The Elsie Initiative together with the Ghana Armed Forces Command Staff Collage have certified 48 junior officers who completed a two week cadre training programme to equip them in peacekeeping operations.
The Elsie Initiative Minor Staff Duties Cadre training commenced on January 13, 2020 and ended on January 24, 2020 with Officers selected from the Ghana Army, Navy and Air Force.
The 48 officers who were certified comprised 38 females and 10 males.
Brigadier General Mike Akpatsu, Assistant Commandant Junior Division, Ghana Armed Forces Command Staff College, said the training was aimed at enhancing the leadership, analytical and communication skills of Junior Level Officers, men and women to perform command and staff functions in the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) and United Nations (UN) Peace Operations setup.
He said writing of Service correspondences, service papers, minutes of meetings and conferences and written briefs, public speaking amongst others were some of the study areas of the participants.
Mr Akpatsu said their studies were crowded with a six hour-in-door exercise involving the manning and operation of an Operation Room in a UN peace operation setting.
“The participants also paid a visit to the Air Force Base, Accra; it was to expose them to the operations of an Air Force unit in a UN peace operation,” he said.
He said the programme was able to achieve its objectives which included techniques used in general, operational staff work targeting UN correspondence, operational briefs, operational report writing, roles and functions of the UN and its sister organisations in peacekeeping environments.
Others were some aspects of domestic and international affairs and how these influenced security, intelligence, socio-economic and political stability in the UN.
Madam Sara Nicholls, Acting Canadian High Commissioner to Ghana, said the training programme was the first of its kind undertaken by the Elsie Initiative in the country under the Canadian High Commission.
She said Ghana had made significant progress in the area of female participation in peacekeeping operations which exceeded the UN’s 10 per cent expectation.
She said Canada through the programme would continue to equip officers with the necessary techniques and knowledge to enhance more female participation in peacekeeping operations in all 22 UN mission centres across the globe.
Madam Nana Chinbuah, Head of Governance United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Ghana, said Women empowerment was critical to achieve the transformative change desired.
She said women in peacekeeping operations were more likely and capable of gaining access to and trust of the community adding that, they had greater awareness of women’s vulnerabilities and needs.
“Their presence in mission areas inspire members of the local community and can be an opportunity to model more equitable gender relations,” she said.
