INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE EVENT: ‘HOW TO CONTRIBUTE TO EVERYDAY PEACE IN YOUR COMMUNITY’

In celebration of today’s “International Day of Peace”, the RYVU project was invited by AIESEC in Uganda to join an insightful panel discussion on the theme ‘Everyday peace fighters: How to contribute to everyday peace in your community’. The online event involved the following participants:

• Panellists:

  • Bianca Fadel, RYVU team member

  • Patrick Bwire, Programme Coordinator in charge of Peacebuilding at the Centre for Conflict Resolution (CECORE) in Uganda, and Regional Liaison Officer of the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) in East and Central Africa

  • Felix Bissong, President of AIESEC in Nigeria

• Facilitation and organising team:

  • Sharon Oudejans, National Manager for Incoming Exchanges and National Projects, AIESEC in Uganda

  • Baluku Dounnah, President of AIESEC in Uganda

The event took place in the platform Clubhouse and was joined by youth from Uganda and other countries. In line with the United Nations’ 2021 theme for the date (“Recovering better for an equitable and sustainable world”),  the panel discussed different perceptions about the concept of peace, how this has been part of the work developed by the panellists and also how Ugandan and global youth can contribute to peace in their communities.

On behalf of the RYVU team, Bianca Fadel explained the ongoing RYVU activities among refugee youth participants in Uganda, emphasising their key active roles in building and sustaining peace in their own locations through different kinds of voluntary labour. This includes both programmed and everyday forms of volunteering, as well as their efforts in bridging gaps between refugee and host communities. The panel emphasised the importance of livelihoods approaches when striving for peace in every domain, as well as the need to recognise and tackle existing inequalities in terms of youth participation in decision-making – particularly considering the effects of Covid-19 among youth.

To conclude, the panel has also highlighted the importance of local action and community mobilisation, and the unique roles of youth as change-makers contributing to everyday peace in their own surroundings.