Peace Direct/UNOY Youth and Peacebuilding Consultation 2019 : Call for Applications

Application Deadline: March 31st 2019

Young people living in fragile and conflict-affected countries have long engaged in efforts to prevent violence and promote peace in their communities. Growing evidence has confirmed the important and positive contribution young people can make to resolve conflict and build peace. In addition, the adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security in December 2015, acknowledges the power of youth-led peacebuilding as essential to building peaceful communities.  

However, many questions remain about how to harness the power of youth in peacebuilding processes, ensuring their meaningful participation and establishing avenues for young people to proactively engage in peacebuilding efforts. Moreover, prevailing negative narratives continue to undermine the role that young people play in preventing violence and building peace in their communities – shaping policy, programming and funding in many countries.

To tackle this, Peace Direct and the United Network of Young Peacebuilders (UNOY) are convening an online consultation to broaden the conversation on this topic.

Youth and Peacebuilding, scheduled for 8 – 10 April, will be a global conversation between practitioners and academics to explore some of the questions surrounding youth-led peacebuilding, such as:

• What does youth-led peacebuilding actually look like?
• How do we understand the relationship between youth and peacebuilding in different contexts?
• What are the key enabling factors for successful youth-led peacebuilding?
• What does it mean in practice to integrate youth participation across all peacebuilding areas?

Together, we will map the experiences of youth peacebuilders around the world and look for ways of operationalising the Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) agenda.

Requirements:

The online consultation will take place from 8 April to 10 April 2019.

During this period, participants will be expected to log in and join the discussion at least once on each day, or more often if you choose to do so. You will be expected to read the introductory reflection pieces, questions, as well as the comments of other participants, and then contribute by posting comments, responses, ideas, and examples.

Benefits:

This is a unique opportunity for you to participate in a collaborative piece of research and project development. You will:

• Be given the opportunity to contribute to discussions on youth-led peacebuilding.
• Share experiences and youth-led peacebuilding strategies and learn about successful strategies from other experts and practitioners in the peacebuilding sector.
• Receive a report at the end of the consultation which you can use in your own research and development work. The report will include a list of participants and affiliated organisations of those who have provided consent.

How to participate

Please register your interest by filling out this form by March 31^st at the latest.

If you have any questions or problems with the form you can contact Dimitri Kotsiras, Research and Advocacy Officer at Peace direct, on [email protected]. 

Overall aim of the consultation

The aim of the consultation is to provide participants an opportunity for:

• Shared learning amongst experts from a range of backgrounds, including young peacebuilders, local experts, practitioners, researchers, academics and civil society organisations.
• Drawing out the experiences, analysis, and recommendations of local youth-led peacebuilding organisations on the role of youth in peacebuilding.
• Furthering the understanding of the relationship between youth and peacebuilding.
• Contributing to the discussions, policies, and practice on youth-led peacebuilding of international stakeholders, including at the UN-level.

In collaboration with a group of participants, Peace Direct will produce a report for publication, intended to share knowledge from the consultation.

Themes of the Youth and Peacebuilding consultation

Over the course of the week, participants will analyse and discuss a range of topics related to Youth and Peacebuilding. The consultation will have the following themes and discussion threads (subject to amendments):

• What does youth-led peacebuilding actually look like?
• How do local youth-led approaches contribute to peacebuilding?
• Debunking assumptions (both positive and negative) around youth
• Understanding youth diversity and gender dynamics in youth-led peacebuilding.
• Youth leadership and accountability in peacebuilding.
• Political and economic inclusion of youth.
• How can/do youth peacebuilders engage with local, national and international donors and policy makers? 

How will it work?

The consultations will take place online on Peace Direct’s online discussion platform and last 3 days. The main language will be English, but participants that are more comfortable writing in other languages are welcome to do so, provided they also include a Google-translated English version for the benefit of other participants. 

The online system allows participants to contribute at times most suitable to them and within their own time zone. Therefore, it is possible to fit participation around your usual commitments. It may take just a few minutes a day to make some very important contributions to the exchanges.

A public report will be produced from this consultation, but no participant will be quoted publicly without separate consent.

Contact Dimitri Kotsiras, Research and Advocacy Officer, Peace Direct: [email protected]

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the Peace Direct/UNOY Youth and Peacebuilding Consultation 2019