UNOY : united network of young peacebuilders

United Network of Young Peacebuilders is a non-profit youth-led network of 60 member organisations based mainly in South America, Africa, and Asia. UNOY helps to promote the participation of young people in peacebuilding around the world. Their mission is to link up young people’s initiatives through our Network for peace within a global network of young peacebuilders, to help empower their capacities and to help increase the effectiveness of their actions. Let me introduce more about UNOY.

What is UNOY?

The United Network of Young Peacebuilders is a global network of young people and youth organisations committed to establishing peaceful societies. Young people constitute half of the world’s population, and we strongly believe in their importance in society. It is why we aim to provide youth with the necessary means to contribute to peace. Since its inception in 1989, UNOY has developed a multi-dimension expertise in its main areas of activity: advocacy and campaigning, capacity building and gender.  Additional core activities are networking, sharing information, research, and fundraising. UNOY now has 60 member organizations around the world.

What are your aims?

Our vision is that of youth committed to jointly building a world in which peace, justice, solidarity, human dignity and respect for nature prevail. Our mission is to link up young people’s initiatives through our Network of 60 Member Organisations for peace within a global network of young peacebuilders, to help empower their capacities and to help increase the effectiveness of their actions.

Why “Bringing youth together for peace”?

It is estimated that 50 per cent of the world’s population is under 30 years of age. However young people are often neglected actors in development, including peace and civil society building processes, especially in post-accord phases. At UNOY Peacebuilders, we believe that youth are the vehicle of change and that by engaging young people we can combat potential threats to peace and work in a sustainable way.

Because :

·       Young people are more open to change

·       Young people are future-oriented

·       Young people are idealistic and innovative

·       Young people are courageous

·       Young people are knowledgeable about their peers’ realities

For all the reasons, they are crucial actors of development of peaceful societies.

Waht do you do?

Activities we provide combine methodologies of non-formal education in youth work, peace education, community development and intercultural learning. Operating outside formal education, the non-formal approach we opt for includes a focus on equal (peer to peer), friendly, innovative, attractive, and involved relationships.

Main Activities are:

Conferences

Training courses

Capacity Building Programme

Gender & Mainstreaming

Advocacy and Campaigning Programme

As we learnt so far, UNOY is an well organized peace leading youth network.They have high quality training courses to develop capability of peacebuilders as well as fine programs in which they can give full play to performance. UNOY is holding national, regional and international conferences annually and also participating many international events related to peace. They are calling young people because youth has brilliant abilities to make peaceful world – efficiently. One thing is obvious that it’s time all of us to work for world peace as well as youth. Hope that every young peace advocates could unite in one strong network like UNOY where they are able to work cooperatively, swiftly and vigorously, so that some marvelars events about peace really can happen :)

Tell us about your activities in details

To implement our programmes, we organize different sorts of activities based on non-formal education principles to develop youth’ skills and knowledge on various topics pertaining to peacebuilding and the importance of spreading awareness on a global scale. We do this through the use of training courses, study sessions and conferences.

Conferences : Since its inception, UNOY Peacebuilders have organized several national, regional and international conferences. International Conferences were held in the Netherlands, India and Belarus. The last Global Conference took place in Vught, the Netherlands in 1999, prior to the Appeal for Peace Conference in the Hague. Since 1999, UNOY organized the African Students Conference that became later the African Conference. The last edition took place in The Hague in December 2010 on the theme “Peacebuilding in Africa: Health through a gender lens in a human rights and socio-economic perspective”. In 2012, in order to diversify the target and the topic of the annual conference, UNOY Peacebuilders organized a seminar on Peace Education.

Training courses : Training courses are one of our main activities as a way to build up the skills of young peacebuilders and as a space for exchange of experiences, networking, dialogue and building bonds of friendship and solidarity among young people from different backgrounds. Activities combine methodologies of non-formal education in youth work, peace education, community development and intercultural learning. They have a participatory approach based on the experience and opinions of participants. The methods consist of a combination of presentations (using audio-visual materials), group work, on-line forums, simulation exercises and role plays (experiential learning), visits to organizations, specific actions and individual reflection.

Capacity Building Programme : A large component of the work of UNOY Peacebuilders is Capacity Building, which refers to enhancing individuals’ abilities to achieve their goals, through an active process of learning and developing. Through our projects and activities, we aim to provide knowledge, skills and tools for different targets, including the international youth team at the International Secretariat, the UNOY Peacebuilders’ members, as well as Dutch and Diaspora youth living in The Netherlands. We do so by organizing workshops and training courses, effective ways to build up the skills of young peacebuilders and provide a space for exchange of experiences, networking, dialogue and building bonds of friendship and solidarity among young people from different backgrounds.

Gender & Mainstreaming :This need for a comprehensive tool was identified through input from members, either directly or through surveys. The International Steering Group, having realized the significance of incorporating gender issues in all its work, agreed to initiate this project to help youth organisations at structural and organisational levels to be well versed with basic gender theories/concepts and skills so they could start implementing these in their projects. Several training courses have been held on topics related to gender, such as the Gender Equality and Diversity in European Youth Projects training course held in the Netherlands in November 2011.

Advocacy and Campaigning Programme : UNOY Peacebuilders advocates for the role of youth in peacebuilding, and more specifically to promote the visibility and recognition of youth active in peacebuilding, promote partnership between young peacebuilders and other stakeholders, involve youth in campaigning for a culture of peace, encourage them to voice their opinions and concerns in forums. UNOY Peacebuilders is targeting all levels of decision making, including the local, national, regional, and international level. For instance, UNOY is a founder member of the Global Youth Movement of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations(GYMAOC). UNOY attended the first convention of the GYMAOC, which took place in Baku, Azerbaijan. Between 2001 and 2010, UNOY has actively supported the UN International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence for the Children of the World and was part of the team of youth organizations that wrote the end of Decade report.