Emerging Public Leaders Ghana(EPL) launched the Professionals Engaged Against Conflict & Endangerment (PEACE) Fellowship Project in Northern Ghana with support from the Foundation of Security and Development in Africa (FODSA) and the Ministry of Interior in Ghana.
The US Embassy in Ghana funds the project and aims to engage professionals in the region’s fight against conflict and endangerment.
The PEACE fellowship project focuses on young professionals from the Ghana Police Service, Ghana Ambulance Service, Ghana Immigration Service, and Ghana Fire Service, alongside community leaders.
The project seeks to strengthen public safety and security through symposia and training while effectively reducing the risk of extremist violence.
After hosting online symposia for over 150 security professionals and civilians, the PEACE Fellowship programme selected 25 high-performing public sector professionals for an intensive training session in Tamale.
This training aims to improve the service delivery of Ghana’s critical security agencies in at-risk northern, Upper-East, and Northeast communities.
Before the three-day intensive training session in Tamale, Kevin Brosnahan, a press attaché with the US embassy, welcomed the professionals and shared that the embassy’s objective is to prevent violent extremist attacks in Ghana.
“Our objective is to prevent that [violent extremism] with more professional security forces, responsive government agencies that meet the needs of their constituents, communities prepared with the tools they need to resolve conflicts, journalists that do not fan the flames of conflict, and more young people empowered and prepared to support peacebuilding in their communities.”
EPL Ghana, organisers of the project, believe this training is essential, particularly as the 2024 general elections approach, and unruly individuals may attempt to disturb the peace in the at-risk communities.
Harrison Boakye Owusu, partnerships and sustainability manager for EPL Ghana hopes that the professionals will use the knowledge gained during the training to impact their colleagues and communities.
He says, “Our expectation is that they will be able to carry the knowledge to their colleagues using a technique called each-one reach-five…there will also be an action plan where they will jointly work with community influencers and liaisons to engage community members on how to detect security threats and inform security personnel.”
ASI Ezekiel Salifu, a professional with the Ghana Immigration Service, expressed his satisfaction with the project and shared his next steps after the deep-dive training.
“We are going out as ambassadors for peace…we are collaborating with other security agencies to be able to disseminate the information to the dying people who need peace. Peace is making sure your community is free from danger,” he said
Reporting by Earl Samuels, in the Northern Region
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