Recommendations from Workshops with Young Peacebuilders in the MENA Region
December 14, 2021
Since 2015, the Youth, Peace, and Security (YPS) agenda has gained global recognition for the vital role young people play in building peace and preventing conflict. To advance this agenda, the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation, the Swedish Dialogue Institute for the Middle East and North Africa, and the MENA Coalition on Youth, Peace, and Security (MCYPS) organized two workshops in 2021. These workshops gathered insights from young peacebuilders and key stakeholders across the MENA region, leading to several recommendations aimed at fostering genuine and equal intergenerational partnerships for peace.
Key Recommendations:
- Create Safe Spaces: Protect youth engagement by incorporating safety policies in funding strategies, supporting digital security, and advocating against cyber harassment.
- Promote Inclusion: Engage diverse youth groups across socio-economic, regional, and cultural backgrounds. Address barriers like accessibility, language, and discrimination to ensure broad participation.
- Strengthen Youth Leadership: Recognize youth civil society as equal partners, providing them with financial and technical support without undermining their leadership. Encourage youth-led programming with clear follow-ups and mutual capacity-building initiatives.
- Improve Funding Accessibility: Simplify grant applications, provide multi-year funding, and support informal youth groups. Donors should engage young people in setting funding priorities to ensure relevance and long-term impact.
- Enhance Regional Cooperation: Develop stronger networks across local, national, and regional levels, bridging generational gaps and promoting sustainable intergenerational partnerships. Increase research on YPS and its connections to other issues like climate change, gender, and conflict resolution.
The workshops underscored the importance of translating global policy into actionable support for youth, urging international leaders to shift from token representation to genuine engagement. To read the full report, visit Link.