Youth for Culture of Peace Report 2006
an article by Jo Lofgren

Last summer, a group of people representing youth from Africa, Asia, America, Europe and the Middle East joined forces to undertake a global survey of youth organisations working in the eight areas of the culture of peace. The aim was to highlight the potential contribution of youth organisations toward realising a culture of peace if their activities were properly funded; we wanted to create a document that truly reflected the global movement of youth for culture of peace. The initiative for this effort was originally taken by Federico Mayor, President of the Fundacion Cultura de Paz.

A workshop was convened at UNOY Peacebuilders' offices in the Netherlands to create a workplan and give basic training. During July and August, hundreds of organisations were contacted and responded to a questionnaire, including an Arabic questionnaire developed by a youth team at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Youth organisations were asked to describe what activities they would undertake or expand if funds were available.

After collecting and analysing the data, the international team created a Youth Report 2006 (available at http://decade-culture-of-peace.org) highlighting the main findings and conclusions from 475 youth organisations in 125 countries.

This document represents a wealth of ideas and good practice for culture of peace work, as well as a very useful lobbying tool for fundraising. We invite anyone working in the youth area to make use of it. Representing a broad spectrum of youth from all over the world, we call on decision makers to make the necessary funds available to realise a culture of peace!

DISCUSSION

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Online Discussion: European Advocacy
JOIN in discussion on a Culture of Peace and youth democracy in Europe!

Youth initiatives for a culture of peace
How can we ensure they get the attention and funding they desereve?

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CULTURE OF PEACE IN EVERYDAY LIFE

GLOBAL MOVEMENT FOR A CULTURE OF PEACE

Latest reader comment:

The Youth  for Culture of Peace Report was mentioned in the high-level report of the Alliance of Civilizations that was presented to the United Nations on 13 November 2006,  as its first recommendation of for its activities in relation to   youth.

The Global Youth Solidarity Fund formulated by the report is proposed in the form of a Global Youth Alliance:

"A Global Youth Alliance should be established as a mechanism through which youth can contribute to the implementation of all of the recommendations set forth in this report (not just those under the 'youth' theme)."

"Supported by a Global Youth Solidarity Fund, this initiative could begin with the convening and mobilization of various youth networks and associations to promote dialogue, alliance and a culture of peace. These organizations have already begun working together to organize meetings that would provide the opportunity for young people of diverse backgrounds to set an agenda for action which they can then present to global leaders to win their support and assistance. In addition, a survey has been conducted a survey has been conducted identifying 468 youth organizations from 125 countries that could be engaged as implementing partners."

The high-level report of the Alliance of Civilizations is available on the Internet at http://www.unaoc.org/repository/HLG_Report.pdf.

This report was posted on May 9, 2007. The moderator is CPNN Administrator.

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