On December 8th the Fundació Catalunya Voluntària participated in the international conference of the United Network of Young Peacebuilders held online with one objective: to commemorate a historical milestone by the organization and by many other entities, institutions and individuals: the approval of Resolution 2250/2015 of the United Nations National Security Council on ‘Youth, Peace and Security, an imperatively applicable regulation by all member countries of the United Nations and that 6 years after its approval is still for publicizing and incorporating into national regulations, a process that is not at all easy and on which the conference also addressed.
The FCV has been part of UNOY for more than 10 years, an international organization that brings together youth organizations from all regions of the world in defense of the values of the culture of peace and that encourages its members to become leaders in promoting and organizing activities to live in a world without violence, wars or discrimination, making use of the tools of training, youth empowerment, advocacy and networking.
One of the most outstanding actions of the FCV as a member of UNOY was to be part of the UNOY international advocacy team (two people) responsible for the approval of said resolution. Other examples of the FCV’s contributions as a member of UNOY are the organization in Vilanova y la Geltrú of 6 training courses for trainers’ Understanding and Working with Conflict ‘(with the support of the Council of Europe), the production of the manual ‘Peace Bag for EuroMed Youth’ (with the support of the Anna Lindh Foundation for Intercultural Dialogue) or participation in all UNOY global forums held in Europe.
At the conference, coordinated by the international secretariat of UNOY (based in The Hague, Netherlands) and by the committee of the regions, made up of young leaders from all regions of the world, it had the contribution of 6 entities, from Bangladesh, Nigeria, Lebanon, Tunisia, Northern Ireland and Catalonia, reporting on some of the initiatives we are carrying out.
Lluc Martí shared the FCV’s perspective regarding the role of youth organizations as advocates, influencing public affairs, demanding the creation of laws, programs and infrastructures, as well as its determined commitment to build capacities, interests, skills and attitudes so that youth organizations and young people carry out new advocacy actions.
The FCV is preparing, for example, the international seminar ‘Youth Leadership for Advocacy’, which will take place from January 10 to 17, 2022 in Vilanova i la Geltrú, with the participation of representatives of 13 entities from 11 countries, held with the support of the Erasmus + program of the European Commission (more information here), plans to carry out workshops in schools in 3 Catalan cities so that 3rd and 4th year ESO students learn to do advocacy campaigns (‘Fent s’aprèn- Fem campanyes ‘ with the support of the Barcelona Provincial Council) (more information here) or the one-year international project for the exchange of good practices’ Advocacy for Youth employment’, coordinated by the NGO Inter Alia (more information here).
For more information on the aforementioned resolution or to learn a little more about the different actions dedicated to advocacy that the FCV is carrying out, we encourage you to send an email to projectes@catalunyavoluntaria.cat
For more information about UNOY you can consult its website: www.unoy.org
