Betty Williams arrives in Ghana today
The Noble Peace laureate, Betty Williams is expected to touch down at the Kotoka International Airport today,Tuesday, June 20, 2017.
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Betty Williams is coming to the country to grace this year’s youth leadership conference slated for June 24 and 25 at the University of Ghana by the West Africa Centre for Peace Foundation, the official chapter of ‘PeaceJam’ in Ghana.
PeaceJam is an international education programme built around peace prize laureates who work with the youth with the aim of imparting their skills, knowledge and wisdom to the youth.
Programme
The programme is designed to inculcate in the youth the commitment to justice and peace, social responsibility, academic excellence and other values that seek to inspire young people and make them transformational leaders for their societies.
During the two-day conference, the youth (PeaceJammers), drawn from some selected Junior and Senior High schools in Accra and the Central Region with the help of some adult mentors, will study the life and work of Betty Williams and other Noble Peace laureates.
Similarly, the youth will learn about issues such as violence and intolerance facing young people today, and develop and implement service projects designed to address problems in their communities.
Betty Williams
Betty Williams, born on May 22, 1943 at Belfast, Northern Ireland is a co-recipient with Mairead Corrigan, of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 for her work as a cofounder of Community of Peace People, an organisation dedicated to promoting a peaceful resolution to the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
She is noted for her keen interest in issues such as peace, education, inter-cultural and inter-faith understanding, anti-extremism, and children's rights.
She heads the Global Children's Foundation and is the President of the World Centre of Compassion for Children International.
Support
Participants of this year’s PeaceJam will also organised a float as part of activities to join other concerned Ghanaians in the fight against galamsey and mob justice.
That, the Executive Director of the West Africa Centre for Peace Foundation, Mr Wisdom Addo, said the float was to further consolidate the gains the fight against galamsey and mob justice had achieved so far.
He said PeaceJam “is all about peace and development”, adding that it would be a neglect of responsibility if its members failed to participate in the fight against galamsey and mob justice.