On International Day of Peace, the Kofi Annan Foundation, Geneva Peacebuilding Platform and Geneva Graduate Institute are proud to launch a new Prize recognising the exceptional young people working to build peace around the world.
Young people are often among those most affected by conflict, violence and division. Across the world, they are also leading efforts to strengthen dialogue, support reconciliation, and create more peaceful and inclusive societies.
The Kofi Annan Geneva Youth Peace Prize has been established to recognise and elevate this leadership.
The Prize will honour an exceptional young peacebuilder aged 18–30 whose work has made a measurable contribution to peace through mediation, reconciliation, advocacy, dialogue or the mobilisation of communities.
“You are never too young to lead and you should never doubt your capacity to triumph where others have not.”
Kofi Annan
Recognising a new generation of peacebuilders
Throughout his life, Kofi Annan championed young people as active participants in shaping more peaceful and inclusive societies.
The new Prize carries that conviction forward. It recognises young leaders whose work reflects the values that guided his approach to peace and leadership: dialogue, courage, inclusion, integrity and innovation.
Much of the work that prevents violence and holds communities together happens far from formal negotiating tables. It happens in neighbourhoods, schools, civic spaces, and communities, where young people build relationships, open channels for dialogue, and create alternatives to division.
Young people are active participants in shaping peace, with ideas, relationships and leadership that influence how communities respond to conflict and build more inclusive futures. The Prize seeks to recognise that contribution and support young peacebuilders in carrying their work further.
For its inaugural edition, organisations working internationally across youth engagement and peacebuilding were invited to nominate exceptional young leaders from around the world.
The first laureate will be announced in the lead-up to the Kofi Annan Geneva Peace Address on 15 October 2026, which will close this year’s Geneva Peace Forum under the theme “Choose Peace.”
This year’s Address will be delivered by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dr Denis Mukwege, who will join the inaugural Youth Peace Prize laureate in an intergenerational conversation on the leadership needed to prevent conflict, foster dialogue, promote justice and build sustainable peace.
Join us
Kofi Annan Geneva Peace Address and Youth Peace Prize
15 October 2026 | 17:00–18:30 CEST
International Conference Centre Geneva – CICG
The event will be available to attend in person and online. Registration via the Geneva Peace Forum website is mandatory. In-person seating is first come, first served.
The Kofi Annan Geneva Peace Address and inaugural Kofi Annan Geneva Youth Peace Prize are presented by the Kofi Annan Foundation, Geneva Peacebuilding Platform and Geneva Graduate Institute, with support from the Republic and State of Geneva and the City of Geneva.
