Whose Voice Counts? Young people in peace and security research

 Reflections from the OGIP Research Event

Oftentimes young people are sidelined from decision-making and knowledge production in important areas of peace and security. At the end of 2023, OGIP hosted a virtual event to discuss the theme: “Whose Voice Counts? Young people in peace and security research”. The event celebrated the vital role young people play in peace and security research, as well as highlighting the barriers to young people’s contributions. OGIP’s platform is a place for critically engaged research from young people aimed at disrupting 'traditional' methods and voices of research; creating a space for young people to catalyse change and progress in the field of peace and security through artwork, poetry, interviews, podcasts, writing, photography or storytelling.

OGIP research contributor Katrina Leclerc from the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP) chaired the panel discussion. Katrina was joined by some excellent panellists and performers, including OGIP partners, Dr. Amjad Saleem from the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Briana Mawby from the Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice, and Dr. Manal Benani from Sustainable Cooperation for Youth Peace and Security. OGIP research contributors, Marie-Jeanne Kenji Maghoma from LAGO and Nikita Yasmin Shah from Hyphen Poetry spoke and performed at the event showcasing some of the incredible research published in partnership with OGIP.

This blog is a reflection of some of the key themes discussed at the event, including the importance of diversity in youth research, co-creation and intergenerational research solutions and the challenges young people face in peace and security research

Reflections from panellist and performer, Nikita Shah

The event asked us to reflect on the important question of ‘Whose Voice Counts?’ in the context of young people in peace and security research. I found the event insightful and inspiring; hearing from peers and engaging in a meaningful exchange.

The discussions as part of the panel demonstrated the need to push beyond discussions of inclusivity and diversity and towards equity, equitable relationships and transformational change. The panel reflected on some important questions: how are we shifting power? how are we making space for others to take power? whose voices are we listening to?

Underpinning these questions is one more - ‘Why?’ To transform power we must continue to question who is visible, whose voice is heard and why we get to hear from some people and not others. Asking these questions will allow us to remove barriers. In the context of research, to achieve this transformational change we must think about who has access, who can contribute, who sets the research agenda, and what methodologies are being used to conduct research. Two ideas put forward by the panellists were the co-creation of research within the community and using story-telling as research.

During the event we considered whether there are more inclusive approaches that allow us to reconsider what knowledge looks like outside Western concepts of empirical evidence. One of the panellists, Amjad, highlighted that whilst research has traditionally focused on achieving the outcomes set by researchers, it is also important to consider what the barriers to access or parameters for inclusion/exclusion are. Research can be conducted in a manner that is not extractive, exploitative or inconvenient to local communities. It is important to break down power dynamics and enable research participants to become co-creators. This includes allowing them to set research agendas, as well as decide methodologies.

Another of the panellists, Maghoma, spoke about the role of storytelling and narratives in more equitable research. Creating space for vulnerability is a prerequisite to building trust and a safe space for people to share their lived experiences and their histories, and to create and grow culture. Storytelling techniques offer an opportunity for connection and a breakdown of power. Amjad added that this work requires humility. Co-creative and interventional solutions can often uncover complexities and details that do not fit traditional researchers' frameworks and tools of analysis. Some research methods require a trauma-informed approach, as well as practises that centre healing and rest. For many researchers and co-creators, this type of work bears a large emotional cost. Such deep work requires proper resourcing and support and should not be treated like a trend.

Towards the end of the event, I had the opportunity to recite my poem ‘Tonight we rest’ a product of my research project with OGIP. Tonight We Rest was an effort to capture the lived experiences of the Global Majority of Self-Identifying Women whilst they fought for justice, equity and liberation in their personal and professional lives within the sector. As I recited the words, I realised that these words, these messages, and these experiences still rang true so long after the original publication. Poetry, like many art forms, offers an opportunity to capture the feelings and emotions of people and to convey these through creative means so others can also experience and find meaning. Storytelling, in the form of poetry, art, music, movement or other allows us to really question ‘Whose voice matters?’.

Reflections from panellist and performer, Amjad

When I was asked to speak on this panel on the subject of inclusion and young people in peace and security, I reflected on the challenges posed by the topic and the difficulty of making meaningful change. I wanted to demonstrate that diversity is a positive disrupting force, particularly in the youth space. It provides opportunities for different ideas to be brought to the peace and security agenda. It helps us to realise that we are much more than a label; that our plurality and diversity are not divisive elements, but a celebration of an understanding of common humanity and universal principles. Being more inclusive allows us to engage with our communities in a different way - forging connections that go beyond superficial interactions.

Through inclusive action, we create a sense of belonging, support, and collaboration. We tap into the collective wisdom and energy that can drive change. Yet, as our discussions surmised, this can be difficult if there is no willingness to accept or understand that Intergenerational dialogue is about passing the baton. It must be about creating a space to dialogue, build trust and, above all, listen. We must listen to the voices of our communities, to the stories of those who are often unheard. We need to understand their needs, their hopes, and their dreams. Intergenerational dialogue is also about collaboration. No one person or organisation can solve all the world's problems alone. Collaboration is the multiplier of impact. When we come together, we can pool our resources, knowledge, and creativity to tackle challenges head-on.

The Global Youth Mobilisation initiative of the Big 6 Alliance - of which IFRC is a member - is an example of how we can create spaces for co-creation with young people and intergenerational dialogue. It allows us to create safe spaces for the sharing of ideas but also provides agency for young people to think of innovative solutions to local problems.

Events like these discussions are important to share these ideas and knowledge between different stakeholders. By creating these forums, we ensure best practices are exchanged and networks are created.

Summary from the OGIP Team

Thank you Nikita and Amjad for taking the time to write on the blog about your reflection on the event and thank you to our panellists and participants that made the event a success. If you would like to hear more about the themes of inclusive action, co-creation of research and inter-generational solutions to issues in peace security, then you can listen back to the podcast of the panel event here.

If you were inspired by what you have read here and want to be involved in youth-led research that pushes for transformational change, we would love for you to be involved in OGIP’s research moving forward.

The two performances in the event were pieces created as part of previous OGIP Research Series. Our first performance was from Kenji Maghoma titled Rhythm and Legislation. This piece explores migration stories and reflects on the role culture plays in both conflict and peace building. The second performance was Nikitah Shah’s ‘Tonight we rest’ which reflects on the importance and benefit of rest. This piece speaks from the collective voice of self - identifying women of colour of varying ages and profession.

OGIP is excited to announce the start of our fourth Research series, and we are inviting our community to join us on this journey. If you are passionate about research, we need your ideas and perspectives to make impactful, transformative research. We are asking our communities to help us choose a research theme for the series so that our community can deep dive on a topic that is important to us all. Please suggest a theme here before the 30th of June 2024.

Biographies of contributors

Nikita Yasmin Shah is the founder of Hyphen Poetry which focuses on creative facilitation, research, evaluation and somatic healing. She is also a poet and dancer and has bridged her practice of art and professional work to develop a creative decolonial lens. Nikita is an OGIP research contributor and will be performing some of her work later in the event.

Dr. Amjad Saleem is the manager of the Volunteer, Youth and Education Development Unit at the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies based in Geneva, a global team focused on volunteering management, youth innovation and engagement, and education programming.

This originally appeared here

Locally Driven Youth Action is the Need of the Hour

 This year’s International Youth Day feels a bit subdued and overwhelming because the scale of the problems to overcome have some how become even greater. It is well documented that COVID 19 has exacerbated existing inequalities across the world with respect to access to resources, information and power dynamics, and, disproportionately affected millions of children and young people worldwide, with public health restrictions and socio-economic disruptions having a devastating impact on their education, mental health, career prospects, safety and personal development. The uncertainty and fear for what the future holds is very real and is the new norm.

Due to the lockdowns, children and young people (with girls and young women in particular) have been affected, missing out on education with those without digital access and a suitable home learning environment being particularly disadvantaged. Many young people who have been in temporary or informal jobs, and in sectors worst affected by the pandemic are now suffering high levels of unemployment and future job insecurity. Lockdowns have seen an increase in gender-based and interpersonal violence and more children are living in unsafe homes with reduced access to support. This has caused even more stress on young people as research carried out by World Vision has shown that school disruption, emotional distress due to social distancing and increasing poverty have had tremendous impacts on the lives of children and young people on a massive scale. These have long term repercussions not only for young people but for communities and governments who have the responsibility to look after the interests of youth.

Despite all these challenges, young people all over the world are and have been providing support to one another and their communities in need. For those working with young people,they are considered a resource with scope and scale, and their meaningful engagement is key to building not only more resilient, adaptive, and non-violent communities, but resilient institutions too. From work done by youth organisations on the ground, we know that the untold story of Covid is of young people as the solution, not the problem. At the end of last year, a Global Youth Mobilization initiative was launched by the global Big 6 youth organisations to highlight and promote young people, their ideas, and their innovative solutions to the impact of Covid and the many community challenges that have come with it. Projects being supported by the initiative have included youth-run programmes across countries and communities addressing mental and physical health, mitigating the impact of disruption to education, training in digital skills, improving employability through support to livelihoods and financial literacy, vocational training and skills provision, vaccine awareness and other forms of Covid-19 prevention. So, what these projects show is that given a platform, agency and inter-generational accompaniment, young people can become partners in providing solutions.

On International Youth Day questions are asked as to how youth engagement can be strengthened to make use of the opportunity to overcome the covid 19 challenges. A new discussion paper released by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) for international youth day aims to situate this debate around young people and COVID-19. It aims to contribute to a more holistic and intersectional understanding of the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had and will have on the constituency of children,adolescents, and young adults. By placing the constituency of children, adolescents, and young adults at the centre, this discussion paper chooses to challenge thematic and programmatic silos that usually govern humanitarian and development aid. By focusing on the challenges faced by young people because of COVID-19, the discussion paper calls for transformative recommendations to scale up the engagement of young people not only as members of affected communities but to engage them within the institutions as well. Thus,there is a need to strengthen institutional capabilities to address obstacles to elevate well-being and protection. By meaningfully engaging with a youth constituency, institutions can address fractures in today’s fragmented and divided world where fear and xenophobia can flare up.

It is now, more than ever that we can see the power and agency young people have despite the challenges they face. The current pandemic will have a lasting impact on the youth of the world, which is why this is the time to take action to ensure young people are driving change rather than being impacted by it negatively. Policy makers must listen to children and young people and put them, their views, needs and experiences at the heart of the solutions. A healthy, vibrant, and further strengthened youth sector is vital to ensure that young people thrive and overcome the challenges of the future with the support of those around them. This starts at the local level with young people from local communities being given agency and taking responsibility for solving problems at their community.

Young people will help us bring humanity together, build bridges over the deep valleys of division and help us to start living in a world, where saving just one life matter. Recognition of their unique role, trust and power sharing, commitment and accountability, and action with impact are the critical ingredients of collective success and continuity.
This originally appeared here

Celebrating International Youth Day amidst COVID-19 — The Resilience of Young People

 This year’s International Youth Day is historic. For the first time, it will be commemorated largely virtually as the COVID-19 pandemic has led to stricter physical distancing. It is also the first one this century where the world collectively is at a crossroads for the future and where the world collectively has to take a step forward. Whilst International Youth Day is often used as a stepping stone to reaffirm commitments towards engaging young people, it would be remiss not to use this opportunity to understand and reimagine what a post pandemic youth engagement can and should look like.

COVID-19 is a time to reimagine what post pandemic youth engagement can look like

COVID-19 has now impacted almost every country in the world, heavily affecting communities at all levels of society. While all are impacted, millions of young people worldwide have been, and continue to be, disproportionately affected by the pandemic and the associated crisis. The pandemic and public health restrictions are having severe effects on their mental health, career prospects and personal development with many young people facing increased levels of interpersonal violence.

Almost 1.2 billion learners (69% of all those enrolled worldwide) are currently out-of-school as a result of the country-wide and localized closures of educational institutions forced by the Covid-19. This adds up to the hundreds of millions of young people that were already out-of-school prior to the pandemic (and who therefore even more risk being left out). Such educational disruptions, even temporary, have serious repercussions on the lives and well-being of young people (and their families), especially for those who:

• have fewer opportunities for growth and development outside of the formal educational setting

• rely on free or discounted meals provided at schools for food and healthy nutrition

• have parents with limited education and resources who may particularly struggle to facilitate or support distance learning and home schooling (when put in place)

• lack access to technology or good internet connectivity which may prevent or limit educational continuity through digital learning portals during times of compulsory confinement

• are left alone at home by working parents who have no other choice for them to be looked after, which can lead to additional anxiety, psychological distress or mental health issues, risks of exposure to violence (e.g., (online) sexual exploitation and abuse, cyberbullying) and negative coping mechanisms (e.g., substance misuse/abuse, self-harm, depression, suicide)

We know (partly from the evidence and lessons learnt out of Ebola outbreaks) that prolonged closures of educational institutions often:

• increase drop-out rates, in particular among adolescent girls (who generally take on a heavier part of the burden of household chores, support with child care, etc., may be exploited, married or pregnant)

• further entrench gender gaps in education (in particular when harsh socio-economic conditions make families favour the education of boys over girls — despite research showing higher socio-economic return for the family out of girls’ education compared to that of boys on the long run)

• lead to increased protection risks (e.g., trafficking, sexual exploitation and abuse, early pregnancy, early and forced marriage, child labour, recruitment by armed groups)

• pose a serious threat in terms of malnutrition and health more broadly speaking (especially for families relying on school feeding programmes or health care services offered at schools).

So, if this year we are not mindful of what young people globally are going through currently, then we lose the essence of what the day should be about and what we can do about it

The pandemic has once again reminded us that local communities are the backbone of society.

All over the world COVID-19 has challenged people in local communities to think and act differently. We have been reminded of the existing deep inequalities in our societies, with respect to access to resources, information, digital connectivity, and power dynamics around marginalisation, including institutional racism. The pandemic has caused most activities to shift online blurring the lines between personal and professional whilst increasing the need for online safety and security.

Consequently, we have noticed an inspiring and moving engagement of young people in volunteering activities, self-organising, supporting their communities during these hours of need often in the absence of state. As COVID-19 has shown, young people have — and will continue to have — a valuable role in the global response to and recovery from the COVID19 pandemic.

As COVID-19 has shown, young people have — and will continue to have — a valuable role in the global response to and recovery from the COVID19 pandemic.

Young people are agents for peace, engaged in transforming the structures and institutions that hinder the socio- economic and political well-being of people. They are often first responders and disproportionately affected by disasters taking a long time to build back better. Through volunteering and engagement, young people lift the spirits of communities and light the world with their actions. As volunteers, young people are bearers of hope and compassion, willing to make their contribution to society and effecting change through moral influence.

So this International Youth Day our reflections are not only on celebrating the contributions of young people but on understanding from the experience of COVID-19 how we can mobilise young people to act quickly and together to address these key issues. There has to be a collective commitment to collaborate, innovate, and to support local communities to provide hope to many young people. Now more than ever young people need to be included and embedded in processes taking place now, not as token representation but with agency and influence.

A lot must be done to ensure that we get the full engagement and investment. This is not only the responsibility of the youth to push for this as they inherit the problems that we create but also our collective responsibility to ensure that we do not hand something that we would not want to inherit.

So, we need to do more to invest and engage with them, but this requires a holistic approach. We need to remove the prejudice that many of us have when it comes to engaging young people. We must stop thinking that they are apolitical — more interested in following the latest instalment of a reality TV programme than in engaging with the serious questions of the world around them. We should channel their enthusiasm to express and get involved. However, we must be honest about this approach. We need to give them the space to be innovative and shape or rethink new models for the communities and societies in which they live — maybe outside the globalised economic and “social” system that they will inherit from their elders and previous generations. In doing this, we must answer some hard questions about whether we are ready for that and what it will take for each one of us to work together towards a fairer world for all of us. In short, we have to be prepared for a hard shift in how we work and engage.

we have to be prepared for a hard shift in how we work and engage.

Uncertainty and fear for the future is the ‘new normal’ for many young people. It is not enough for youth to be ‘represented’ but they must be mainstreamed, included, nurtured, listened to, consulted, and worked with in partnership with.

This is the call that is most loud and one we need to support. These are the lessons from COVID-19, and this is the call for International Youth Day 2020.

This originally appeared on Medium

Peace Day 2019: Its time to be climate smart

World Peace Day, which is marked every year on September 21, has just passed. The chance to do some soul-searching with regards to the state of peace on our planet is as important as ever before.

For all the relative calmness and progress of the second half of the 20th century and the early years of the 21st, we still see a world that is hurting due to increased fragility that is spreading at the pace of our fast-evolving planet. The battlefields of today are everywhere — they are not defined by geography. The battlefields of today are on our streets, in our hospitals, in our schools, in our places of worship. There may not be a new world war, but we are still a world at war. Just a cursory glance at the headlines shows us that we are in a slightly poorer state than the year before.

So, on top of the protracted crises in places like Syria and Yemen, we have seen new signs for violent conflict surfacing. From Sri Lanka and the Middle East oil crisis to the situation in Kashmir, it is clear that conflict remains and the propensity for violence is particularly acute as tensions manifest themselves into deep sociopolitical cleavages.

In addition, there are new risks and challenges that will make violent conflict more inevitable. For example, a newly-released report by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) points to the growing threat of climate change to vulnerable communities and its humanitarian consequences. In reading this report, it is clear that the implications for climate change will affect the drivers of violent conflict, and that the future of peace is tied in with being climate-smart and working on climate adaptation that prioritizes the poorest and most vulnerable.

Striking for the Climate

In this context, World Peace Day 2019 came at an opportune moment, buttressing the international climate strikes that took place before the Global Climate Summit on September 21-23. Ironically, World Peace Day appears as an intergenerational bridge between the youth and the elderly in this debate, and perhaps this is where a revamp of the day should be.

Globally, the number of young people is on the rise. We cannot ignore the fact that, in many parts of the world, the majority of people are under 30. The youth are not just the future as the cliché goes, they are the present. This means they need to be included and embedded in processes taking place now, not as token representations but with agency and influence. And it’s not like they don’t want that engagement. The movement on climate change is a testimony to this.

Despite the rise of populist movements that focus on differences, the climate change movement paints young people as wanting to bridge differences — particularly with young people having a greater commitment to doing something to contribute to their societies and their world. There is anger among our youth, impatient with the lack of progress being made on tackling this and also frustrated by being shut out.

So, there is much to reflect on around reigniting young people who are passionate about climate change to rediscover the spark that has been lost in the world: of empathy, sympathy and compassion.

As a bridge between the climate strikes and the climate summit, the annual World Peace Day must shine a light on how the youth are part of and can take the lead in building peace in our societies. Young people are agents for peace, engaged in transforming the structures and institutions that hinder the socioeconomic and political well-being of those living in fragile and conflict-affected communities.

Engaging Young People

So, we need to do more to invest and engage with them, but this requires a holistic approach. First, though, we need to remove the prejudice that many of us have when it comes to engaging young people. We must stop thinking they are apolitical and more interested in following the latest installment of a reality-TV show than in engaging with the serious questions of the world around them. We should channel their enthusiasm to express and get involved.

Yet, at the same time, we must be honest about this approach. We need to give young people the space to be innovative and shape or rethink new models for the communities and societies in which they live — perhaps outside the globalized economic and “social” system they will inherit from other generations. In doing this, we have to answer some hard questions about whether we are ready for that and what it will take for each of us to work together toward a fairer world for everyone. In short, we have to be prepared for a hard shift in how we work and engage.

The youth can no longer be “represented.” They have to be mainstreamed, included, nurtured, listened to, consulted and worked in partnership with. It is about understanding how young people can build peace; how they build an environment where people can pursue conflicts without violence and harm to themselves or others; and how they promote the values of equity, fairness, inclusion and respect for human dignity — and with that the importance of a relationship with Mother Earth.

In the face of the current global challenges with the multitude of conflicts we are facing, this year’s World Peace Day must lead to new solutions and new agents that challenge exclusion based on difference.

True inclusivity can only be obtained when we carefully position all elements to create a compelling, cosmopolitan mosaic. There is a need to remain committed to engineering the software needed to work effectively in a range of situations. This will never be easy, but it remains vitally important. To quote Kwame Anthony Appiah, it will involve creating the very “ideas and institutions that will allow us to live together as the global tribe we have become.”

This originally appeared on Fair Observer