Members from the Inter Party Youth Dialogue Committee (IPYDC) of the Brong Ahafo Region have paid a one day visit to their counterparts from the Ashanti Region. The aim was to enable them learn and share with each other on the projects that they have so far implemented whiles looking at their successes, failures and challenges. It was also to afford them the opportunity to learn new strategies from each other that could help them in their next planning and implementation phase.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, the National Network Coordinator of WANEP-Ghana, Justin Bayor advised them to diligently pursue the implementation of their Action Plans no matter the challenges they might encounter. He said that their collective interventions in election related threats will play a tremendous role in preventing violence in their regions in 2012. The Network Coordinator assured them of WANEP-Ghana’s support in the implementation of their Action Plans.

Through the discussions, the Ashanti Region IPYDC agreed that they will involve more of the media in their activity implementation in order to gain wider publicity whiles the Brong Ahafo IPYDC agreed that they will include a visit to the office of the Electoral Commission in the region. Both groups similarly resolved to meet with their respective Regional Security Councils in order to introduce themselves and to ask for their support.

The Inter Party Youth Dialogue Committees (IPYDCs) in both regions, formed under the auspices of WANEP-Ghana with support from the Canadian High Commission, are aimed at working with the youth of the four major political parties to reduce violence before, during and after the 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections in Ghana. The two committees, ten members per committee, have so far identified a number of threats peculiar to their areas and have implemented actions geared towards addressing those threats.