9. Groundworks for Peace

Goal: Our network of grassroots youth-led organisations and international secretariat are inclusive and sustainable.

How can young peacebuilders landscape changes for a more peaceful and inclusive world? It starts with providing a healthy soil for peace to grow. It takes all of our young peacebuilders together to create change, challenge structural barriers to youth participation in peacebuilding, and drive peace in our communities. Therefore, we will continue to strengthen our member-led network of young peacebuilders and the international secretariat.

To make us stronger, we will continue expanding our unique community of youth peace organisations by representing young people in new conflict geographies and identities, and by embracing our youth leadership in all layers of the network. The most impactful structural decisions we can make are who we support, how we prioritise our resources, and whose mission we amplify. Regional expertise and leadership will continue to grow as we further decentralise our programmes and governance, transferring more resources and power to our regions. Each of our members is a UNOY peacebuilder. Within the network, we will continue to create spaces to foster active and meaningful participation, as well as peer learning among members. Particular attention will be extended to diversifying network representation and outreach beyond ‘usual suspects’. Our goal is for UNOY peacebuilders to have ownership over the network and feel empowered by our community of young peacebuilders.

To make us more sustainable, in a post-Covid-19 world, where boundaries of financial and human resources for peacebuilding organisations will be redefined, we will focus on sustaining an organisational culture that is anchored in our values. We will be proactively drawing our line between growth, professionalisation, and our DNA of an agile, horizontal organisation, creating working environments for our teams that are empowering, people-centered, and respectful. Our goal is to be an example of decentralised, sustainable and inclusive governance in the field of peace and security, and to enable meaningful youth participation throughout our structures.

UNOY is the most active network in the world! UNOY means networking, inspiring, and building capacities of the world's young peacebuilders to have one amplified voice calling for peace.

~ Youth without Borders Organisation for Development & Yemen Peace School organisations, Yemen

"The whole is greater than the sum of its parts'': UNOY is evidence of the added value of joining forces to create sustainable change.

~ Nexes Interculturals, Spain

UNOY means understanding realities of youth-led peacebuilding in different contexts and providing support adequate to those needs.

~ PeaceMentors, Iran

UNOY is a peacebuilder’s hub, where local youth organisations working for peace raise their profile, and gain visi bility, support, and a sense of inclusion.

~ United Network of Youth for Peace and Diplomacy, Nigeria

UNOY means creating safe spaces in which youth organisations working on youth, peace and security from different corners of the world can meaningfully engage, participate, and access adequate resources to keep acting in their communities.

~ Conseil Consultatif de Jeunes, Haiti