By Patrick Biddah
Thirty women drawn from diverse backgrounds, have been trained to acquire mediation and peace building knowledge.
The women, included retired police officers, traditional leaders, politicians, officials from the Ministry of Women, Gender and Social Protection Ministry and others .
The 18-week training programme which started on October 12, 2021 , ended on February 3, 2022 and was organized by the Foundation for Security and Development in Africa ( FOSDA), in collaboration with other Non-Governmental Organization namely, the Peace Legacy Africa with support from the Canadian Fund For Local Initiatives.
The participants were taken through lessonsin mediation, peace- building, negotiations as well as other conflict resolution skills.
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The training which was both online and physical classroom teaching contact , was among others, aimed at increasing the number of women in mediation in Ghana and for the continent.
Speaking at the graduation and closing ceremony in Accra during which certificates were presented to the graduands, the Chair of the National Peace Council, Dr Rev Ernest Adu Gyamfil, lauded FOSDA for the initiative.
He said the role of women in peace-building cannot be over-emphasized especially when they have naturally displayed this attributes in our homes.
The recognition of the role by these women, he revealed has seen an increase in their representation from 7percent to 23percent on the Governing Board of the National Peace Council.
Although not enough, Rev. Dr Adu Gyamfi, who used to be the Chairman of the Christian Council was hopeful more women will be added to shore up the numbers on the Governing Board of the National Peace Council.
With the graduation of these mediators, Dr Rev Adu- Gyamfi, expressed the hope that the many political, tribal , chieftaincy and land disputes will be resolved across the country once they are called upon to intervene.
A member of the FOSDA Board, Mrs Magdalene Kannae, who also delivered a speech gave the background to the training programme.
According to her, one objective of the training is to diffuse the notion that women are not available for mediations in the country.
The training, according to her was therefore to build the capacity of women to fill up that gap and also in view of the fact that scientific data has proven that the involvement of women in conflict resolution have yielded positive outcomes where lasting peace have prevailed .
The graduands, she noted will be very functional as plans are already in place to form a network which will be working gradually together to join the commonwealth mediators.
She urged the graduates to start meditating in their communities in order that they will be prepared to take up the huge task on the regional and Africa continental level in view of the fact that the training came at a time when there have been coups in Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea.
