Focusing on the region of Latin America and the Caribbean, the fifth, sixth and seventh editions of the UNAOC Young Peacebuilders programme were launched in 2022, 2023 and 2024, respectively; with the aim of supporting young civil society leaders in gaining competencies to address negative stereotypes, prejudice and polarization (important drivers of violent extremism), while bringing visibility to their actions and projects in their communities towards the promotion of diversity and intercultural/interfaith dialogue.
The programme was implemented with the financial support of Agencia Extremeña de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo (AEXCID). In addition, the 5th and 6th edition were implemented in collaboration with the United Network of Young Peacebuilders (UNOY).
THE PARTICIPANTS
For each of the three editions, UNAOC selected, through a competitive call for applications, 20 young women and men between 18 to 25 to participate in the programme. The group, balanced in terms of gender and reflecting diverse religious and cultural backgrounds, came from 23 different countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, namely: Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Saint Lucia, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
THE PROGRAMME
The programme uses blended curriculum and consists out of four phases of learning, to maximize the outcomes that can be achieved through a single one-week face-to-face training and encouraging participants to apply the lessons learned:
Phase 1: Online Engagement
The online phase enabled participants to jumpstart their intercultural exchange and learning. Together they learned key peacebuilding terms and concepts and started to form a network and collaborations. After they got to know each other and the programme team, they dove right into the learning. Participants were challenged to contribute to the content and tested their understanding by sharing their own experience and exchanging ideas with each other. The participant-friendly methodology kept participants motivated and engaged. The curriculum was designed to connect the content to their own life and experience.
Phase 2: Face-to-face Workshop
The overall aim of the workshop was to consolidate and leverage the learning from the online phase of the programme and use it as foundation blocks for deeper reflection and skills acquisition in the field of peacebuilding, intercultural dialogue and conflict transformation. During the workshop, experienced trainers used experiential learning, games and interactive methods to introduce various topics. Each activity was debriefed to stimulate reflection and encourage participants to make sense of the experience, introduce or review concepts, tools and frameworks, and draw conclusions to inform future action. The workshop served as a platform to formulate their personal action plans in which participants outlined specific actions that can benefit their organizations and advance intercultural dialogue and peacebuilding in their communities, thus increasing their contribution as agents of peace.
The workshops of the fifth and sixth editions were held in Mérida (Spain) in October 2022 and in July 2023, respectively. The workshop of the seventh edition took place in Cáceres (Spain) in June 2024.
Phase 3: Applied Learning
During the workshops, each participant of the programme developed a personal Action Plan, and in the months following the workshop, they were challenged to make it come to life. Participants were encouraged to reinforce and integrate the learning through concrete practice, and to multiply the messages and benefits of their intercultural learning experience while strengthening their leadership potential as agents of social change in efforts to build and sustain peace in their communities.
Phase 4: Results-sharing symposium
The final symposium aimed to bring visibility to the initiatives, actions, and projects initiated by young people towards building peace and promoting diversity and mutual understanding. In addition, the events were designed to demonstrate the enhanced capacities and skills gained by youth and their respective organizations through the peacebuilding training; as well as their impact on addressing issues of peace and security and the prevention of violent conflict.
During the symposium, the UNAOC Young Peacebuilders had the opportunity to share their experiences, lessons learned, achievements and recommendations with relevant stakeholders such as government, private sector, UN staff, policymakers, civil society, academia, or media.
The symposium of the fifth edition of the UNAOC Young Peacebuilders programme was held in Fez (Morocco). The symposium for the sixth edition cohort took place in Córdoba (Spain). The participants of the seventh edition had their symposium integrated into the 10th UNAOC Global Forum in Cascais (Portugal).
