The Eastern Region Youths Network has on the 15th June, 2023 completed a day awareness raising session for the youths, PWDs, CSOs, political parties, the district youth council, district youth led organizations and other bodies ahead of the June 24th elections.

The program started with a peace match across Kenema City to the Kenema district council hall on the notion of preaching non-violence and peace messages to all youths and other individuals within the country was based on the theme “fostering peaceful, credible and inclusive election”

The National Youths Ambassador For The Eastern Region And The Regional Team Leader Eastern Region, Ambassador Alhaji Yayah Swaray said the program is as a funding from the National Youths Commission (NAYCOM), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and others under a project called the youth election social laboratory, which serves as a place to observe, learn as well as mentorship engagement and gears towards enabling the youths to be very proactive in election processes in their various communities as they have been marginalized for a very long time now.

“UNDP and partners want to make sure that, the young people take the ownership of a total and sustainable development. We should have our voices in decision making and election processes. They have created a lab that is social laboratory and they recruited 50 participants. We went for the training in free town and we emerged as one of the winning teams from the eastern region, ” he stated, adding that, during the pitching, they were very focused on the key topic as they were seven in their team.

He said the money given to them by UNDP, Irishaid, canada and others for youths’ sensitization ahead of the election is what they have used to reach out to youths in different communities in engaging over 100 youths on a peace and nonviolence campaign among which the also incoporated youths that will be peace mediators within different communities in Kenema district.

He furthered that, to ensure an inclusive match and message sharing, they were able to incorporate all political parties, ECSL, PPRC and other election management bodies to have the message reach the right individuals.

Aminata Kanneh, the Financial Secretary General for the Eastern Region Youths Network called on everyone to avoid violence and maintain peace at every interval.