The Catholic Diocese of Yendi was created in 1999 after the violent conflict between two major ethnic groups in the region, namely the Konkomba ethnic group on the one hand and the Na-numba and the Dagomba ethnic groups on the other in 1994. Several facilities, including the Yendi Cathedral building, a water installation and repairs project, a catechist house, a sister's Convent, vehicles, as well as motorbikes for clinic staff and pastoral care for the sick, were destroyed by Dagomba youth in the first weeks of the war. In addition, the conflict claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and displaced dozens of people with properties into millions. The immediate and distant causes of the conflict point to ownership of land and the central government's failure to address the monopoly of traditional power held by a few ethnic groups and the concerns about conventional power-sharing of all ethnic groups in the region. Although inter-ethnic conflicts have subsided in northern region, there have been pockets of violent and sporadic conflicts in the region since 2002. These included conflicts triggered by succession politics in traditional chieftaincy and the competition for water and arable land, which are scarce resources in this part of the country. Besides, competition for arable and fertile lands have triggered violent disputes between herders and farmers leading to the killing and burning down of houses and properties.

The Catholic Church – is not just a spiritual or religious institution that one only visits for worship but as an institution that pervades countless dimensions of human life. As such, the Catholic Church in Yendi, under the instrumentality of its first Bishop, Most Rev Vincent Boi-Nai, SVD, started the Bishop Peace Initiative to promote peace and integration as well as foster trust and respect among the ethnic groups living within the purview of the Yendi Diocese. The peace initiative led peace negotiations and mediations among the parties in dispute and empowered members of youth groups, community leaders and chiefs to carry out conflict prevention initiatives on their own.

However, following the violent conflict caused by succession politics in traditional chieftaincy among the Dagomba ethnic group in 2002, which claimed the life of the Yaa Naa the - top echelon position of the chiefdom and more than 40 people, the Catholic Church intervened by assisting chiefs, youth groups, local security personal, community leaders as well as the local people to engage in dialogue and to find a lasting solution to the chieftaincy dispute. Thus, leveraging the past experiences of peace negotiations for both Konkombas and Dagombas, the Bishop facilitated the formation of the Dagbon Peace initiative. The initiative was meant to spearhead and coordinate activities involving members of the Abudu and Andani families – or "gates" in the chieftaincy parlance – which serves as the family through which an individual can rise to become Yaa Naa. Later, members of the leadership connected to both families together by constituting a peace committee called the Yendi Peace Committee with Bishop Boi-Nai, SVD, as patron and Alhaji Mohammed Majeed, leader of the Ahmadiyya Islamic movement in Yendi, as vice patron.

The committee organized several activities, including peace seminars, sensitization workshops and peace advocacy programs for members of the Abudu and Andani families, youth groups and women groups, as well as chiefs and community leaders in Yendi. These activities were instrumental in bringing about reconciliation, enskinment of a new overlord and sustainable peace in Yendi. In 2007, the bishop Bishop sought the support of MISEREOR to put up a hall to use used for seminars and negotiations grounds With the financial support from MISEREOR, a 20-25 capacity hall and two offices were 2 built, which is currently serving as a Coordinating Centre for all peace activities for communities served by the Catholic Diocese of Yendi known as the Yendi Peace Centre (YPC).

Today, the Yendi Peace Centre plays a coordinating role in promoting peace within the eastern enclave and beyond by carrying out interventions to ensure social cohesion and peace within the region. As part of its activities, peace facilitators often come to this Centre to share their experiences, and this plays a critical role in assisting the Centre to respond to their quest for durable peace in the communities.

In addition, the centre has profited tremendously from an enlarged Peace Centre financed by Friends of the Yendi Peace Centre in Freiburg, Germany. This facility, at the finishing stage of construction, will contribute significantly to peacebuilding and post-conflict construction efforts of the region with ongoing programs and activities on a large scale.The centre operates as a non-governmental organization under the supervision and legal ownership of Most Rev Matthew Yitiereh the second of Bishop of Yendi since 2007.