GENERATIONS FOR PEACE ORGANIZATION - Collaboration for Peace Support

NARRATIVE PROVIDED BY GFP

Dialogue For Peace Programme 2016/2017 – University Of Ghana, Legon

Generations For Peace (GFP) has trained 9 Delegates[1] and Pioneers[2], selected from different communities and ethnicities in Accra, in local and international trainings. There are four Pioneers and four Delegates, who will be certified as Pioneers upon the completion of the GFP Programme they are working on. Three of the four Pioneers participated in an intensive Transformative Dialogue For Peace Training that was delivered by specialised experienced facilitators in August 2015 at GFP Headquarters. The Pioneers worked with GFP HQ staff to assess the local community needs and conflict context affecting it. Based on the community needs and GFP volunteers’ capacity as well as available resources, a decision was taken to address the conflict between youth with different political affiliations. The variety of political views among youth have created episodes of violence in the past and were feared to cause similar events in the lead-up to the presidential elections that was held in December 2016.

The youth of Ghana have generally been part of Ghanaian politics and political processes. In contemporary Ghanaian politics, the youth constitute an important resource for the mobilization of votes as they play diverse roles in the electioneering activities of political parties and politicians. They continue to play diverse roles in politics, and this makes them almost indispensable, especially to the activities of political parties.

The Pioneers planned to implement the Dialogue For Peace Program in 2016/2017 by working with youth inside the universities where youth have a platform to practice and express their political views and apply the democratic processes. The program started with a local Dialogue For Peace Training in February 2016 to recruit more volunteers to support in the program implementation. The training lasted for four days to introduce the volunteers to Transformative Dialogue For Peace. The Dialogue For Peace Training was facilitated by GFP Pioneers in Ghana supported by HQ staff on the ground. It provided an opportunity for the lead volunteers, as facilitators, to deliver a training and refresh their knowledge and skills as well as strengthen their facilitation skills. It also provided a space for the Implementation Team to meet and commence the preparation for the program which would be implemented in the University of Ghana. The training provided an added knowledge of GFP to the selected volunteers. It acquainted the members of the Implementation Team with the principles of Transformative Dialogue For Peace and helped them understand GFP approach in working on peace building using Dialogue as vehicle for behavioural change.

To hit the ground running after the training, the Delegates and Pioneers carried out several advocacy visits to introduce the program and met in the University of Ghana, Legon, to identify potential Target Groups. The two main student groups that are heavily active in politics and political activities inside the University are the members of the youth wings TEIN and TESCON. Between September 2016 and February 2017 several One-on-One meetings took place with different students before defining the Target Group and carrying out discussion on “who needs to talk to whom, about what”.

The program potential Target Group consists of students from the two youth wings, specifically, 20 participants from each wing. The volunteers were encouraged to engage in continuous One on One Conversations with the potential participants. The Implementation Team carried out the conversations with the students, with emphasis on keeping the options open for them to make their own decisions as to what are the main issues to be discussed in the program and whether to participate in the program or not.

The One on One Conversations helped the DPP team to understand which of the students are willing to take part in the program and engage in the Dialogue sessions. With the local presidential elections happening at the end of 2016, it was becoming more and more challenging to engage student youth in the conversations as they were becoming increasingly involved in the electioneering activities. However, this was reassuring to the team that they are working with the right potential Target Group which are active in the political sphere.

The program reached an important point, where the Target Group (Dialogue sessions participants) had been confirmed. The next step for the Target Group and the program team was to try to reach a decision whether to move on to Intra-group discussion where the participants from each wing clearly identify the need to sit together in Dialogue For Peace sessions and discuss the different issues they have identified. Next, they move to inter-group Dialogue for Peace sessions, or move right away to Inter-group Dialogue For Peace sessions where the participants from the two youth wings meet together in one space and carry out several sessions to discuss the issues they have identified. In either case, GFP volunteers lead the facilitation of the sessions and made sure that a friendly and respectful environment was created and it was conducive for constructive and productive dialogue.

The program focus is important and a priority to the local community in Ghana, Accra. Some Participants have been impacted and expressed their opinions to the program team.

BELOW ARE QUOTES FROM SOME OF THE PARTICIPANTS

“Participating in this program has showed me how to think about our issues and address them differently. The program taught us better methods with which we can work on our issues” Anonymous participant. 

“I have no say in Conflict, but I determine what level I take it to; I can Prevent Violence” A. Jacob-baba.

“When we deliver a speech, many people receive what we say and are affected, so we should be careful and fair when we talk about other parties” Anonymous participant. 

“Pain is like a BOIL and if not checked may burst into serious violence, so DIALOGUE is necessary to Transform Conflict” – Richard Essel.

“I like that this program shows us that working with others is as important as achieving the Goals. Teamwork is key in resolving conflicts” Anonymous participant. 

“We have realized that not all problems can be attributed to the opposition group (TEIN) because some of the problems were internal (TESCON) or instructions from above which as student leaders can do little to change but implement them as such” Anonymous participant.

[1] A Delegate, is a selected leader of youth who received a training on GFP curriculum directly by GFP HQ or GFP volunteers

[2] A Pioneer, is a Delegate who successfully completed the Pioneer Certification Programme ( planned, Designed and implemented a GFP programme)