United Network of Young Peacebuilders

Looking back at our activities & highlights from the last quarter of 2024! 🥳 We celebrated 35 years of UNOY with alumni! 💻 We held a Summit of the Future debrief, where members who attended shared their experiences, and discussed barriers to broader participation. 🇪🇺 Our co-director Giacomo Castorina Calì joined the Global Gateway High Level Youth Event hosted by the European Commission in Brussels. 🇧🇪 We attended the EU Community of Practice on Peace Mediation in Brussels on 22-23 October. 💪 We held our Annual Meeting in October, welcoming regional colleagues to The Hague to set strategic priorities for UNOY’s next strategic plan. 📚 A peer learning session on interreligious dialogue fostered rich exchanges, mutual learning and collaboration among members. ✌️ The UNOY Team participated in five Youth360 workshops led by our amazing Pool of Trainers. 🤝 We hosted our annual Board-Staff exchange to collaborate and strategize on our work. ☮️ Celebrating 9 years of the YPS Agenda, we hosted a virtual get-together with members to reflect on challenges, successes, and the road ahead. 🌍 UNOY members attended the CSO-UN Dialogue on Peacebuilding at United Nations Headquarters from December 12-13. #Youth4Peace

❓ Curious about our plans to advance youth-led peacebuilding in 2025? We’re excited to share our Annual Plan for 2025! ➡️ Read it here: https://lnkd.in/e9XriZM6 #Youth4Peace

Join us on December 17th, 2024 as we commemorate the 9th anniversary of the #YouthPeaceSecurity agenda! This virtual event will bring together young peacebuilders and policymakers to amplify youth voices in YPS National Action Plan development processes. Register now and be part of the conversation! 🔗Link: https://lnkd.in/e8U8Ta9T #Youth4Peace United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) UNDP

Today is Eliška Jelínková's last day at UNOY after more than 4 years of leadership. She first joined the team in 2018 as an Advocacy and Gender Officer, before returning in 2020 to step into the role of Co-director. During her time at UNOY, Eliška made a profound impact. She oversaw the implementation of countless projects, transformed HR processes to improve working conditions for the team, and advanced our gender-transformative approach by championing feminist values. Eliška tirelessly led our advocacy efforts to advance implementation of UNSC resolution 2250, continually promoting young people's vital contributions to peacebuilding. Eliška leaves UNOY a stronger, more resilient organisation, and she will be deeply missed. We wish her all the best in her future steps!! 💜

Yesterday, UNOY members gathered online to celebrate the 9th anniversary of the #YPS agenda. We reflected on our collective journey, celebrating achievements, acknowledging challenges, and drawing lessons to guide our work in 2025. It was an inspiring occasion to connect, understand each other’s journeys further, and strengthen our collective impact to move the YPS agenda forward! African Students For Interfaith Tolerance Malaysian Youth Diplomacy (MyDiplomacy) Yeli Burundi PATRIR IPHRD Africa PAPA Africa Positive Peace | Ethiopia Peace of Art Intl Issah Toha Shamsoo Júlia Celma Werthwein Agathe Mainaud Kavipriya Thiruselvan Bríona Collins Eliška Jelínková Júlia Ito Landers Vera Al-Mawla Franck Ngenzebuhoro

Celebrating 9 years of #UNSCR2250 with insights from young leaders across Africa and the Americas driving #Youth4Peace initiatives. Proud to see the impactful work of organizations like United Network of Young Peacebuilders, Canadian Coalition for Youth, Peace & Security, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and many other organizations and movements in action.

On the 9th anniversary of the Youth, Peace, and Security (YPS) agenda, Khaled Emam and Helen Berents reflect in a new blog article on the remarkable progress made by young people since the agenda's adoption in 2015. They highlight the resilience and leadership of youth in peacebuilding efforts, even amid global crises and persistent barriers to inclusion. Read the article 'Seizing the Moment: Youth, Amicability, and Security between Action and Avoidance' here: 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eMzHSt8F #Youth4Peace

9 years ago today, the UN Security Council Resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security was adopted. Advocating for the #YPS Agenda means meaningfully including young people in decision-making processes, holding non-youth stakeholders accountable, and breaking down barriers of gate-keeping and tokenism. Watch the video below to see how UNOY worked towards implementing the YPS Agenda in 2024. #Youth4Peace Featuring Kavipriya Thiruselvan & Júlia Celma Werthwein.

❓️What is the reality of living in a conflict affected region? This is the story of a peacebuilder from Gaza, sharing how war has impacted her well-being ⬇️ Our Advocacy Brief features the lived experiences of young activists from conflict-affected areas, drawing on insights from consultations with young peacebuilders from UNOY's network. Well-being and peacebuilding are deeply interconnected, and this intersectionality needs to be understood from a decolonized lens. Read the brief here to learn more: https://lnkd.in/e3FxVeG2 Written by Ufra Mir (@International Centre for Peace Psychology), funded by USAID IREX & illustrations by Mijide K.. #Youth4Peace

It was great to connect with the UNOY board members during our annual staff-board exchange earlier this week. The board also approved our annual plan & budget for next year - stay tuned to see what we have planned for 2025! 👀✨ Steven L. Imke Verburg Stefania Kafka Hilal Tekmen Leonor Pompeu dos Santos Eliška Jelínková Giacomo Castorina Calì Florence M. Andrea Torrens Kavipriya Thiruselvan Sofia Biscuola Júlia Celma Werthwein Rachel V. #Youth4Peace