Investing in young people as critical agents of change to sustain peace (Public Discussion)

Dear Colleagues,

A very warm welcome to this e-discussion, launched on a special day, Wednesday 9 December 2020, marking the fifth anniversary of the Youth, Peace and Security agenda!

After an exciting day of high-level meetings in which the extraordinary power of young people and their role as positive forces for peace were widely recognized, I am delighted to launch this conversation, brought to you by the UNDP youth global programme team! My colleague Maria and I will co-host this 4-week e-discussion and we will be joined by impressive young leaders from the UNDP 16x16 initiative, as co-moderators, starting next week!  

As your moderator for Week 1, I would like to invite you to please start introducing yourself and tell us what investing in young people as critical agents of change to sustain peace actually means to you, in your context.

You may wish to also go through the list of questions we have posted for reference, to help you frame your contributions.

Please start engaging today, even if you feel that you may need more time for an elaborated response - I look forward to your short or long, structured or less structured stories and perspectives! Please also feel free to share links to key documents, press releases, prodocs, reports, evaluations, in particular if you have less time to produce a detailed response!

Let’s use this as a space in which we can get to know one another’s work even better in this area, reflect on UNDP’s YPS journey at all levels, lift promising practices, be candid about challenges and bottlenecks, and share new opportunities to work with youth as trusted partners!

I sincerely thank you for your time and efforts, which we highly value in particular in these uncertain, busy and complex times, and look forward to an engaging conversation!

Hi everyone, 

My name is Pauline, I am a Youth Empowerment Specialist with UNDP Regional Service Center in Africa. Very happy to engage in this discussion, and to share experiences. 

I am currently supporting Mali CO on a SURGE mission, and one concrete priority of the current transition government, on the agenda of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, is to draft and vote a new law which would impose a quota of young people in all decision making governement entities. If there is any similar experience in other countries, i am happy to exchange. 

In my view, it is important that youth inclusion in decision making processes is also captured and materialized at the most local and community level. We have good results out of PBF funded projects in all aspects related to youth, peace and security: a number of youth has been involved and trained in local committees on conflict prevention and peace building, including in remote communities. 

Looking forward to hearing your stories and to engaging in this exciting discussion!

Pauline

Chere Pauline Deneufbourg, un grand merci pour ta contribution! Thank you very much for posting this input to get our conversation going :)

It would be great if we could hear more about this law indeed, and we will share other examples! In the meantime, I am sharing here an article, developed by the UNDP ACE project (https://aceproject.org/about-en/ace-partners/undp) which you may find helpful: http://aceproject.org/ace-en/topics/yt/yt20/quotas-for-youth .

Could you perhaps share more information here about the projects and results in Mali? Maybe on cross-border collaboration with young people supported as leaders, too?

Your comment on local and community-level decision-making is key! It is a point consistently being made by young peacebuilders and young political activists.

Thank you and happy #YPSanniversary!

I am pleased to welcome Francesca Masoero Ezgi Ozturk Pauline Chauveau Juan Pablo Gordillo Susanna Dakash Jean De Dieu Sibomana Salome Ponsin Aboubacar Koulibaly in addition to Pauline Deneufbourg who has already started contributing! Colleagues, many thanks for joining and happy Youth, Peace and Security anniversary and happy Human Rights Day!

How important is working with young women and men as trusted partners, in your own context? What are your strategies to support and promote the positive role young peacebuilders play? How do you partner and invest in youth? Do you include youth in fragility and conflict assessments? Do you encourage and fund youth-led peacebuilding initiatives? How do you engage with youth organisations, movements and networks to sustain peace? Can you share examples of initiatives addressing structural barriers to youth meaningful participation and fostering safe and inclusive spaces for youth?

Please share your experience and reflections here! Thank you for your time!

Hello everyone – my name is David Andersson and I’m a Strategic Advisor on SDG16 working with UNDP’s governance team in New York. I’m very happy to take part in this e-discussion, which is an excellent way to mark the fifth anniversary of the YPS agenda and Resolution 2250.

In recent months, I have been leading a consultation series on the Future of Governance – an initiative to explore contemporary governance challenges (and approaches to address them) and identify priorities around UNDP’s future governance offer. One particularly interesting and topical discussion was on trust in public institutions. It touched on the multidimensional drivers of trust, issues around fairness (e.g. in how services are delivered) and the importance of local, bottom-up approaches to building trust. The session also reinforced the notion that our understanding of trust is often informed by assumptions, and that trust is in many ways a matter of perceptions and linked to values and standards (not just policy outcomes). And while the discussion was too brief to cover youth-specific issues in any depth, it is clear that these lessons are of much consequence to young people as well.

In many countries, trust in governments and public institutions is low, which in turn is linked to growing frustrations among young people who are often neither included nor represented in decision-making. This distrust also goes both ways in how authorities may harbor distrust against young people. The progress study on YPS (cited above) accurately describes this distrust in terms of negative stereotypes and assumptions about young people as a “problem to be solved and a threat to be contained”. Such stereotypes not only perpetuate marginalization but also negate the positive roles that young people can, should (and often do) have in influencing development policy, as peacebuilders, and as leaders.

This serves as a reminder that we need a better and more nuanced understanding of the trust dynamics that concern, and affect, youth. We must also pay more attention to the unique social, political and cultural contexts in which they live in order to understand their needs and aspirations and, ultimately, build trust-based relationships. The fifth anniversary of the YPS agenda is a fitting occasion to redouble our commitments to tackle negative stereotypes around youth and to strengthen the responsiveness and accountability of the institutions who are supposed to represent them.

I’m looking forward to a good e-discussion and exchange of ideas and experiences, including on building trust. And happy 5th anniversary to the YPS agenda!

Hello colleagues and thank you for launching this very interesting discussion. I’m Victor Lachenait, Youth, Peace and Security intern at the Istanbul Regional Hub.

In the last couples of months, I notably participated in the organisation of Youth exchanges in Central Asia as part of a broader PVE program in the region. These exchanges aimed at developing regional youth networks on the implementation of SDGs (and particularly SDG 16), expanding knowledge sharing on PVE, improve intercultural awareness and skills and design follow-up action plans to increase youth inclusion in local communities. Also, it proved critical in incorporating young people’s perspective and informing the priorities for PVE in the region, and one of its key moments was the inclusion of Youth participants in a regional dialogue where they were able to share their perspectives and recommendations with governments, NGOs and International community representatives. To my understanding, such mainstreaming of Youth representatives in High-level dialogues including policymakers is an essential first-step that would gain to be systematised when trying to answer the lack of inclusive decision-making processes and of “whole-of-society” approaches on Peace and Security.

Also, I find it crucial to put an emphasis on digital rights in two ways that would help to promote and protect human rights of young people. First, while UNDP as well as other organisations are all working of developing the digitalisation of our programs, “leaving no one behind” would be best embodied by further focusing on supporting the digital literacy of young people, and working in providing access to internet and modern telecommunication means to remote and marginalized communities. It would particularly help to correct the natural effect making the most “privileged” young people, for whom digital activism is the easiest in practice, the main contributors to digital projects. Also, working on digital practises for peace and security, a reflection on the means to combat online repression and to best protect those who fight for human rights on social networks would surely have its place at the top of our HR agenda.

 I hope this helps contributing to this conversation, I am looking forward to the discussion and would be particularly interested to know more and learn about colleagues' experiences on the matter !

Hi everyone !

My name is Salomé, I am programme analyst at UNDP Tunisia, in charge of the impementation of a project on Youth empowerment, in support to the Ministry of Youth and Sports, with the financing of The Netherlands.

Since the 2011 Revolution, young Tunisians went from hope in a new inclusive and dynamic future to a feeling of despair. They express a perception that even if their role as drivers of change has been recognized in the new Constitution, no public actor has done a concrete effort neither to developp tools for inclusiveness nor to elaborate programms that address youth needs and expectation. As a result 60% of the young population (18-35) express mistrust towards public actors. This mistrust feeling is deeply rooted as young people describe their schooling time as a first contact with unfairness, corruption and non-inclusion. Expressions of this feeling are mutliple, from diversion from the public/citizen sphere to migration or even sporadic use of violence and violent extremism. Actually, the pandemic crises has strongly worsen the situation as it impacted young people social inclusion and eco-pro start (>breach in their studies, job loss, etc.).

In this context, the Ministry of Youth and Sports requested, in 2017, UNDP's support to elaborate a sectorial strategic vision on Youth and then support to implement it.

The project elaborated and currently on-going is based on both top-down and bottom-up complementary approaches as on one side we support the improvement of the institutionnal capacity of the Ministry and the process of elaborating a national multisectorial policy ; and on the other side we contribue to a concrete change at the local level by supporting significant changes in Youth Centers.

There are over 500 of those all over the territory, including in rural areas that are accessed through itinerant models of youth centers.  Their capacities are limited and they function mostly on a vertical spatio-centric approach. So we work on a complete new concept, Youth Centers 2.0, where the insitution's role is to accompany young people in their projects and orient them towards all actors relevant regarding Youth needs or issues. In this way, Youth centers are like local hubs of actors to the service of young people ; safe spaces were ideas can be tested and issues are heard. Youth centers work based on inclusiveness and a horizontal ethnocentered approach, and integrate accountability tools.

Concerning the national Policy, work has been delayed this year due to the global context. However, we continue producing knowledge and recommandations to support the process next year.

As good practices, I can espacially share two :

- Supporting CSOs + Youth Centers partnership as an accelerator of change at the local level : two actors that whether have a legitimate awarness rising position and/or knowledge of young people issues and local context ; which put together are able to elaborate innovative inclusive tools ;

- Working with a Youth Commitee at each phase of the project (designing to monitoring and evalutation). Having such a Commitee contributing to every activties, espacially activities with youth sector actors has made significant change in the way those actors perceive young people, from service consummer to a creative proactive force.

>> capitalizing tools will come soon.

Also, at the CO level, we have other experiences such as the SDG Camps and PBF project, I'll be happy to share later on in the conversation.

Wishing all of you a great week,

Salomé

Dear Victor,

How Young people were actually inclsuded in the Dialogue, how have they been selected and have they been supported in the preparation of their intervention (capacity building i.e.) ?

Also, have direct measures been recommanded to address PVE issues at the local level ? It is actually, one of the outputs of the project I have shared. If there is any material on this, it would be really helpful.

Thank you !

Hello everyone! I am delighted to welcome Beniam Gebrezghi Victor Lachenait and Marte Hellema to this e-discussion and look forward to your thoughts and inputs!

Hello everyone, 

My name is Marte Hellema and I work as communications consultant with UNDP Asia Pacific and Citi Foundations, Youth Co:Lab, which focusses on young social entrepreneurs, leadership and innovation as means to stimulate the acceleration of the SDGs. 

However, in the past I have worked for a long time on conflict prevention, peace, security and human rights, including specifically on and with youth. 

So here are some initial reflections in response to the questions above. I might respond to some others later. Hope that is okay. :-) 

Across Asia-Pacific, shrinking civic space has been an ongoing battle. However, recent times have seen a political and social awakening among many young people. Such active civic participation of young people is crucial for healthy and vibrant democracies. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has put all of this at risk.

Everyone agrees sacrifices have to be made to ensure the health and safety of our societies. However, in doing so, we all need to be vigilant that these measures and restrictions are proportional and necessary and do not unwittingly or needlessly infringe on people’s human rights and fundamental freedoms, particularly young people.

Civic space of young people is often dismissed as a non-priority. Young people are seen as non-essential to civic engagement and political and social discourse. And even if their civic engagement is recognized as important, it is often seen as something for the future, and can therefore be postponed or set on-hold.

In any region, but particularly one where young people represent such a significant portion of the population like in Asia-Pacific, such thinking is not just harmful and undemocratic in present but will jeopardize our societies’ future. Stumping off young people’s political and civic involvement now, might turn them away in the long run. We cannot afford a lost generation.

As young people have already taken to online spaces to claim their civic space and become socially and politically involved more than other generations, it is important to ensure that such efforts are recognized as equally relevant as similar expression offline. Too often online expression and assembly is still seen as frivolous or fleeting. Yet, as our lives during COVID have shown us, online spaces are an extension of our lives offline. Not only should it be recognized and valued as such, all rights and freedoms that apply offline, should be guaranteed and protected online as well.

Hi everyone,

My name is Pauline, I am a junior consultant supporting youth-led peacebuilding at the Istanbul Regional Hub. I provide support in the implementation of a youth-led and youth-focused peace and security research and advocacy project in the Western Balkans.

In our region, a whole new generation of young people is growing-up continuing to experience the legacies of conflict. This generation is seen as suffering from inter-generational transfer of traumas and being even more hardened in its identity lines. However it is also seen as more willing to interact across ethno-religious identity groups.

Among the several reasons why UNDPA and UNFPA designed this youth-led research and advocacy initiative was the fact that regionally comparable data to compare youth’s perceptions about peace and security, their priorities for their lives and for the future of the region is lacking.

For this initiative a group of 23 young women and young men across the Western Balkan region was selected, to have a consultative role in the research design process and advocacy. What I think is important and which I encourage other future projects to consider is the importance of involving  young people at every step of the initiative. In this initiative not only have young people co-designed the survey, but they are also going to take part in the data analysis and formulation of recommendations, as well as the organisation of local events to promote the results of the research to policy makers. I think the sooner young people are engaged in an initiative, the greater the impact this initiative can have. 

Thanks to everyone who shared information about their projects, it’s been very interesting to read about what is being done in other regions.

Dear all,

Young people are taking action to sustain peace and we must be better at investing in youth peace work and an enabling environment to prevent conflict, leave no one behind and foster inclusive governance and peacebuilding. We need your ideas to spark action!

We are pleased to be your co-moderators of the rest of this week: Wevyn  Muganda and Maria Stage.

Wevyn is a youth activist from Mombasa Kenya and a part of UNDP's 16 x 16 initiative that recognizes the leadership of young people working on SDG16. Her activism focuses on increasing participation of young people in peace, security and political processes.

Maria is programme analyst on youth empowerment in the governance team in BPPS, GPN, UNDP, supporting UNDP’s work on youth, peace and security and UNDP’s Youth Global Programme (Youth-GPS).

It is our hope that together we can come up with ideas to foster inclusive and just societies with trust between all people and decision makers, change power relations and structures that exclude young people from influence upon society, and approaches to programming that adequately recognize and support the multiple ways that young people engage in sustaining peace.

We are looking forward to this conversation with UNDP practitioners and partners, and don’t hesitate to reach out to us!

Best wishes,

Wevyn and Maria

Hello everyone, and thanks Noella and team for initiating this discussion! I recently wrote a testimonial on YPS work for the Folke Bernadotte Academy YPS Handbook for Advisors, so to begin with my contribution to the discussion, I will reiterate some points made there :)

I have been working on youth engagement and youth-led peacebuilding at UNDP Istanbul Regional Hub since 2016, most recently as the Youth, Peace and Security Specialist. I support country offices in the Europe and Central Asia region, which comprises a fascinating landscape of middle-income countries ranging from Eastern Europe, Western Balkans and Turkey to South Caucasus and Central Asia.

Across the region, phenomena such as brain drain of the young and educated, marginalisation of rural youth and youth unemployment are what attract the attention of policymakers. These all have an impact on the overall sense of stability and security that young people themselves feel. The legacy of past conflicts and the volatility it creates means that young people are in a crucial role in building more sustainable and peaceful societies. Still, while youth are acknowledged as a group of interest, there is a lot to do in terms of creating meaningful ways for young people to participate in decision-making and to engage positively.

One of the biggest challenges I face is the narrative that decision-makers, policymakers and also us international actors ourselves cultivate around young women and men. Oftentimes young people are seen as a problem to be solved, a threat that needs to be controlled, or as passive and disengaged and in need of better guidance. Older generations are very eager to preach to younger people about what they should do, and I have witnessed this on all levels. Building trust is also about bridging intergenerational differences and creating dialogue between youth, older generations and decision-making authorities.

Another challenge in both government and UN, is going beyond tokenistic engagement of elite youth, and making room for marginalised and hard-to-reach groups.

In my view, the key for youth-responsive policies, strategies and programmes is to start with solid evidence of young people’s views and priorities. When you can show what the specific needs and ambitions of different groups of youth are, it is easier to get government and UN senior management on board. As Pauline Chauveau mentions in her comment, this is what we are doing in the Western Balkans: together with a youth advisory group, we designed a study on peace and security involving the group in analysis and advocacy efforts. The results will be used for more targeted and bottom-up peace and reconciliation programming that takes into account the generation born after the past conflicts. For this, we are partnering with an intergovernmental, regional youth organisation called RYCO whose mandate is strengthening reconciliation and youth cooperation.

Another point I would like to make is that overall, awareness of the YPS agenda is low, among UN and other stakeholders. However, my experience has been that it is well received by youth, UN colleagues and government representatives alike. Highlighting the global commitment to YPS and clarifying what it actually is about is a way of getting buy-in for a topic that is not without sensitivities in the region. What also helps is facilitating opportunities for resource mobilisation around the youth agenda –  concretely helping draft youth project proposals that are a solid reflection of YPS principles and inclusive of young people at all stages. We also need to create space for and build the capacity of youth civil society to participate in dialogues, meet senior officials, design projects and implement them, and overall take the lead in making a difference.

Hi Susanna

Thank you for these important insights on increasing young people's participation in decision making and doing that meaningfully. I echo your sentiments that in order to enhance trust we need to create opportunities for inter-generational dialogue and bridging the differences that exist. In my own experience, youths are misunderstood by the older generation while the older ones feel that the youths don't listen. These are biases and through inter-generational dialogue, we can achieve a common ground.

What are some of the practical ways that we can understand the ambitions and needs of the different groups of young people? Especially at a time where a lot of programmatic activity has moved online and many young people in the Global South still have challenges in accessing digital spaces? How do we make youth spaces more inclusive and still relevant to the emerging changes in communication?

Finally, capacity building is really essential in ensuring that youth participation is far from tokenistic since young leaders will be able to engage and participate in their own capacities and can truly advocate for their needs. This is the only way to also keep young people's participation a norm and sustainable.

Thank you so much for the great work you are doing Susanna. I appreciate it.

Dear colleagues and partners,

We have concluded the first phase of this e-discussion and will retake this exciting and timely conversation on youth, peace and security in early January!

Many thanks to colleagues from Mali, Tunisia, UNDP’s regional hubs in Istanbul and in Bangkok and the governance global team, who have contributed already! Special thanks to our guest moderator Wevyn from the UNDP 16x16 initiative, from Mombasa, Kenya, for contributing to this crowdsourcing of ideas and lessons learned exercise and to our colleague Maria Stage from the UNDP global youth team, who co-moderated Week 2.

To conclude with this first phase, and help bring all new participants up to speed in January, here are a few highlights:

• Youth, Peace and Security programming should be multidimensional/comprehensive in its approach and contextual to the social, cultural and political contexts of the young people. Stakeholders/partners should design their programmes WITH young people rather than FOR young people -this cultivates a relationship based on trust and encourages ownership which would make the project gains sustainable beyond funding
• Mainstreaming youth representation and meaningful participation in high-level dialogues is an essential first step that would gain to be systematized
• Young people’s participation in decision-making processes is pegged on their capacity to engage meaningfully. This calls for stakeholders to invest in building the capacity of young people from diverse backgrounds particularly young people from rural and informal areas to ensure that they are not excluded and further marginalised. Capacity building of young people to understand, contextualise and design their own solutions will also address the challenge of youth participation being tokenistic rather than equal partnership with other key stakeholders
• Active civic participation of young people is crucial for healthy and vibrant democratic governance. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new challenges: while everyone agrees sacrifices have to be made to ensure the health and safety of our societies, we all need to be vigilant that these measures and restrictions are proportional and necessary and do not unwittingly or needlessly infringe on people’s human rights and fundamental freedoms, particularly young people.
• All rights and freedoms that apply offline, should be guaranteed and protected online as well. Putting an emphasis on digital rights can help promoting and protecting the human rights of young people - by further focusing on supporting the digital literacy of young people and working in providing access to internet and modern telecommunication means to remote and marginalized communities. Reflecting on the means to combat online repression and how to best protect those who fight for human rights on social networks would surely have its place at the top of our human rights agenda.
• Some interesting youth initiatives and projects were mentioned: Deep Demo with Chora Foundation (https://www.chora.foundation) and the support to multisectoral national youth policy in Tunisia; Youth exchanges as part of the broader sub-regional  UNDP PVE program in Central Asia; the UNDP-UNFPA youth perceptions on peace and security initiative (Western Balkans); the SDG16/Global alliance work, UNDP Youth global programme and Youth co:Lab.
• Some useful publications were referred to: the UNDP Frontlines Report  which focuses on the positive role young people play as partners in the prevention of violent extremism and the Folke Bernadotte Academy Youth, Peace and Security Adviser’s Handbook, just released on 9 December 2020, at a joint high-level event by co-convened by UN partners, UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, PBSO/DPPA, UNDP, UNFPA and Sweden, Jordan, France and the Dominican Republic, to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Youth, Peace and Security first Security Council resolution.  

Thank you again, stay safe and well, and best wishes for the Holiday season! ?

Dear all,

With the beginning of a new year, we are pleased to welcome you back to this public e-discussion on investing in young people as agents of change to sustain peace!

We are your co-moderators of this week: Lynrose Jane Genon and Maria Stage.

Lynrose is a young woman activist from the Philippines. She is a member of the executive council of  the Young Women + Leaders for Peace-Philippines (YW+LP-Ph), a program of the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders. YW+LP-Ph is a network of young women leaders and allies for peace championing for the localization of the YPS and WPS agenda. She is also part of the UNDP's 16 x16 Initiative.

Maria is programme analyst on youth empowerment in the governance team in BPPS, GPN, UNDP, supporting UNDP’s work on youth, peace and security and UNDP’s Youth Global Programme (Youth-GPS).

Your ideas and experiences are critical for improving collective efforts supporting youth as critical agents of change, moving from policy to action, and accelerating the implementation of YPS at the community level.

The first part of the e-discussion highlighted the importance of inclusive societies, addressing mistrust, prioritizing the local and community level, including those at risk of being left behind, protecting rights online and enhancing youth participation in decision-making and policy processes. As for programming, it stressed the need for multidimensional and comprehensive approaches to youth, peace and security and working with youth at all stages through equal partnerships.

We are looking forward to continuing this conversation and don’t hesitate to reach out to us!

Best wishes,

Lynrose and Maria

Thank Maria...

Thanks for Infos on how youths are involving and participating in decision making and planning.  important insights on increasing young people's participation in decision making and planning. I do support that youths should have opportunities to bridge the gap by being envolve in making policies. According to me youths are important for making important decision for world because seniors can't understand the concerns of youths.

Dear All,

I am Melody Azinim, Programme Analyst Peace and Governance UNDP Ghana. The youth are a critical group that need to be properly engaged and this must be done deliberately. In 2019 the CO undertook a research in partnership with a CSO - Centre for Democratic Development on electoral violence and youth political "vigilantism" one of the challenges that made a lot of the youth vulnerable as tools for violence was the lack of opportunities and jobs. To survive, they avail themselves to persons who can give them a token and instruct them to cause violence such as intimidating political opponents.

Building the capacity of the youth to actively participate and lead peace processes in their communities is important, creating opportunities for the youth through entrepreneurship and vocational skills is also important to reduce their vulnerability. Secondly, the a lot of programs have been moved online due to the covid19 pandemic, unfortunately so many of the youth do not have access to mobile phones or even the internet to get involved. Identifying institutions that are operating in most parts of the country can serve as an entry point to continuously engage the youth. 

you can read the report here https://www.gh.undp.org/content/ghana/en/home/library/democratic_governance/electoral-violence-and-political-vigilantism-in-ghana.html

Greetings  From Andy Iji

Moving from Talking to implementation of Youth , peace and Security Agenda.

Dear e -colleagues,

YPS is a unifining element for cohesion , representation, action and social change like no other.

Have we drive the change well? NO. Why is not working as it should be? Because we are engaging in motion without out movement!

How?

Five years after the adoption of the resolution 2250, no country of the has a National direction of action in the name of National Action Plan on UNSCR 2250!

Why is it so difficult to achieve?

1. .We have got many youth without the knowledge of UNSCR 2250.

To some, it is something by the UN in New York for the UN in New York.

This is because it is one thing to adopt a resolution is another to get it down to the very grassroots dwellers most of whom never heard about the resolution in their lives. That is , they were not involved in the process. And of course the whole population can never be  brought in the early stages of policy development that is why the birth of a resolution marks the beginning of investment in the resolution or policy.

, 2.Unfurtunately the UN had thought that the member States will be interested in the document as they never objected to adoption .The reality is that many governments don't care about youth, peace and security agenda.. attention is devoted to providing large inflated budgets for military hard ware and operations.prevetive diplomacy does not simply work in many places like Nigeria.Trouble makers are celebrated and rewarded. Special rewarding packages are prepared for them in the name of amnesty.

These criminals pose for photographs with state governors and other public servants. This tells youth that criminality pays!

3.Whereas young peace builders spend days and burn the mid night oil to prepare life changing initiatives for acceptance and implementation by the government representative. There never got read.or at least we never got feedbacks.

The story is long but the summary is simple. Youth peace and security agenda should be a cardinal objective for the UN in any country.

UN , please don't leave  YPS for the youth to run with it alone.we need your support to connect the governments, your financial support. To implement initiatives. and to train youth on YPS.

A dedicated youth agency is needed in UN .

I have worked on WPS with women over the years ,if there is a success to mention, it will be connected to the fact we have UN Women that assert itself on WPS .

I live in Nigeria.the story on YPS  will be told someday 

Meanwhile it is noteworthy  to mention that UNDP in Nigeria was receptive to us about this time last when we visited the UN headquarters in Abuja.

It behooves on the UNDP ,to translate our discussions, our planed programs, initiatives to action.

COVID 19 is here it's is even more imperative that  the regular red tapes are not explored to kill our passion to serve. COVID 19 means urgency in interventions.

Dealing with you requires flexibility and agility .Delay in implementation of work plan will kill YPS agenda.

Space and time will fail me to talk about YPS. 

Someday, I believe we will have the opportunity to drive the YPS to its destination , that, to me is more important  than talking

Dear Jane,

Thank you very much for the good work you are doing in the Philippines.It is encouraging to know that we 've got a UN personality who moved from talking to doing.

Here are what the UN and other international organizations should do.

1. Create a dedicated easy to access fund windows for youth led initiatives in YPS. Some of the youth organizations are not registered because of the nature or organization  and government requirements for registration.yet they are working real good.

2. UN  recruit youth consultant (s) who will develop and program for YPS agenda. 

UN & international organization funds training and capiciryu building on YPS , some of the training elements could be

1.understanding the YPS agenda and its provisions 

2. Mediation and reconciliation

3.Preventive diplomacy

4. Preventing violent extremism  amongst other related issues.

3. UN agencies working with youth leaders  and introduce  YPS agenda to the relevant  government departments  for government buy-in and ownership.

4.financial support to disseminate information on YPS to local languages.for example I have a publication on YPS which I share to participatants who attend my free trainings on YPS. It needs to be mass produced and translated into some major languages and share at Community level where access to internet is limited or non existent.

 5.Implementation of annual work plan. When our organization (Youth Peace and Security Network) develops work plan for the year, resources mobilization is always the major challenge, funding from UN is  needed to to achieve this. I will also suggest that even if the UN does not have all the funds, it is in a better position to mobilize resources from outside the UN system through partnership with other international organizations to get the funds to implement the work plans.

I think we can learn this from UN women.

6. A radio program on YPS , I have written to the UN in Nigeria for that purpose and no response. This radio program is the best shot to raising the awareness level on YPS.

In my training sessions, I discovered that out of 2000 persons in urban areas only 2 to 3 persons are aware of YPS. In rural Communities, awareness level is zero.

This shows there is work to be done!

supportfor youth led training 

Hi everyone!

Many thanks to Maria Stage and Lynrose Jane Genon for the comprehensive summary of the past week of exchanges! Welcome to the last week of this e-discussion on youth, peace and security and let me also convey my warmest wishes for 2021!

My name is Noella Richard and I am UNDP youth global programme manager. I am very honored to moderate this online conversation with Samira Barucija - Homoras  a young peacebuilder from Bosnia and Herzegovina and young leader from the UNDP 16x16 initiative.

Samira and I very much look forward to hearing about your perspectives and experiences regarding the roles young people play as critical agents of change to sustain peace, in your own context, and how we could best invest in them. 

A helpful and detailed list of questions has been posted for reference (e-discussion description), to help you frame your contributions. Please also feel free to share links to key documents, press releases, project documents, reports, evaluations, in particular if you have less time to produce a detailed response!

It is our hope that we can use this space as a way to reflect on the Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) agenda and on UNDP’s YPS journey , lift promising practices, be candid about challenges and bottlenecks, and share new opportunities to work with young peacebuilders as trusted partners!

Please remember that this conversation is public - we therefore encourage you to spread the word in your networks!

Thank you for your time and valuable insights!

On behalf of Samira and myself, with kind regards.

Greetings to all.

Thank you for a meaningful e-discussion. My name is Priya Sood and I am the coordinator of the Global Alliance for Reporting Progress on Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies. 

My question to young leaders today is how do we, as the SDG 16 community, reach citizens that are not part of conversations, not the usual suspects, not the ones that already have access to information on the 2030 Agenda and SDG 16.   We are a multi-stakeholder platform and have engaged dynamic 16X16 youth speakers at high-level events here in NYC.  Their participation alone has positively changed the way our advocacy messages are received by member states.  This can be noted as a success but baby ones. 

Since we focus on monitoring and reporting on SDG 16 I would also like to take this opportunity to highlight a Global Alliance & Transparency, Accountability and Participation Network guidance that was recently launched - 'Mainstreaming SDG 16. Using the Voluntary National Review to Advance Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies'.  Chapter 5 takes a deeper dive at how to ensure meaningful youth engagement and a LNOB approach to mainstreaming SDG 16 by promoting youth participation in national planning and local planning, budgeting and decision-making processes.  Case studies and lessons learned are shared throughout which could help our  community. We plan to rollout a thematic focused webinar discussion on LNOB – what does it mean practice? Look forward to reviewing all the comments in greater detail and feeding these into our plans and action in 2021.

All the best

Hello my 'soon to be' colleagues. My name is Samwel Oyunge. A recent University graduate from Kenya. Sincerely speaking I feel so honored being part of such a vital conversation alongside UN professionals. It means a lot to me and my desire to join this team. I just had to confess that. I have been so enriched with amazing ideas in the area of youths role for Peace in particular the UNSC resolution 2250 and the five key pillars for action.

Picking up from the UNSCR 2250, I confess that this is the first time I'm hearing of such an important resolution. This I confidently state is the same case with majority of University students. 

This implies a very critical gap in the dissemination process of such vital information to the key targets- young University students. The lack or low awareness level among youths on such progress in what's considered their Agenda, plays a significant role in derailing progress. Sometimes knowledge alone especially for students can powerfully motivate one to align his/her final year project with modern developments. As an intrinsically motivated individual, mere access to this information alone together with the valuable ideas in this platform, would have encouraged me to participate in initiatives or develop community based projects aimed at achieving the resolution. This discussion has given me insight unto relevant things I can do and I'm planning to do within my community with other youths to safeguard security and peace. 

It is true that this information is in the websites and most University students have access to internet. Notwithstanding that, It should always additionally be noted that youths will search for this information if there was a previous motivation or urge to look into it. Not all of us are aggressive or self-motivated.

Clearly, there is a gap. Incorporating into the ideas presented so far, I suggest we have UN student ambassadors in Youth Institutions such as Universities as a means of bridging the gap between decision makers (DM) and decision targets (DT). UN brand is powerful enough to bring on board student youths for any Peace building project. Their roles would be among others helping with creating awareness on latest developments from the high level discussions among ordinary youth and creating small Peace and security circles for effective capacity building who upon returning to their communities will be important drivers for change- UN community ambassadors- who will replicate the same roles at their local communities. The emphasis on education institutions springs from the fact that it is them which have in times past offered the ground for radicalization, now a threat to international peace and security. Such a program therefore, will give these intelligent young people a platform to make a positive impact in the world starting with their communities.  

In the race for Global Peace and Security, policy makers often outrun the targeted drivers for change- youths, or stated differently good decisions are developing faster than actual implementations on the ground. The two should go hand in hand, should run together. Develop as we implement.

Thank you.

Hello Everyone! This is Mohamed EDABBAR from Libya, a youth worker passionate about youth policy and peace building.

I'm a Global Focal Point at United Nations Major Group for Children and Youth (UNMGCY) as well as an African Union Youth Ambassador for Peace, representing the North Africa.

I'm gonna share with you simple experience from my country including good practices and learned lessons related this e-consultation.

As most of you know, Libya has been witnessing an armed conflict for 10 years (since Libyan revolution 2011).

All of the UNSMIL's mandates before and after UNSCR2250(2015) December, do not consider the young people or youth inclusion in peace processes in Libya!

Here the mandates of UNSMIL 2022 (2011), 2040 (2012), 2095 (2013), 2144 (2014), 2238 (2015), 2323 (2016), 2376 (2017) , 2434 (2018), 2486 (2019).

So, from the adoption of UNSCR 2250 on YPS and since 2016 when the UNFPA Libya organised a meeting with the former UN Youth Envoy in Tunis, the Libyan Youth were totally excluded to attend all the peace talks, national reconciliations, dialogues and all types of peace processes!

We (My friends, colleagues and Me) have tried to organize many High-Level Symposia, closed and open expert meetings, in our attempt to bring together national and international stakeholders (including member states of UNSC and the UNDP HQ of NYC, and Regional Office of Amman) to propose and present the imposition of practices and solutions to the Libyan situation and to enhance the meaningful participation of Libyan youth in all peace processes.

Here : is one of our High-Level Symposium Feb 2020.
https://www.unmgcy.org/main-news-updates/online-high-level-symposium-li…

Here: Our policy brief, 11 December 2020: Agents and Drivers of Peace in Libya. 
https://gppac.net/resources/agents-and-drivers-peace-libya
with some key recommendations for UNSMIL and UNSC; you can find more information about the Contributions, Authors and Organisers, but most of the activities which I led organised by GPPAC and UNMGCY.


Between these two dates has been a significant recognition of the Libyan Youth, during the extension of UNSMIL mandate from September 2020 to September 2021 the UNSC added the meaningful and effective participation of youth in all peace efforts as an integral part of the UNSMIL's mandate. "Urging the full, effective and meaningful participation of youth in peace efforts" Quote ended.

UNSC Resolution 2542(2020).

 

Referring to the first ever Secretary General's report on YPS in March 2020. the UNSG has directed some recommendations:
In his recommendations should to be taken by the United Nations (Recom.). To Establishing a network of youth and peace and security focal points at the country, regional and headquarters levels. S/2020/167. Para 67/b.

Upon this recommendation we brings together the relevant IANYD Youth Caucuses and stakeholders and announced the Libyan Youth Coalition on Peace and Security during the monthly meeting of UN-IANYD at the 16th of Dec. 2020.

Attached the LYCPS Structure and HERE you can find the Temporary (PPP) policies, processes and procedures.

Ultimately, From my work on YPS around the work, specially in MENA region, where lots of member states under crisis and witnessing armed conflicts such Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Syria and other. I can say that we need to work with each country separately to achieve the YPS agenda, Also the YPS agenda needs to shape in simple form with concrete indicators to make it easier for young people to measure and their progress and achievements.

For more info., collaboration, suggestion please feel free to email me on mohamed.edabbar@unmgcy.org

Any comments or/and feedback are most welcome.

Many thanks for all the comments and stories of this discussion and the organisers for the amazing organisation.

Best regards,
Mohamed EDABBAR

LYCPS Structure.pdf418.59 KB

Dear all, thank you for participating in this important e-discussion and highlighting promising practices that can enhance investment in young people as agents of peace. I am Asako Okai, Assistant Secretary-General and Director of the Crisis Bureau.

The COVID-19 crisis is exacerbating barriers to youth empowerment and challenges to social cohesion and resilience in many societies. Furthermore, 1 in 4 young people is affected by violence or armed conflict and only 18 % of fragile and conflict-affected states are on track to meet the Sustainable Development Goals. We cannot effectively address the underlying causes of fragility without young people’s efforts, ideas and readiness for change.

In 2019, UNDP had approximately 600 projects in fragile and conflict-affected areas benefiting youth. To give an example: with support from the Peacebuilding Fund and together with UNWomen, UNDP supports young women as mediators and agents of change for conflict prevention in relation to disputes over natural resources at the Mali-Niger border. Adequate investment in the critical role that young people play in peace and security is needed for progress towards sustainable development and peace. In particular, we must promote the participation of young women in peacebuilding. 

As many of you have outlined in this e-discussion, it is important that policy decisions are inclusive of youth perceptions on peace and development. We invest in capacities for youth sensitive approaches through the joint UNDP-DPPA Programme on Building National Capacities for Conflict Prevention, which deploys peace and development advisors (PDAs) in 60 countries, the majority of whom support the participation of youth in peacebuilding. 

Young people are standing up for human rights, but they are too often seeing their rights violated and work interrupted through experiences of violence, discrimination and exclusion. The rights of future generations must be a priority when decisions are made about peace, development and climate. In doing so, it is essential to promote an enabling environment for the efforts of young human rights activist, environmental defenders, journalists and others that bring to the fore the challenges and solutions of our time.

Indeed, investment in youth should be at the core of a COVID-19 recovery towards more equitable and peaceful societies and UNDP is committed to supporting this. I myself have fascinating personal experience engaging with young peacebuilders and human rights activists, such as those in 16X16 initiative.

I wish you a continued good and insightful discussion.

Dear colleagues and friends of YPS,

Many thanks to UNDP colleagues for inviting the Office of the Secretary General’s Envoy on Youth to participate in this interactive discussion!

The Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth and her team has been following the YPS e-discussion with great interest.

In response to many important points shared on this platform already we wanted to share a few reflections: 

1. Protection of young people has been one of the key priorities for OSGEY. In collaboration with the Global Coalition of YPS’, protection working group, we have made efforts to collect an evidence base identifying the types of threats young people face in the context of civic spaces. The study with its key recommendations will be published in 2021.

As highlighted in this e-discussion, there are still gaps in the systematic data collection and disaggregation on the protection of young people. We are also lacking a global mechanism to provide young people with support and protection. To address these gaps, innovative and youth lead mechanisms are needed. We are hoping to continue working together with young people themselves and additional partners to roll out the recommendations of the study. 

2. Meaningful participation of young people is crucial to fully implement the YPS Agenda. As called for by the newly adopted UNSC resolution 2535, the UN should continue to create and provide opportunities for all young people to engage YPS efforts. This is especially important when continuing to operationalize the key UN Security Council YPS resolutions (2250, 2419, 2535) in a country context.

To reiterate, a point made earlier in this e-discussion, meaningfully involving young people in the YPS work, means ensuring that young people are empowered and included at every step of the initiative including: planning, designing, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating of the project. By enforcing a holistic and youth centered approach our work on YPS will also have a greater impact. In the context of rolling out the UN system wide Youth 2030 Strategy, our office aims to continue ensuring that young people are included every step of the way.

Thank you,

I'm Brenda Akemo from Kenya, a student pursuing a bachelor's degree in International Relations and Diplomacy. Most of the youth have been neglected In the important discussions and engagement concerning the nation due to them not knowing their Rights and discrimination by the laws put in place. The solution to counter this problem is that there should be Civic education from the grassroots level on the youth rights. Each youth should freely participate in nation building process.

Idleness among the youth caused by lack of employment is what brings conflict and violence in the community. Hence, creating job opportunities and  projects like National youth service in Kenya, would enable young people to be proactive in matters concerning the state .Also providing loans for the youth to attend universities and colleges is a good way of empowering them.

In this millennial era, the digital space cannot be avoided. Creating awareness on youth rights Through the use of various social media platforms should be encouraged. Also it should be a safe place where the young people can freely express their creativity without being judged. 

The government should ease the process of acquiring loans and offer interest free loans to the young change Makers. Tax being levied to the business of the youth should be reduced. Tenders should be awarded to the youth as first priority .

In my country Kenya where devolution is being practiced. Laws need to be put in place to ensure a third of the positions in the county government should be for the young men and women. For example if a person who is vying for the gubernatorial seat is aged 50, he or she  must choose a young person between 21 to 35 years to be his running mate as the deputy governor. This way, there is inclusivity and their ideas can be integrated in the leadership. Where there's good governance there's peace which results to economic growth and development in the nation.. With this in place, the young adults are able to be mentored and they gain experience needed to bring the country forward. Policies should be put in place that do away with age limit factor and experience so that many youth are able to participate in decision making process of the country. 

Creation of fellowships,seminars for the young people to meet, engage with others and air out their views on national matters so that they feel they are part of the government. 

Hello everyone, I am Quynh, Inclusive Innovation and Youth Officer at UNDP Viet Nam. Thanks for starting this meaningful and interesting conversation. I would like to share some points from the activities of our CO. 

Việt Nam is a peaceful country, therefore the role of young people in peace processes mostly is to help increase the inclusiveness and maintain a peaceful society. 

As Viet Nam CO, we have been supporting the government of Viet Nam prepare and deploy peacekeeping forces in South Sudan and the Central African Republic. An important focus of this support has been to promote gender equality and women’s leadership in Vietnamese peacekeeping forces, with Viet Nam has now is exceeding the target of 15% women in troop deployment and is continues to work toward expanding the participation of women as military observers and staff officers.

In 2020, Viet Nam CO co-organized and co-chaired with the Ministry of Defense of Viet Nam the International Symposium “The Role of Women and Prevention of Covid-19 Pandemic in Peacekeeping Operations” as well as cooperated with UN RCO and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Viet Nam in hosting the Global High-level Conference on Women Peace and Security. Again, the CO focused on the important leading role played by women peacekeepers in Viet Nam, and the strong example this sets for both other countries and young people. The event provided a platform for both leading and young women peacekeepers to share their experiences in peacebuilding and peacekeeping, in particular in South Sudan and the Central African Republic, and how they continue to promote these important values when back in Viet Nam.

At the international conference, UNDP launched research on the role of women in peacekeeping forces in the Asia Pacific region. In November 2020, UNDP successfully advocated for the inclusion of gender equality as an important principle of peacekeeping training and deployment in the resolution on peacekeeping passed by the National Assembly. 

Building on this work in 2020, the Viet Nam CO has found great value in connecting the programming on women's peace and security with our youth portfolio. As part of UN at 75 celebrations, the CO invited submissions from young people in Viet Nam on the important contributions of Viet Nam to the Goals of the UN, including peacekeeping and building around the world. We organized an in-person Inspirational Talk for over 200 young people, with guest speaker Lieutenant Colonel Do Thi Hang Nga, Viet Nam’s first female peacekeeper. To further promote the role of women in peacekeeping among young people in Viet Nam, UNDP hosted a recorded interview with First Lieutenant Sa Minh Ngoc on the popular YouTube channel IELTS Face Off, which has over 480k young subscribers. Finally, we hosted a student essay competition on Viet Nam and the UN, included 2 winning essays that examined the important contributions of Vietnamese peacekeepers to the Purposes of the UN Charter, in particular women peacekeepers.

In sum, the Viet Nam CO has found great value in connecting our women peace and security work, with our youth work, in both promoting the role of women in peacekeeping promoting peacekeeping and building among young people in Viet Nam in order to continue and strengthen the important contributions made by Viet Nam to peacekeeping globally.

With the Youth Co:Lab initiative, since 2018, we have trained nearly 300 young social entrepreneurs, over 60% of them are women and 40% come from marginalized groups ( LGBTI, persons with disabilities, ethnic minorities...) 27 social impact startups were supported through incubation, mentoring and providing seed funding. By supporting the impact startups, which led by the marginalized groups, we believe that can contribute to inclusion, and peace in the long term.

Thanks Quynh, great contribution by UNDP Viet Nam, as usual. I would love to know more about the youth and women networks involved with this intersectional work and what the vision is for 2021 regarding youth and peace, based on this very good work! For your information, UNDP will co-organize an international symposium on youth in peace processes this Spring, with the Youth Envoy, UNFPA, Search for Common Ground, UNOY, co-hosted by Qatar, Finland and Colombi - regional colleagues are also in the loop already! Thank you again!

Hello once again my dear 'soon to be' colleagues. :)

I'm really psyched up by this e-discussion and today I have a question regarding another perspective on the issue of investing in young people for change and sustainable peace.

Having observed that many community, national and de facto international conflicts- which heavily affect us young people- revolve around natural resources, I was wondering whether, Peace and Security dimensions are usually assessed during the Project's Sustainability studies done prior to authorization, and captured in the report for consideration. Well, I ask relevantly because, based on Brundtland's definition of Sustainability, we can observed today that conflicts and wars are another means of compromising the 'future's ability to meet their own needs'. Note that this act of compromise is very deep and it is multidimensional to include brain drain through migration of young intellectuals to other safer countries or cities. Take for instance, the case of Democratic Republic of Congo. 

Since most of these natural resource related- wars and conflicts, sadly employ youths as the tools; don't we think that such an assessment can be an effective, indirect way of investing in youths? By removing conditions or peace compromising situations that temptingly require their energies and strength for violence in exchange for money? 

This situation inspires me to ask whether, for example; natural resource exploration Impact on Peace and Security is usually included in the Sustainability Assessment work done before authorization of any project. 

Thank you so much. I will appreciate any input in this regard. :)

The summary of this e-discussion has been published here, with warm thanks to everyone who helped -either by disseminating, moderating or contributing substantively to the conversation! It is a public link, so please also feel free to share within your networks, if helpful as you contribute to advancing the Youth, Peace and Security agenda!

Best wishes,

Noella, on behalf of conveners!

#Youth4Peace #Youth2030 @UNDP4YOUTH