Local leadership in Peacebuilding

Event on Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) in relation to UNSCR 2250 facilitated by Christian Cito Cirhigiri

The purpose of the meeting is to create a space for young peacebuilders to engage with the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other relevant policymakers and stakeholders in discussions on how to support and advance youth-led peacebuilding initiatives globally. The goal will be to move beyond discussions on policies and principles and focus on how to create a conducive environment that will allow youth leadership in peacebuilding to fulfill its potential. This will lead us, among other things, to discussions on modalities of international funding, collaboration structures, programming procedures, and ways of listening, engaging and understanding the knowledge and innovation developed by youth peacebuilders. The YPS agenda is closely linked to the Women, Peace, and Security agenda and we will carry an integrated focus on young female leaders in peacebuilding.

With a specific focus on the role of youth in peacebuilding, the event will hold reference to the UN Security Council Resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security which was the first resolution of its kind to recognize the crucial role of young people in peacebuilding. After its implementation in 2015, a progress study was published in 2017 under the lead of Graeme Simpson. The progress study includes recommendations of effective responses to be achieved at local, national, regional, and international levels in peacebuilding.

Under UNSCR 2250’s five main pillars for action (participation, protection, prevention, partnership and disengagement & reintegration) governments and the multilateral system have so far been challenged in effectively accessing, working with and fully including young people in peace and security contexts. The Progress Study on Youth, Peace and Security is seeking to address this critical gap and highlights the need to recognize and support the critical contributions youth make to sustainable peace, while addressing the negative stereotypes often cast upon young people in conflict settings.

The purposes of the YPS event are the following:

• • Putting local leadership first by acknowledging the role of youth in participation, protection, prevention, partnership and disengagement & reintegration in peacebuilding efforts;
• • Creating an enabling space for dialogue on transforming the structural limitations of youth participation in peacebuilding and for catalysing innovative youth-led initiatives that aim to do peacebuilding differently;
• • Developing relationships between engaged youth, policy makers and other key stakeholders to strengthen future engagements and enhance the need for continued dialogue on Danish Government support of the YPS agenda