The Foundation for Security and Development in Africa (FOSDA) has trained and deployed 200 Peace Ambassadors (PA) across the country to safeguard the peace of Ghana.

This forms part of FOSDA’s non- violence election campaign dubbed Ballots Not Bullets: Citizen Action for Peaceful Election (CAPE) Project towards promoting peaceful elections before during and after Ghana’s General Elections in December 2020. The CAPE project is designed to involve and engage citizens, especially the Youth in Ghana’s electoral and democratic Governance Processes as key stakeholders.

The aim of the training was to build the capacity of the PAs to understand their roles and equip them with the skills required in their role as peace ambassadors. They were also empowered with knowledge on principles to uphold in their day to day engagement with citizens and electorates in their communities.

The 2-day virtual training (26th-27th November 2020) was an opportunity for the PAs to identify violent hotspots, threats and develop activities to mitigate some these threats to peaceful elections. Some planned activities include Public Education on electoral processes, Door to Door campaigns; Radio programmes; Peace Planting, among others. They were also exposed to the Electoral Laws; Vigilantism Act; among others. The PAs are assigned to engage 50 citizens per day. This will translate to 7,500 citizens.

The PAs will promote peace through these mediums before; during and after the 2020 General Elections scheduled for 7th December 2020.

The Ballots not Bullets CAPE project is being implemented in Ghana this year in partnership with The West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) and other civil society organisations. The theme for the Project this Year is ‘Zero Tolerance for Electoral Violence’

#ZeroToleranceForElectoralViolence

#BallotsNotBullets

#CitizensActionForPeacefulElections