Graduates ready to be peace ambassadors
THE first peace ambassadors of the Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative (WPDI) have graduated.
The initiative, which was launched last year in Athlone, enables young people in the townships of the Cape Flats to become ambassadors for peace and entrepreneurship in their communities.
The 42 peace ambassadors known as Trainer of Trainees were trained for a year to be peacemakers in the Cape Flats through a Youth Peacemaker Network programme to promote peace and sustainable social development in Cape Town.
The initiative’s founder, Oscar-winning American actor Forest Whitaker, expressed his pride in the graduates and said even the global Covid-19 crisis had not stopped them from striving to learn and grow. He commended them for demonstrating character, which he said was an important quality in a peacemaker.
WPDI programme head Chance Chakunda said the initiative was on the right path to help communities in their efforts towards peace and sustainable development.
“Our training in Information and Communications Technology, conflict resolution and business has resulted in the enrolment of nearly 600 community members and up to 800 standalone members in Khayelitsha, Lavender Hill and Hanover Park so that they contribute in bringing peace. Almost 300 standalone entrepreneurs were trained,” he said.
BNP Paribas SA head of Territory Vikas Khandelwal said the graduation signified that the seeds of the WPDI had been successfully planted and were beginning to grow.
“Through our partnership with WPDI, we are beginning to better understand how peace and conflict resolution not only affects disadvantaged communities in South Africa, but also business development and the economy.
“We recently conducted an inaugural piece of research into how violence affects South Africa’s workforce, and how this impedes a thriving economy. In a bid to begin tackling these larger development issues, WPDI will soon yield its first pool of small businesses in the community as part of its entrepreneurship programme.”
One of the graduates, Kayla Isaacs from Mitchells Plain, said she was honoured to be an ambassador for peace.
“From first being accepted into the programme, to graduating today, the skills we have learnt are already proving valuable. Now, our mission is to continue the work and share these skills with the greater community. This is especially important now, given the widespread challenges facing our communities as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. For this reason, the opportunity to be a peacemaker is all the more appreciated,” she said.