Peace Building: Vulnerable Children Equipped With Practical Skills

Vulnerable youths across the North West Region aged 6- 20 years are ta­ king part in a regional summit in Ba­ menda on Peace building, Sustaina­ ble Recovery and Development. Organised by Child Care Develop­ ment Initiative (CCDI), this year, there are about 525 children in attendance in three centres. Born to counter the compounding socio-economic vulne­ rabilities brought by the prolonged security crisis in the North West and South West Regions, the summit aims at steering vulnerable youths away from structural violence geared towards sustainable self- reliance. The over three months multi-commu­ nity initiative targets to directly em­ power over 1,500 vulnerable teen­ agers in Bemenda and surrounding divisions. The Executive Director of CCDI, Dr Al­ fred Wuku Kudi emphasised the role of youths in regional recovery. He said, “We cannot build a secure to­ morrow if we leave our teenagers vulnerable today. Sustainable peace is the bi- product of inclusive educa­ tion, functional skills and economic dignity ". It is worth mentioning that these teenagers are being equipped with practical skills across diverse sectors including digital ICT, boot camps, solar and electrical installa­ tions and climate- smart agricultural processing, mechanics, medical science and many more. Intresstingly, the children are also trained on tech­ nical trades, grassroots conflict map­ ping to ensure they return to their respective subdivisions as active agents of community d...