Ghanaians urged to deepen collaboration to address security threats

The Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ghana, Dr. Angela Lusigi has urged stakeholders to deepen collaboration to address evolving security threats being compounded by rising economic, social, political, and environmental risks.

Speaking at the opening of a three-day capacity building workshop organized by the National Peace Council (NPC) for its staff with support from UNDP, Dr. Angela Lusigi noted that violent extremism in the West African sub-region, maritime insecurity and crimes against women and children are some of the emerging challenges threatening Ghana’s peace and stability. She, therefore, called on all stakeholders to work diligently with sustained efforts to curb these threats and guard the country’s enviable peace accolade.

‘’By using transformative approaches such as dialogue, mediation, constructive confrontation, and analytical problem solving, we can address some of these risks more decisively. This will help us to preserve and build on Ghana’s democratic and developmental successes over the years’’, she added.

Dr. Lusigi further underscored the importance of building strong institutions such as the National Peace Council. The Council sets high standards for more inclusive and equitable development by promoting peace and social cohesion in line with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16. She pledged UNDP’s continuous commitment to institutions such as the National Peace Council to contribute to creating well governed and democratic societies where all people can thrive, and no one is left behind.

The Chairman of the NPC, Rev. Dr. Ernest Adu-Gyamfi noted that the workshop is to strengthen staff capacity across the offices of the National, Regional and the District Peace Councils and build internal resilience for effective and efficient peace institution.

‘’As a board, we have identified areas such as tackling political polarization in Ghana and establishing early warning and response mechanisms at the national and sub-national levels as some of our priorities. So, the workshop is to build stronger internal accountability mechanisms to enable us to achieve these priorities’’, Rev. Dr. Adu-Gyamfi stated.

The transformational leadership and team building workshop, brought together Regional Executive Secretaries, Directors, Deputy Directors and other officials from the National and Regional Secretariats of the National Peace Council.