The Navrongo-Bolgatanga Catholic Diocesan Development Organisation (NABOCADO) has urged Ghanaians to treat peace as a daily investment in human dignity, safety and development rather than something celebrated only during commemorative events.
The organisation says sustainable development is difficult to achieve when violence and insecurity threaten lives, livelihoods and opportunities in communities.
Speaking to mark the 2026 International Day of Peace, Theophilus Abolga, Director of Justice, Peace and Humanitarian Response at NABOCADO, said peace must go beyond the absence of war.
“Peace is not just important, but it is something that we must live with, because without peace you are not likely to succeed in anything,” he said.
According to Mr Abolga, genuine peace should enable people to live with dignity, feel safe and pursue opportunities within their communities.
He warned that violence could quickly reverse development gains, particularly in communities that have experienced conflict.
“When development starts to take place, and the peace is broken, and violence erupts, that development is going to suffer, because nobody will feel safe to be able to do anything there,” he said.
Mr Abolga therefore called on individuals, families and communities to recognise peacebuilding as a shared responsibility that requires the investment of time, energy and ideas, not only financial resources.
“Whether you are in your home, your community, you are at the workplace, invest whatever effort you can in peacebuilding,” he said.
He said the message of this year’s observance should not end with the commemoration but should encourage people to make peacebuilding part of their everyday lives.
Mr Abolga also cautioned against allowing disputes to escalate to a point where peacebuilding efforts by civil society organisations are no longer sufficient.
“For us as CSOs, what we can do is to build peace. But when it goes beyond that and comes to peacekeeping, we can’t do much. That’s not a place that we want to get to,” he said.
NABOCADO is consequently calling for stronger collaboration among civil society organisations, traditional and national leaders, the National Peace Council, youth and women’s groups, as well as schools, to prevent conflict and sustain peace at the community level.
Mr Abolga also reflected on the history of the International Day of Peace, which was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1981. In 2001, the General Assembly designated September 21 as the fixed date for the annual observance and called for it to be marked as a day of non-violence and ceasefire.
He noted that NABOCADO was also established in 1981, the same year the International Day of Peace was established.
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