Building a youth community to prevent violent extremism: Insights from peacebuilders and donors

16 June 2022

On the 19th of May 2022, the Kofi Annan Foundation’s Extremely Together initiative hosted an event at the Brussels Press Club in Belgium on the relationship between young peacebuilders and the donor community. The event was held in the context of our EU funded “Leading the Way to Peace – Youth Together for Social Cohesion” project and allowed us to showcase findings from our two-year engagement working alongside young peacebuilders and donors in South and Southeast Asia.

How can donors support youth-led PVE action in a meaningful and sustainable way?
How do donors and peacebuilders envision the future of donor-peacebuilder relations?
How can donors help peacebuilders build a better tomorrow?

To answer these questions and more, we welcomed two Extremely Together leaders, Arizza Nocum and Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi, Natascha Skjaldgaard from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark and Candida Novak Hornakova from the European External Action Service.

Extremely Together - How to build a community to prevent violent extremism?

From left to right: Candida Novak Hornakova, Natascha Skjaldgaard, Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi, Arizza Nocum and Maud Roure.

What does it take to engage youth in peace and security?

In his opening remarks, Mark Fiedrich, acting Director and Head of Service for the Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI) at the European Commission and Head of the Stability and Peace Unit, highlighted the importance of challenging the status quo when it comes to including youth in peacebuilding efforts. He emphasized the need to give young people a defining role in decision-making and to find balance in how we impose the burden of change onto the younger generation. This reflection became central to the discussion, with speakers expanding on the subject with contextual framing.

“Peacebuilding cannot rely on easy certainties. You must be ready to confront your own ideas and move forward with positions you do not agree with initially”
– Mark Fiedrich

Extremely Together Leaders Arizza Nocum and Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi underlined how youth could become key players in preventing violent extremism and promoting peace at the local and policy-making levels. However, they explained, this can only be achieved if youth are given the appropriate tools, knowledge, and space to develop lasting solutions for peace. Donors are well placed to help young peacebuilders to find their footing. They can support them by providing more flexibility, breaking down bureaucratic barriers, improving youth access to resources and training, and providing them with information about resources already available.

“Inclusion makes peace processes much more sustainable”
– Candida Novak Hornakova

Our donor representatives, Candida Novak Hornakova and Natascha Skjaldgaard agreed that bridging the gap between the donor community and young peacebuilders should be at the top of everyone’s priority list. Not only can young people create a good link between formal and informal aspects of peacebuilding, but their inclusion is a primordial step in provoking sustainable change. As such, a strong emphasis should be placed on trust-building and fostering long-term relationships with young peacebuilding groups.

“The expectation that they will open up is very wrong: they have gone through violent episodes, but in building trust and relationships with them will allow them to take a more active role.”
– Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi

Lessons can be drawn from the European Union, which has been building the capacity of young people by training, monitoring, and supporting peer-to-peer approaches in their responses to conflict prevention around the world. Similarly, the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has set up youth sounding boards in their embassies to help shape policy on the ground.

How to make youth inclusion in peace and security efforts a greater reality?

The discussions also focused on the future of peacebuilding and how to make youth inclusion in peace and security a greater reality. From a donor perspective, the main challenge is converting policies into a concrete reality and ensuring the Youth, Peace and Security agenda is enacted at ground level. Implementing a successful action plan almost always requires youth and civil society to be involved at every step. The European Union has pushed forward a youth agenda to encourage member states to integrate youth inclusion as a consideration in their decision-making processes. Denmark is also a strong example of youth involvement with the creation of a foreign policy strategy with a pronounced focus on youth.

“Going from policy to practice, from practice to implementation, and from implementation to monitoring is not easy.”
– Natascha Skjaldgaard

For such shifts to occur, young peacebuilders must be trained to effectively participate in these conversations to bring solutions to the table. For instance, at a national level, Extremely Together Pakistan seeks to bridge the gap between policy and practice through training activities that help young people integrate into the political arena and participate in high-level discussions. However, as part of a global movement, Extremely Together chapters can also draw from their different experiences and learn from one another. In the case of our Extremely Together Asian chapters, young peacebuilders have been able to build a regional support group where they interact, share lessons, and inspire each other.

Beyond the peace and security agenda, building networks of akin peacebuilders can also help communities reach their immediate development objectives. In building more peaceful communities, young peacebuilders and donors alike should advocate breaking down silos. It is necessary to work towards holistic peacebuilding that tackles issues of polarization, divisiveness, access to fundamental rights and amenities, and access to social and economic opportunities. This signals a shift in mindset, away from peacebuilding as an isolated term and toward social cohesion.

“We can’t survive on peace and security alone; we also need to work on the next step”
– Arizza Nocum

Recommendations to the European Union and its Member States

Based on the lessons drawn from this project, we have identified policy and programmatic recommendations to the European Union (EU) and its Member States for their external action on how to foster youth leadership in preventing violent extremism (PVE). While these lessons and recommendations are mainly inspired by this work with urban youth in South and Southeast Asia, they can provide valuable insight into youth-led PVE action in various settings.

See the recommendations

Watch the event again:

Youth-led initiatives to prevent violent extremism: Inspiring practices from South & Southeast Asia

03 February 2022

Together with a diverse group of civil society and youth-led organizations across South and Southeast Asia, we have assembled learnings and advice to help guide and inspire you on your own journey to build peace in your community.

Do you want to rally other young people to help you prevent violent extremism (PVE)?
Do you want to foster a strong sense of shared responsibility and create a healthy environment in which they can grow and thrive?
Do you want to grow your PVE movement and even create systemic change on a wider scale?
Do you want to be inspired by what young people can achieve?

Then our new guide, Building Peace Together: Youth-led initiatives to prevent violent extremism, is for you!

How was the guide created?

Since 2020, the Kofi Annan Foundation and its Extremely Together initiative have been working with young leaders in South and Southeast Asia to prevent violent extremism in the region in the context of the “Leading the Way to Peace – Youth Together for Social Cohesion” project supported by the European Union.

In the context of this project, we collaborated with the Kristiyano-Islam Peace Library (KRIS) in the Philippines, the College of Youth Activism and Development (CYAAD) in Pakistan and the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF) and Rupantar in Bangladesh.

Our new guide builds on our collective experience working with urban communities in the region and the lessons we learned from it.

Get the full guide

See the Executive Summary

What’s inside?

Outlined in the guide Building Peace Together: Youth-led initiatives to prevent violent extremism are a set of proven practices from over 14 countries across South and Southeast Asia that can serve as inspiration and guidance for activities linked to preventing violent extremism. We also invite you to explore new avenues for PVE action, including building bridges with academia and adopting an intersectional mindset.

How is the guide designed?

The guide is structured around three primary goals for fostering a youth-led approach to preventing violent extremism and seven main challenges that PVE practitioners face. It offers solutions for overcoming these challenges and takes you through the process of reaching out to young participants through to scaling your movement and putting it on the global map.

The ‘Building Peace Together: Youth-led initiatives to prevent violent extremism‘ guide also includes ten case studies from diverse local civil society organizations across South and Southeast Asia to demonstrate how these principles work in practice and inspire you when thinking about implementing your own creative approaches to PVE action.

How can it inspire youth?

While these practices are mainly inspired by our work with urban youth in South and Southeast Asia, we believe that the lessons learned from our experience can provide valuable insight into youth-led PVE action in various settings.

Youth movements drive positive action worldwide and prove that young people are active agents of change. By sharing these tips, we aim to encourage national or community-level grassroots organizations to pursue their efforts to prevent violent extremism in their area and give them the confidence to lead.

Youth movements drive positive action worldwide and prove that young people are active agents of change

We hope youth movements for peace will be inspired to grow, connect, and flourish.

Together we can make peace happen!

Youth participation in peacebuilding: 5 tips from peacebuilders in South & Southeast Asia

21 November 2021

The Kofi Annan Foundation and its youth-led initiative Extremely Together convened leading youth activists, civil society organizations, and local and regional experts from South and Southeast Asia who work to prevent violent extremism (PVE). During the three-day regional conference Envision Together: Youth Building the Future for Peace in October 2021, participants shared their experiences and collectively identified good practices and opportunities for youth-led PVE in the region and beyond.

Graphic Recording by Soufeina Hamed on the topics discussed during the regional conference

Graphic Recording by Soufeina Hamed on the topics discussed during the Extremely together regional conference, November 2021.

This article summarizes five good practices on how to strengthen youth-led peacebuilding efforts among young people in urban South and Southeast Asia:

Five good practices for youth participation in peacebuilding efforts:

1. Find solutions with local communities

Communities and people most affected by violent extremism should play a central role in driving prevention efforts in their communities. Practitioners working with local communities need to put aside their biases and listen to the people they aim to support. It is no longer a question of finding solutions “for” youth affected by violent extremism but instead finding solutions “with” them.

“We are not doctors and the communities are not patients. We need to understand that communities are the experts, and we are just there to support them.”
– Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi, Extremely Together Pakistan

2. Be inclusive

To create lasting solutions for peace in the communities, religious and ethnic minorities, indigenous and LGBTQ+ communities and networks of women also need to be included. Members of these groups often feel that they are not given sufficient space to express their views and that their grievances remain at the margins of public concern. Fostering their inclusion requires breaking down barriers and persisting social stigma to ensure that they are represented according to their own criteria. This calls for the creation of platforms where people from different marginalized and minority groups can come together, share their experiences, and combine their efforts.

“As practitioners, we do realize that we still need to make a real effort to highlight the real stories, the narratives, and daily lives of people affected by violent extremism, especially those from marginalized sectors.”
– Kier Aventurado, Extremely Together Philippines

3. Create safe spaces

Inclusive approaches require the creation of safe spaces in which marginalized young people can develop relationships based on trust and empathy. Creating safe spaces will provide an enabling environment for personal growth and reinforce young people’s common commitment to their cause. Self-enquiry, mindfulness, compassion and an in-depth understanding of one’s own motivations is the key to building community resilience and generating strong networks for peace.

“If you do not build resilience in the communities, how can you expect them to find resilient solutions to violent extremism?
– Pitom Mustafi, Rupantar, Bangladesh

4. Work with partners (and nurture those relationships!)

Mobilizing young people and creating a movement is difficult, but ensuring it gains traction and grows sustainably is another challenge. For that, you need external stakeholders to create partnerships and alliances with. Building momentum and scaling up activities that extend beyond the local level also requires movements to engage with various actors to bolster regional credibility. Consistency and continued engagement in your partnerships allow for more durable change.

5. Elevate the discussion

Aligning priorities with national and regional policymakers is a crucial step in elevating the discussion beyond grassroots priorities. However, many participants from civil society organizations (CSO’s) expressed their concern about the inaccessibility of certain policymaking bodies. Bolstering legitimacy on a regional level can be achieved by building the thematic and operational capacity of grassroots movements. One way of doing this would be by organizing exchanges among CSOs or with actors from different fields and at different levels, including private sector representatives or even social media influencers.

A publication consolidating the good practices on how to foster youth-led PVE among urban youth in South and Southeast Asia will be released in January 2022.

This regional conference is part of the multi-partner project, “Leading the way to Peace – Youth Together for Social Cohesion,” supported by the European Union. This project is led by the Kofi Annan Foundation’s Extremely Together initiative with KRIS in the Philippines, CYAAD in Pakistan and GCERF in Bangladesh.

Follow Extremely Together and our work on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Creating unified communities: Young peacebuilders from South and Southeast Asia tell us how

10 June 2021

As part of the “Leading the way to Peace – Youth Together for Social Cohesion” project, young peacebuilders from the Philippines, Pakistan and Bangladesh researched violent extremism in urban South and Southeast Asia and ways to support youth-led initiatives in preventing violent extremism.

In May 2021, the project partners, the Kofi Annan Foundation’s Extremely Together initiative, KRIS in the Philippines, CYAAD in Pakistan and GCERF in Bangladesh, with the financial support of the European Union, gathered to discuss how the research findings from South and Southeast Asia can support innovative solutions and youth-led activities to foster tolerance and peace.

Young peacebuilders tips for creating unified, cohesive communities:

Bridging away from silos

Increasing hate speech and polarised debates on political topics, especially online, tend to reinforce peoples’ views by getting these same opinions echoed back repeatedly. This echo chamber phenomenon tends to create silos in a society of people with similar points of view. while reducing cross-pollination between different people and opinions. For violent extremist groups, gaining buy-in within isolated groups who share common ideals and refuses to listen to others is easier. Research has shown that engaging and having connections with diverse groups helps to counter and prevent violent extremism.

To bridge existing silos off- and online, young people have used creative solutions to bring together groups from different communities. In Lyari, Pakistan, a battle joined rappers from different communities to rap about why they want peace for their communities. In Lahore, Peshawar, and Karachi, interreligious tours of holy sites and interfaith sports events across Pakistan have given people the space to learn about each other and dispel religious narratives that promote violence.

More localised listening

Young people often have a very nuanced view of the drivers and impacts of violent extremism in their communities. These valuable insights should be harnessed to gain an in-depth understanding of individuals’ hopes and dreams and why some people may be more vulnerable to turn to violence than others.

In the Philippines, young peacebuilders have taken a grassroots approach, partnering with local youth organisations to organise training on violent extremism, its drivers, and ways to prevent it. After the training, some young people are offered seed grants to bring their innovative ideas to life. Projects include a social enterprise to teach farming to former combatants, a peace hub where young people can learn music and discuss their aspirations, storybooks on countering violent extremism for preschool students and voters’ information campaigns for the upcoming elections.

History for everyone, including everyone

It is said that “the victors write history”, but this represses the stories and history of those with different backgrounds. Violent extremist groups use a piecemeal approach to history and religion to convince people of their narratives. Paying attention to ‘alternative histories’ allows people to understand all perspectives and make informed decisions.

In Bangladesh, young people have advocated for a reciprocal collaborative attitude, especially within their educational institutions. The aim is to enable young people to speak about their views and histories more comfortably, fuelling healthy debates. Bangladeshi youth are pushing for adaptation of the educational system to break taboos and develops platforms to raise young peoples’ voices rather than silencing them. By creating an open environment, people from all religions and ethnic backgrounds have the opportunity to flourish and collaborate.

How YOU can create positive change:

Feeling inspired by the young people working for peace in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the Philippines? To create positive change and prevent violent extremism, keep in mind the three “U’s”:

1. Understand Local Narratives – find out which narratives and political semantics are used in the specific context, which norms govern peoples’ actions and which local violent extremist actors exist.

2. Use a Youth Participatory Approach – include communities in your decision-making and have feedback loops that include the community to inform your programming.

3. Undertake Sustainability Efforts – efforts to prevent violent extremism must be continuous. Start by thinking of entrepreneurial solutions to sustain your efforts and a longer-term plan.

Get the ‘three U’s’ infographic

***

This article summarises some of the insights presented during the online event ‘Building Peace in the City – Experiences from South and Southeast Asian Youth’ on 26 May 2021.

Find more information about the webinar and the full recording here.

The speakers:

Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi, Extremely Together Young Leader and Campaign Manager of Extremely Together Pakistan.
Arizza Nocum, Extremely Together Young Leader Philippines and President of KRIS,
Pitom Mustafi, Monitoring and Evaluation Advisor at Rupantar, Bangladesh

Moderated by: Fatima Zaman, Extremely Together Young Leader

Follow Extremely Together and our work on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

WEBINAR: Building Peace in the City – Experiences from South and Southeast Asian Youth

27 May 2021

In 2019, South Asia had the highest average impact from terrorism, Pakistan and the Philippines were in the top 10 countries most impacted by terrorism, and Bangladesh saw six attacks claimed by ISIS. Although a lack of economic opportunities and lower levels of education are often argued to be factors of vulnerability to violent extremism recruitment in the literature, in recent years, an increase in attacks by middle-class, educated youth has been observed in the region, as well as a targeted approach based on gender stereotypes to recruit women and men into violent extremist groups.

Furthermore, violent extremist groups have been exploiting the COVID-19 pandemic by using narratives around the ‘wrath of God’, shifting recruitment online and taking advantage of insecurities caused by the loss of jobs and use of force by the security forces.

In the past year, the Kofi Annan Foundation youth initiative Extremely Together and its partners KRIS in the Philippines, GCERF in Bangladesh and CYAAD in Pakistan researched the drivers of violent extremism. The research focuses on urban areas of the Philippines, Bangladesh and Pakistan, and identifies ways to foster youth engagement to promote peace, inclusion and social cohesion.

The findings have enabled the Kofi Annan Foundation and its partners to develop training and activities to support youth-led action in local communities for the prevention of violent extremism.

Wednesday 26 May 2021, we held an #ETDiscussion, featuring young peacebuilders from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the Philippines who discussed the work done so far.

During the discussion, young peacebuilders from all three regions presented the drivers of violent extremism and possible entry points for engagement with urban youth to prevent violent extremism. Representatives of regional organizations/initiatives and the international community also joined to discuss how these findings can inform and inspire national and regional efforts to involve youth in peace and security and how to engage young people through youth-led PVE activities.

Watch the replay

Date: 26 May 2021

Time: 10:00-11:15 CEST – Online event and available on Facebook

Speakers list:

Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi, Extremely Together Young Leader and Campaign Manager of Extremely Together Pakistan.
Arizza Nocum, Extremely Together Young Leader Philippines and President of KRIS,
Pitom Mustafi, Monitoring and Evaluation Advisor at Rupantar, Bangladesh
Sofia Anton, Programme Officer at the Kofi Annan Foundation.

Moderated by: Fatima Zaman, Extremely Together Young Leader

RESEARCH: Urban Youth Building Peace in South & Southeast Asia

12 May 2021

Throughout 2020 and 2021, the Kofi Annan Foundation’s youth initiative Extremely Together, alongside the Kristiyano-Islam Peace Library (KRIS) in the Philippines, the College of Youth Activism and Development (CYAAD) in Pakistan and the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF) in Bangladesh conducted extensive research among young people in urban areas across South and Southeast Asia.

The analysis, funded by the European Union, identifies ways to foster youth engagement to promote peace, inclusion and social cohesion. The findings indicate the need to develop more training and activities to support youth-led action in local communities to prevent violent extremism.

Why South and Southeast Asia?

In 2019:

South Asia had the highest average impact from terrorism.
Pakistan and the Philippines were in the top 10 of the countries most impacted by terrorism.
Bangladesh saw six attacks claimed by ISIS.

Although a lack of economic opportunities and lower levels of education are often argued to be factors of vulnerability to violent extremism recruitment in the literature, in recent years, an increase in attacks by middle-class, educated youth has been observed in the region, as well as a targeted approach based on gender stereotypes to recruit women and men into violent extremist groups.

The research, which was conducted in the context of the project ‘Leading the Way to Peace – Youth Together for Social Cohesion’, aims to uncover how and why urban youth may be vulnerable to recruitment by violent extremist organisations and identify and explore potential entry points to engage young people in preventing violent extremism (PVE).

The 8 entry points to engage with young people on Preventing Violent Extremism

1. Fostering Youth Participation

The research in the region agrees that one of the most important approaches to PVE is to engage young people through various means. Firstly, to involve young people in decision-making. This can be decision making at the national or local level, or decision making within their universities. Such participation will help give young people a sense of belonging and ownership over their spaces. Read more in the report >

2. Ensuring Fundamental Rights

The findings in all three countries point to the importance of awareness of and adherence to human and fundamental rights. Read more in the report >

3. Sustaining Youth Networks

To build sustainable PVE programmes, it is essential to build more localised, context-specific programmes. These programmes could draw learnings from the local cultural values that promote co-existence, tolerance, and respect for diversity. Read more in the report >

4. Enabling Socio-economic Alternatives

Providing opportunities for employment and education are an important part of PVE action. Read more in the report >

5. Promoting Gender Equality

Gender-specific issues must be considered in PVE action, as the use of stereotypes in recruitment can make men, and especially women, vulnerable. Read more in the report >

6. Strengthening Government Engagement

Engagement with local government and security forces on youth-based narratives in the context of VE, as well as training can improve the governance and accountability of government. Read more in the report >

7. Increasing Media Engagement

Extremist organisations have organised ways to disseminate their messaging using various tools & platforms. These same tools & platforms must be used to spread alternative (not only to counter) messages, raise awareness & combat hate speech. Read more in the report >

8. Including Faith-based Leaders & Organisations

The influence of faith-based leaders could be leveraged to debunk interpretations of religious texts that seek to legitimise violence and discrimination. Read more in the report >

See the research findings

Learn more about the research

On Wednesday 26 May 2021, we held an #ETDiscussion, where young peacebuilders from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the Philippines discussed the research findings.

Watch the replay

4 things young peacebuilders from Somalia and Uganda want you to know

06 April 2021

Young peacebuilders from Extremely Together Somalia and Extremely Together Uganda Chapters came together to share lessons learned during an online exchange, culminating in a public webinar in March 2021. Here we discover some things they learned after one year of youth-led efforts during 2020, a year like no other.

Four things you need to know about youth-led peacebuilding:

1. Youth exclusion and securitisation by governments remains a significant problem;

2. Youth inclusion in peace and security matters;

3. Young people need increased support to be more effective in their peacebuilding work;

4. International connections are integral for youth-led peacebuilding.

1

Youth exclusion and securitisation by governments remains a significant problem

Some governments tend to treat current issues facing societies, such as the pandemic and elections, from a security perspective. These governments impose curfews and other security measures to combat these issues. Young leaders from ET Uganda have found that this securitisation makes it difficult for young people to engage because the space in which they can peacefully engage with decision-makers shrinks. Young people also are treated as a security risk rather than valuable voices with an original and much-needed perspective.

“Young people are treated as a security risk, rather than valuable voices that have an original and much-needed perspective.”

One of the young leaders from Somalia Nasteha Abdirahman, during the virtual exchange. Credit: Extremely Together Somalia

Extremely Together (ET) Somalia agreed that in Somalia, young people face the same issues and shared that “youth are working hard for sustainable peace, but the elders who are the decision-makers rarely give youth the opportunity to engage in peace processes”.

Encouragingly, “Young people are no longer waiting to be invited to have a seat at the table; they are creating their own tables,” said Ilwad Elman, ET Chapter Lead in Somalia and Director of Programs at Elman Peace. Young peacebuilders are using platforms such as Extremely Together to elevate their voices and create their own spaces. Extremely Togethers’ global network makes it possible for young people to form partnerships with other youth groups and to have a collective voice that carries more weight.

“Young people are no longer waiting to be invited to have a seat at the table; they are creating their own tables.”

2 Youth inclusion in peace and security matters

Throughout 2020, the Extremely Together (ET) Uganda and Somalia Chapters demonstrated remarkable agility as they adapted their activities to the new realities. When coming together in person was impossible, ET Uganda moved their community dialogues to the radio, so their voices were still heard. Moreover, young people are ideally placed to know about and to be responsive to youth needs and interests. This perspective has allowed them to engage with their peers more easily than most programmes organised for them by other organisations or government.

Julius Kramer from the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) added, “young people carry an informal and moral authority as trusted community actors”, and they “have a natural understanding of the need for a comprehensive approach to peacebuilding beyond security measures.”

“Young people carry an informal and moral authority as trusted community actors.”

3 Young people need increased support to be more effective in their peacebuilding work

One of the young leaders from Uganda Sadat Zagah Zziwa, during the virtual exchange. Credit: Extremely Together Uganda

Although young people have been creating their own spaces for participation, they cannot do so by themselves. “Institutions need to work on being more inclusive and increase their capacity to become partners to young peacebuilders,” said Julius Kramer. He added that institutions should move away from merely consulting young people to including young people in all conversations as equal participants.

In fragile states, the international community has tended to invest heavily in institutions and strengthen state infrastructure, which is not enough. The international community must also invest in building capacity among those institutions so that young people can effectively participate in them.

Through its Extremely Together initiative, the Kofi Annan Foundation has observed the positive impact of peer-to-peer learning during activities in Uganda, Somalia and beyond. This approach has allowed young people to build their confidence and skills to participate more meaningfully in decision-making processes at the local, national, regional and international level.

4 International connections are integral for youth-led peacebuilding

Throughout the exchange between young peacebuilders from Uganda and Somalia, one message that the ET youth brought up repeatedly is the importance of cross-border connections. Having a solid international network “will enhance the impact that young leaders can have with their single message of a more peaceful world,” said one of the Chapter young leaders.

Furthermore, for young people, learning and exchanging with their counterparts in other countries has given them fresh ideas and connections and shown them the similarities and differences within their perspectives and actions to prevent violent extremism and build a more peaceful world. These connections at an international level also show young people that they are not alone but part of a global network of young people standing together for peace.

The above list is a selection of the key learnings shared by -and between- the young peacebuilders, but their journey is far from over. Stay tuned for more #ETLessons to come.

The Uganda and Somalia Chapters will expand their activities, work with more communities in their countries, and engage with more decision-makers to ensure young people’s voices are heard.

Find out more about their activities by following Extremely Together on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Mural painted by Extremely Together Uganda as part of the Exchange activities to spread peace. Credit: Extremely Together Uganda

During the Extremely Together Exchange on 22-25 March, over 30 members from Extremely Together Chapters in Uganda and Somalia came together in a hybrid format. The young peacebuilders shared their experiences and lessons learned from their youth-led activities to promote peace as well as engaged in activities in their communities during the Exchange week. This community action included painting walls with peace messaging in urban market places in Kampala, as well as preparing packages for food relief distribution to affected areas of Somalia outside Mogadishu.

The ET Uganda & Somalia Exchange culminated in a public event, where some of the young leaders participated in a panel discussion. The Danish Ambassador to Uganda, H.E. Nicolaj A. Hejberg Petersen opened the online event. It included: Julius Kramer, Advisor on Youth Peace and Security, Mr Magomu Wilson, Commissioner at the Uganda Prison Services, Hawa Nanjobe Kimbugwe and Sadat Zagah Zziwa from Extremely Together Uganda, and Nasteha Abdirahman and Abdirisak Bashir from Extremely Together Somalia as panellists.

The exchange and panel were moderated by Ilwad Elman, Extremely Together Somalia Chapter Lead and Director of Programs & Development at the Elman Peace Center and Hassan Ndugwa, Extremely Together Uganda Chapter Lead and Executive Director of the Uganda Muslim Youth Development Forum.

Click here to find out more about this webinar.

WEBINAR: Youth leading peace in Somalia & Uganda: Lessons from a year like no other

24 March 2021

Despite the global momentum around the Youth, Peace and Security agenda, progress on young women and men’s meaningful inclusion in shaping peace remains slow. The Kingdom of Denmark, the Kofi Annan Foundation, the Elman Peace Centre and the Uganda Muslim Youth Development Forum hosted an online panel discussion to put the spotlight on the young people leading peace in Somalia and Uganda and inspire increased youth inclusion in peace and security efforts.

During live webinar, young Somalis and Ugandans reflected on their experience of using theatre, community radios, dialogue and training to engage youth in promoting peace and preventing violent extremism. National experts in peace and security discussed how these lessons can serve broader efforts to involve young people in building lasting peace.

Watch our last webinar Here

Recording

Date: Tuesday, 30 March 2021

Time: 11.00 to 12.15 (EAT) / 10.00 to 11.15 am (CET)

Speakers list:

H.E. Nicolaj A. Hejberg Petersen, Ambassador of Denmark to Uganda,

Julius Kramer, Advisor on Youth Peace and Security,

Magomu Wilson, Commissioner of Prisons, Safety and Security Operations at Uganda Prison Services in Kampala,

Hawa Nanjobe Kimbugwe and Sadat Zagah Zziwa from Extremely Together Uganda,

Nasteha Abdirahman and Abdirisak Bashir from Extremely Together Somalia.

Moderators:

Ilwad Elman, Director of Programs & Development, Elman Peace and Human Rights Center, and Extremely Together Leader of the Kofi Annan Foundation,

Hassan Ndugwa, Executive Director of the Uganda Muslim Youth Development Forum and Extremely Together Leader of the Kofi Annan Foundation,

Celebrating young women in leadership for International Women’s Day 2021

08 March 2021

To celebrate International Women’s Day 2021, the Kofi Annan Foundation speaks with young women from our Extremely Together local chapters in Uganda, Somalia, Pakistan and the Philippines to find out how they exert leadership, what inspires them and what messages they would like to share with other women.

Watch the series of videos below or visit our YouTube channel