Afi Yakubu
Ms. Afi Azaratu Yakubu has been appointed Executive Secretary of the National Commission on Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCSALW).
The appointment by the President was contained in a statement signed by the Chairman of the board of the Commission, Prof. Paul Frimpong-Manso.
With a wealth of experience in peace-building, conflict management and the security sector, which the board chairman alluded to in the statement, Afi Yakubu was the immediate past Executive Director of the Foundation for Security and Development in Africa and Secretary for the West African Action Network on Small Arms (WAANSA).
She holds an MA in Organisation and Systems Development from the Gestalt Centre for Organisational Development, Cleveland, Ohio USA and an MA in Television for Development (Development Communication), and a Graduate Diploma in Communication Studies from the University of Ghana, Legon.
She was once a trainer for youth groups on Alternative Paths to Peace in the Niger Delta for the Women’s Centre for Peace and Development (WOPED) in Nigeria, and a trainer on Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) in South Sudan for the Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies.
She has also trained traditional rulers of the Northern Region on Small Arms and Conflicts in Northern Ghana for the Northern Regional House of Chiefs in 2007.
Speaking during a handing-over at the commission’s head office in Accra last Thursday, she called for the support of staff to propel the organisation to greater heights.
She expressed gratitude to the President for the honour done her even as she saluted her predecessor Jones B. Applerh for his contribution to the cause of the commission.
Afi Yakubu, as she is fondly called, is a recipient of awards such as the Martin Luther King Peace and Social Justice Award, Embassy of USA, Ghana 2013, Rolf Edberg Award on Peace and the Environment, 2006 and Dagbon Personality of the Year in recognition of her work in conflict prevention and peace-building in Northern Ghana, 2005.