#PeaceDay: ICEADA trains Dambatta youths as peace ambassadors

In commemoration of the 2018 International Day of Peace, the Inclusive Community Education and Development Association (ICEADA), a nonprofit which promotes inclusiveness in policy and service delivery especially in the areas of health, education and environment, Saturday trained 50 youths as peace ambassadors and champions at Dambatta community of Kano state.

The United Nations (UN) International Peace Day is observed globally, on 21 September of every year, to commemorate and strengthen the ideals of peace by nations as well as to recognize the efforts of individuals, organizations and governments in promoting peaceful human coexistence.

Professor MB Shitu, ICEADA’s team leader, while speaking at the event described peace building in local communities as critical to creating an enabling environment for peaceful coexistence towards building a bright future for the younger generations.

“Our aim for this training is to better the lives of our youths by ensuring peaceful coexistence in our communities. We trained them on peaceful coexistence, conflict mitigation, team work, and entrepreneurial skills to be self-independent. We decided to engage the youths to serve as peace ambassadors and peace champions directly to curve the issues of drug abuse, domestic violence and conflicts,” said Shitu.

He said the training was part of ICEADA’s project called Youths for Healthy Community Initiative (Y4HCI) whose mission was to make youths serves as agents of peace building, conflict mitigation and resolution including at Dambatta Local Government Area of Kano state.

Also speaking at the event, Sani Muhammad, a community leader from Dambatta, urged the peace ambassadors to use the skills they acquired for the betterment of their community. “Peace ambassadors must collaborate with elders of the community to ensure the existence of a peaceful society. This synergy will bring about a cordial relationship between the peace ambassadors and leaders of Dambatta community,” he said.

Baba Ali Mukhtar, another community leader, admonished the youths trained as peace ambassadors “to ensure peace building in our communities but note that you should not take law onto your hands by forcing people do what you think is right because this will create a serious problem for our communities. However, there are established procedures through which you can engage the law enforcement agencies.”