ECOWAS Holds Workshop on Implementation of Youth-led Conflict Prevention, Mediation and Silencing the Guns
08 Sep, 2023The ECOWAS Commission will hold its Workshop on supporting the implementation of youth-led conflict prevention, mediation, and silencing the guns initiatives in ECOWAS member states, on the 11th and 12th of September 2023 in Cotonou, Republic of Benin.
The Workshop which pulls together representatives of youth organizations and young persons who are working on the relevant thematic areas, inter-faith and related sectoral experts as well as officers of the ECOWAS Commission responsible for peacebuilding and youth empowerment, is meant to devise ways of enhancing the implementation of series of youth-led initiatives aimed at silencing the guns in ECOWAS member states.
Among others, the Workshop will allow participants to map out enduring youth-led regional peacebuilding strategies while seeking to increase the knowledge of young people of the extant ECOWAS and global legal norms to enable them to engage more in conflict prevention, dialogue and mediation, thus contributing immensely to sustainable peace of our region.
It also aims to consolidate the promotion of youth-led initiatives through the sensible empowerment of the youth as key agents of change whose innovative ideas, and creative energies as well as passion to contribute to lasting peace and social cohesion, can be harnessed for the sustainable development in the region.
The ECOWAS region has been plagued by various conflicts and security challenges, which have had severe consequences on stability, peace, and development. Over the years, the region has experienced armed conflicts, political instability, terrorism, ethnic tensions, and transnational crime, among other factors that hinder progress and threaten the well-being of its populations.
Some of the identified challenges over which the workshop is meant to chart a way forward include: limited youth participation in decision-making and conflict prevention and mediation efforts, weak institutional capacities as well as socio-economic factors like poverty and unemployment, including cross-border dynamics and gender disparities, among others.
