(Accra, 3rd March, 2026) The Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) reaffirmed its strategic national and regional relevance when the Commandant, Air Vice Marshal (AVM) David Akrong, led a high-level seven-member delegation to pay a courtesy call on Her Excellency the Vice President of the Republic of Ghana, Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, at her office in Accra.
The engagement underscored the Centre’s evolving mandate and its deepening alignment with Ghana’s national development priorities, particularly in the areas of youth empowerment, gender equality, inclusive governance, and proactive peacebuilding.
At the meeting, the Commandant outlined the transformation of KAIPTC over the years from a traditional peacekeeping training institution into a multidimensional platform that integrates training, rigorous research, high-level policy dialogue, and strategic advocacy across Ghana and the wider sub-region. He emphasized the Centre’s unique standing within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which has designated KAIPTC as a Centre of Excellence in peace and security. This recognition, he noted, reflects decades of credible contributions to peace operations, mediation support, conflict prevention, and regional stability.
Highlighting institutional innovation, the Commandant drew attention to the establishment and growing impact of the Women, Youth, Peace and Security Institute (WYPSI), describing it as a flagship platform designed to advance the meaningful participation of women and young people in peace processes and governance structures. He reaffirmed the Centre’s commitment to operationalising national and regional affirmative action instruments through training, research, and advocacy.
The delegation welcomed the Vice President’s longstanding focus on youth development, gender inclusion, and national cohesion, noting the strong convergence between her policy priorities and KAIPTC’s strategic direction. The Commandant reiterated the Centre’s readiness to work closely with her office to translate shared commitments into measurable national impact.
Expanding on the Centre’s strategic outlook, the Director of Policy Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (PPMED) and Acting Director of WYPSI, Mrs. Horname Noagbesenu, proposed the institutionalisation of annual national forums dedicated to Women, Peace and Security. She stressed that such structured engagements would be critical in addressing emerging vulnerabilities in Ghana’s northern regions, while also responding to broader national peacebuilding concerns.
Drawing from the Vice President’s reflections on the pervasive and sometimes subtle nature of instability, she acknowledged that peacebuilding must extend beyond geographically defined conflict zones to interrogate underlying drivers of tension, including social fragmentation, polarization, and community-level disputes. She underscored the importance of strengthening early warning systems and mediation support mechanisms, emphasizing that proactive and preventive intervention remains more sustainable than reactive conflict management.
On youth empowerment, she highlighted the need for structured mentorship and civic leadership programmes grounded in evidence-based research. Such initiatives, she noted, would support ongoing national mediation efforts in the Savannah area while mitigating potential spillover effects from instability within the Sahelian sub-region.
The delegation further conveyed KAIPTC’s readiness to provide technical support to the Office of the Vice President in research, publication, training, and capacity-building. In doing so, the Centre reaffirmed its commitment to deepening collaboration with other national research institutions to avoid duplication, enhance knowledge production, and ensure policy coherence in line with national development frameworks.
In her response, Vice President Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang warmly welcomed the delegation and commended KAIPTC for its evolving role, describing the Centre as a critical national asset whose work bears significance comparable to other leading public policy institutions. She acknowledged the Centre’s efforts to reposition and reset its institutional image, noting that continued recognition from ECOWAS and other partners is a testament to the quality, credibility, and relevance of its work.
While expressing appreciation for the Centre’s focus on women, the Vice President emphasized the need for comprehensive inclusivity, stressing that women, children, vulnerable groups, and marginalized communities must remain central to national discourse. She underscored the importance of collective responsibility in safeguarding peace and ensuring that institutions remain true to their mandates.
On national cohesion, she urged stakeholders to interrogate the underlying causes of polarization and rising tensions across the country, pointing to chieftaincy disputes, overlooked traditional leadership voices, and even school-level conflicts as reminders that peacebuilding must be holistic and nationwide. She encouraged the Centre to strengthen its research base and deepen its analytical engagement with the root drivers of instability.
The Vice President also highlighted the rapid and often uncritical adoption of Artificial Intelligence in contemporary governance and security discourse. She stressed the need for deliberate research into its origins, implications, regulatory frameworks, and ethical considerations to ensure responsible and informed application.
She affirmed KAIPTC’s commitment to advancing research on emerging technologies, including Artificial Intelligence, with particular emphasis on governance safeguards, ethical standards, and policy-relevant applications within the peace and security sector.
The meeting concluded with a clear pathway forward: KAIPTC will submit a comprehensive collaboration framework to the Office of the Vice President, outlining priority areas, timelines, and structured mechanisms for sustained partnership.