From July 13 to 19, a very special event took place: the 'Amani Pamoja' best practices exchange seminar, featuring over 30 young people from the six partner countries of the initiative: Germany, Italy, Kenya, Spain, Tanzania, and Uganda. These young people were selected for their leadership and personal experience as peacebuilders and peace promoters, and also for representing youth-led, non-governmental, and non-profit organizations with a proven track record of improving the lives of young people in their respective communities.
The group met in Mombasa, Kenya, with one main objective: to exchange best practices in peacebuilding and peace promotion, as identified and implemented by the participants themselves (in the case of the three African organizations, selected among hundreds of applications).
The activities served to exchange good practices, experiences and personal concerns, organizational achievements and challenges and, ultimately, to acquire new points of view on the actions of prevention, participation, protection, reintegration and creation of alliances that the entities carry out.
Despite its short duration, we had time to introduce the participating organizations, share proposals for future collaborations, discuss the meaning of key words (such as 'peace', 'conflict', and 'violence'), the role of digital technologies, and the best strategies for promoting youth participation in peace initiatives, among other topics.
The informal conversations helped us identify similarities and differences between countries and regions, generate new ideas, identify opportunities for collaboration, and, according to the final evaluation forms, gain a better understanding of the situation in various countries and expand their knowledge on diverse topics such as youth participation, peacebuilding, conflict prevention, and inclusive leadership, among others.
We spent an afternoon visiting a youth center in the port of Mombasa and exploring the city from a boat. On the final evening, we enjoyed a party featuring traditional dances from the different countries.
The meeting achieved its objectives, creating an informal network of individuals and organizations dedicated to improving the rights and opportunities of young people, particularly those who are victims of violence, persecution, and discrimination in their respective countries (youth, women, and refugees).
The project coordination team participated in the event, acting as facilitators and reporters, while the Kenyan partner organization also handled all logistical aspects.
We sincerely thank the two host organizations, Lamu Youth Alliance, in Kenya, and Prospect Initiative, in Uganda, for their work and hospitality, and the coordinating organization, Agency for Peacebuilding, for creating a safe and comfortable space for the exchange, especially considering that the Ebola outbreak in Uganda forced us to change the host country in record time.
This activity is part of the KA2 initiative ‘Amani Pamoja’, whose main objective is to implement the UN Security Council resolution on youth, peace and security (UNSCR 2250/2015). It aims to raise awareness of this resolution, which establishes that young people worldwide have rights and guarantees (protection, participation, prevention, reintegration) that must be understood, recognized, and guaranteed. Much work is needed to raise awareness of this resolution and to ensure that public and private institutions assume their role in establishing policies and programs that address the needs of young people (who make up more than 50% of the population in the 3 partner countries in the East African region).
The next international activity is the ‘Amani Pamoja’ training course, which will take place in Vilanova i la Geltrú (Barcelona) in late November and early December. It is hosted by the Fundació Catalunya Voluntaria and supported by the European Commission's Erasmus+ program.
We recommend you stay informed!
For more information, you can send a message to projectes@catalunyavoluntaria.cat (Lluc).
