Afi Yakubu - 2006
Styrelsen för Edbergstiftelsen har beslutat att belöna Afi Yakubu med Edbergpriset 2006 för hennes hängivna, kunniga och envisa kamp för hållbar utveckling och jämlikhet på alla plan, från små landsortskommuner till Förenta Nationerna. Framför allt belönas hon för sin kamp för fred och mot vapenspridning i västra Afrika.
Afi Yakubu arbetar professionellt med film, radio och TV för att åstadkomma utveckling och förändringar. Hon är framför allt en fredsaktivist och hon har sitt dagliga arbete som biträdande chef för Foundation for Security and Developoment in Africa (FOSDA), en mycket aktiv frivilligorganisation (s.k. NGO) baserad i Accra i Ghana. Fokus i sitt arbete har Afi Yakubu haft på att förhindra spridning av små handeldvapen, vilka skapat - och fortfarande skapar – mycket lidande i regionen.
In English:
THE 2006 EDBERG AWARD
TO AFI YAKUBU, GHANA
SWEDISH ENVIRONMENTAL PRIZE FOR
IMPORTANT PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT WORK
The Edberg Foundation in Sweden has decided to award its annual Edberg Award to Afi Yakubu for her work with peace and sustainable development issues in Africa in general and Ghana in particular. Afi Yakubu received her award at a ceremony in Sweden. In its decision to award Afi Yakubu the Edberg Award the board of the Edberg Foundation writes:
“The Board of The Edberg Foundation has decided to award Afi Yakubu for her dedicated, competent and persistent work for sustainable development and gender equality on many levels ranging from rural communities to the United Nations, and in particular, for her efforts to promote peace and post-conflict development in West Africa. “
“Ms Afi Yakubu's profession is in communication and media for development, including production of documentary films as well as radio and television programmes. Mainly she is a peace and development activist, and her daily work is as associate director and leader of Foundation for Security and Development in Africa (FOSDA), a very active NGO in Accra, Ghana. An important focus in her work has been the non-proliferation and abandonment of small arms, that have created so much suffering and destruction in the region.”
Bo Landin, Secretary General The Edberg Foundation, underscores the value of the work the award recipient Afi Yakubu has done.
- As a professional filmmaker and media specialist she has realized how important access to information is to achieve necessary development goals. Her work with local communities, as well as political organization from the local to the international level is a model and worth our admiration.
- She has set an example we can only hope people in the political arena will be inspired by to solve the underlying problems facing the people of the region.
- Afi Yakubu has shown that development is possible, that peace and control of the proliferation of small arms is possible, that people’s minds can change - but it takes persistent work, step by step, and it takes the kind of determination Afi Yakubu has shown.
