The Women, Youth, Peace and Security Institute (WYPSI) of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) has taken a significant step towards bolstering youth engagement in peacebuilding by finalizing a comprehensive training manual for young African leaders.
This initiative, supported by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), recognizes the pivotal role of young people in fostering peace and security across the African continent, which boasts a substantial youth demographic with immense potential for positive change.
Despite this potential, socioeconomic challenges often impede their involvement, and they are disproportionately affected by conflict, sometimes becoming entangled in issues like election violence and cybercrime.
KAIPTC’s Youth, Peace, and Security (YPS) programme directly addresses these challenges by focusing on strengthening youth leadership skills and promoting their active participation in peacebuilding endeavors.
The development of this comprehensive training manual, informed by valuable stakeholder consultations and expert input, is central to this programme.
The LDD workshop marked a crucial stage in creating a curriculum that effectively tackles the specific challenges young people face.
Participants included representatives from prominent organizations such as the UNFPA Africa Regional Office, the Commonwealth Students Council, the All-Africa Students Union, the International Peace Support Training Centre (ISPSTC) of Kenya, the National Youth Authority (NYA), and various civil society groups actively working on youth, peace, and security across Africa.
The training manual encompasses key topics designed to cultivate well-rounded peacebuilders, including leadership and ethics, effective advocacy and activism, fundamental peacebuilding principles, essential project management skills, impactful communication for leadership, crucial negotiation and mediation techniques, understanding emerging security threats, and responsible resource management.
The acting Deputy Director of WYPSI, Joana Osei-Tutu, emphasized the manual’s vital role within the broader YPS Programme, highlighting its commitment to enhancing youth leadership capacities across various key areas.
The acting Director of WYPSI, Horname Noagbesenu, in her remarks believes that the comprehensive manual will significantly benefit young leaders by providing them with the necessary skills and in-depth knowledge to make meaningful and effective contributions to peacebuilding efforts within their communities and beyond. Fatuma Muhumed, the Programme Specialist at the UNFPA’s West and Central Africa Regional Office, acknowledged existing capacity gaps among young people and underscored the importance of this collaboratively developed manual. She expressed optimism that the workshop’s insights would contribute to a powerful resource that truly empowers young people to become proactive and effective promoters of lasting peace and security throughout Africa.