflicts and violence in the Northern Region.
The districts included; Karaga, Yendi, Gushegu, Nanton and Tolon and was aimed at ensuring that the youth had the capacity and skills to become active promoters of peace in their respective districts.
It was organised in collaboration with the Northern Regional Peace Council, with funding support from OXFAM in Ghana and formed part of Norsaac’s Sustainable and Empowering Peace Project in Ghana (SEPP-Ghana).
The project seeks to promote and sustain effective collaboration between peace-building actors in Northern Ghana, especially the Dagbon Traditional Council.
Reverend Dr Clement Aapengnuo, Executive Director of Centre for Conflict Transformation and Peace Studies (CECOTAPS), who facilitated the training, took participants through violent extremism and youth radicalization, understanding theories and principles of peace-building and conflict resolution, and youth and violent extremism prevention among other topics.
He said their role in ensuring sustainable peace in the districts were critical, and urged them to devise and implement actions that would maintain unity among residents in their communities.
He advised them to desist from any form of violence and other acts that could compromise the peace and stability in their areas, saying that, peace was prerequisite for security of citizens and national development.
Reverend Thaddeus Kuusah, the Executive Secretary of the Northern Regional Peace Council, said it was essential to inculcate discipline in the youth to serve as peace ambassadors to promote unity and tolerance among residents in their communities.
Mr Hamza Abdallah, Safe Communities Manager at Norsaac, explained that the SEPP-Ghana would contribute to strengthen collaboration with civil society partners involved in peacebuilding, both at community and national levels in the focal districts.
It would also build and sustain a strong platform of youth and women networks advocating and sustaining peace in Northern Ghana, especially, in the Dagbon Traditional Council.
GNA