Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung@ 40 in Ghana Achievements The challenges above notwithstanding, the programme has lived up to expectation. The success of the programme can be seen in the individual progress of participants, its contribution to peace building to the nation by reducing tension through relationships among youth of the various parties. Other achievements can also be observed in the many positive youth interventions initiated by graduates of the programme. Participants can be found in the media, civil society and politics. And in most cases, they testify that they could not have risen to where they are within the structural and cultural hierarchy without the skills, knowledge and networking abilities they obtained from the trainings. Graduates in the political parties have particularly found the leadership and team building skills useful in negotiating various tendencies in their parties. Out of the training has also emerged a core of youth leaders who are working on very interesting youth interventions together with FES. Some of these interventions include a project which assesses government commitment to youth development by tracking government budgetary allocation to youth oriented programmes. Another project on youth and the oil has initiated debate on how wealth from the newly discovered oil in Ghana could be better managed to secure a better future for the nation's youth. This project also examines environmental issues surrounding oil exploration and hopes to help youth in the oil communities to engage government and oil companies. There is also an attempt to retool the National Union of Ghana Students which had played a leading role in Ghana's prodemocracy activism to reengage itself in efforts towards democratic consolidation. 56