By Dominic Antwi Agyei
Kumasi, Sept. 05, GNA – Investing in and building youth resilience is necessary for the positive development of every society, Mr Simon Osei-Mensah, Ashanti Regional Minister has stated.
He explained that the youth contributed significantly to the country’s growth and development, adding that, building their capacity would help them overcome difficult challenges in their lives.
Mr Osei-Mensah was speaking at the opening ceremony of a three-day workshop on peacebuilding, preventing violent extremism, early warnings and human rights and gender for Micro, Small and Medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Kumasi.
The programme organised by the National Peace Council (NPC) in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), was aimed at building the capacities of the participants in preventing violent extremism and reinforcing the youth and women in the sector to flourish in an inclusive and equitable manner.
It was also aimed at increasing citizens’ engagement to prevent the radicalisation of the youth.
The workshop was also to help create local proactive and participatory approaches to prevent violent extremism and build a resilience system to deal with threats and help to sustain peace.
According to the Minister, conflicts remained an inevitable phenomenon in every society and an equally important part of human existence.
He urged the youth and women to equip themselves with what was being taught to help make a meaningful impact in the country.
Reverend Emmanuel Badu Amoah, the Ashanti Regional Executive Secretary of the NPC, said the involvement of the youth would help transform them from agents of conflict and violence to agents of peace-making to help maintain the country’s peace.
He said the early warning was the provision of effective and timely information that allowed individuals or groups to be exposed to likely future danger, to take actions to avoid the effect and prepare for an effective response.
The training would empower the youth with relevant information to detect and report early signals to the enforcement agencies for immediate action.
It would also enable them to be security conscious and work towards maintaining the prevailing peace and stability in the country.
Rev. Amoah urged the participants to be vigilant and report suspicious characters to law enforcement agencies to help prevent violence in the country.
GNA