{"id":514,"date":"2022-04-12T10:16:33","date_gmt":"2022-04-12T10:16:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/blog\/?p=514"},"modified":"2022-04-12T10:17:38","modified_gmt":"2022-04-12T10:17:38","slug":"recognizing-young-peacebuilders-a-key-step-for-sustainable-peace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/blog\/2022\/04\/12\/recognizing-young-peacebuilders-a-key-step-for-sustainable-peace\/","title":{"rendered":"Recognizing Young Peacebuilders: A Key Step for Sustainable Peace"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Written by
<\/strong> Anthonia Folashade
Director for Welfare,
Building Blocks for Peace Foundation<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

All over the globe, the critical role of young men and\nwomen in maintaining peace and security is gaining significant attention, all\nthanks to the historic adoption of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution\n2250, the first UNSC resolution on Youth, Peace, and Security. This historic\nglobal policy framework which was adopted in December 2015 explores how\nconflict impacts young people\u2019s lives and what must be done to mitigate its\neffects. It specifically calls for the recognition of young people as critical\nstakeholders in conflict prevention and peace processes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The importance of the UNSC Resolution 2250 cannot be overemphasized\nas it laid the foundation for several other UNSC Resolutions such as resolutions\n2419 and 2535 and also the African Union Continental Framework on Youth, Peace,\nand Security (2020), and has also played a key role in the development of\nNigeria\u2019s National Roadmap for the implementation of the Youth, Peace and\nSecurity Agenda. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018, Building Blocks for Peace Foundation, a youth non-governmental organization\nchampioning the advocacy and implementation of the Youth, Peace, and Security\nagenda in Nigeria introduced the \u2018Nigeria\nYouth 4 Peace Award\u2019<\/strong> which is aimed at identifying and recognizing \u2018Most\nOutstanding Young Peacebuilders\u2019 in Nigeria annually. In this article, we shall\nreflect on the impact of the Nigeria Youth4Peace award on the works of two past\nawardees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

About the Nigeria Youth 4 Peace Award<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nigeria Youth4Peace Award is an annual event designed to reward,\ncelebrate and showcase young people who are making exceptional efforts in\nconflict prevention, peacebuilding, and sustainable development across Nigeria.\nAnd it is put up in commemoration of the adoption of the United Nations\nSecurity Council Resolution 2250, the first UNSC resolution on Youth, Peace,\nand Security. Previous winners have benefitted from micro-grants, technical\nguidance, and several peacebuilding materials from Building Blocks for Peace\nFoundation together with her partners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the requirements for application include that the applicant must\nbe a Nigerian or in the case of Non-Nigerians, their activities must be on\nNigeria soil and they must be between 18-35 years of age. Also, all applicants\nmust be working on conflict prevention, peacebuilding, and sustainable\ndevelopment, and all previous winners are usually exempted from new\napplications. Final winners are usually determined by a panel of judges made up\nof credible Nigerians across all sectors of life. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oluwatoyin Esther Agaja (Most Outstanding Female Young\nPeacebuilder, 2020)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oluwatoyin Esther Agaja is a Nigerian young woman who is working to\nbecome a transformational leader. She is a youth development advocate; founder\nof Eco Diversified International<\/strong>, an\norganization that is working to promote Climate and Environmental literacy\namong the young generation and supports the Sustainable Development Goals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oluwatoyin is a graduate of Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University with a\nBachelor\u2019s Degree in Pure\/Applied Chemistry. Her passion for more knowledge led\nher to take professional certification courses which include Project Management\nProfessional, Health, Safety and Environment (HSE 1-3), Diploma in Environmental\nManagement, Facility Management among others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having received the award as the 2020 Most Outstanding Young Peacebuilders (Female category) in Nigeria and the allocated micro-grant of $150, Oluwatoyin was able to carry out a project themed; Education for sustainable development: peacebuilding as a necessary tool to achieving economic and sustainable development<\/em>. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Oluwatoyin receiving the award as the 2020 Most Outstanding Young Peacebuilders (Female category) in Nigeria <\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Oluwatoyin implemented her project in Olomi area of Ibadan, the Southwestern\npart of Nigeria. Her target group was students in JSS 1- SSS 3, totaling 30\nstudents, consisting of 18 females and 12 males. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She focused onsensitizing\nthe students on the importance of peacebuilding in order to tackle the problem\nof climate change in their immediate society, and every other location they\nfind themselves. Oluwatoyin reported being so proud of carrying out the project with the\nseed grant as it enabled her the opportunity to raise eco-consciousness among\nresidents of Ibadan through climate change education, peacebuilding education,\neducation for sustainable development. <\/em><\/strong>One of the outcomes of her sensitization\nprogram is that the students developed a positive mindset toward the need for\npeace as a necessary tool to achieve sustainable development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael Afolami (Most Outstanding Male Young Peacebuilder,\n2020)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael Afolami is a young peacebuilder and development professional\nwith over four years of experience in leveraging development for peace and\nconflict prevention. He is the founder and program manager of Peace Actor Network (PAN),<\/strong> a\npeacebuilding organization using peace education, capacity building and\ncommunity engagement to build peace and prevent violent conflict in Uyo, Akwa\nIbom State. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At PAN, Michael leads the design, monitoring and evaluation of\npeacebuilding and development projects. Michael holds a Bachelor\u2019s degree in\nInternational Relations. He is a global advocate with IMCS Pax Romana where he\nis engaged with the advocacy to curb youth violence through meaningful youth\neducation, empowerment, employment, and engagement in political processes.\nMichael is a compassionate integrity advocate, Erasmus virtual dialogue\nfacilitator, peace ambassador of the Institute for Economics and Peace, and an\nalumnus of the Young African Leaders Initiative network. His research interest\nis generally on the peace-conflict-development nexus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After winning\nthe Nigeria Youth 4 Peace Award 2020 (Male Category) and receiving the micro\ngrant from Building Blocks for Peace, Michael was able to organize a project\ncentered on Youth4Peace training and dialogue both for youth and traditional\nrulers, themed; Empowering Youth as Agents of Peace and Non-violent Action<\/em><\/strong> in Akwa\nIbom State, Nigeria, <\/strong>with 13 youth (two\nfemales and 11 males), and 1 traditional ruler in attendance as against 25\nyouth and 6 traditional rulers earlier planned. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According\nto a pre-evaluation exercise carried out on the participants before the\ntraining by Michael, the participants had no clear understanding of the\nrelationship between peace, conflict, and violence, and the UNSC Resolution 2250,\nbut after taking them through the modules, shedding more light on them, and\ngiving them a safe space to engage and participate, they had a clear understanding\nof the Youth, Peace and Security Agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although, Michael had highlighted some challenges which he faced during\nthe course of the project, some of which include unfavorable weather conditions,\ninternal community politics, inability to mobilize participants, shortage of\nfunds, and a host of many others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Michael, the $150 microgrant he received from Building\nBlocks for Peace Foundation enabled him to make a relative impact in his\ncommunity.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we continue to advocate for the meaningful inclusion\nof young people and their recognition as equal partners in the peace processes,\nBuilding Blocks for Peace would continue to highlight the positive\ncontributions of young men and women in Nigeria and Africa to peace processes in\nline with the UN Security Council Resolution 2250, African Union Continental\nFramework on Youth, Peace and Security and the recently adopted Nigeria\u2019s National\nAction Plan on Youth, Peace and Security (2021).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Anthonia Folashade Director for Welfare, Building Blocks for Peace Foundation Introduction All over the globe, the critical role of young men and women…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":515,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[87,86,22,23,21,11,9,8,14,7],"class_list":["post-514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-abuja","tag-award","tag-bbforpeace","tag-buildingblocksforpeace","tag-ngo","tag-nigeria","tag-peace","tag-unscr2250","tag-youth","tag-youth4peace"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=514"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":518,"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514\/revisions\/518"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}