Children and youth participation in peace-building

Participación de niños y jóvenes en la construcción de la paz

Children and youth play important roles in Peace-Building. This was the basic idea of the Conflict Resolution or Violence Prevention projects implemented in Mozambique and in Kosovo. Both Mozambique and Kosovo underwent violent armed conflicts and are now in the process of reconstruction, with Kosovo being a quite recent one. The Peace projects were implemented at different time periods and under different organizations.

Peace Program components included: Peace Education through arts and sports; healing of mental and emotional wounds from experiences of violence; recreation; group formation or identification; and group discussions among many others.

While the program principally targets children and youth, key adult members of the community were involved. School teachers, community leaders, women's groups, religious leaders, and traditional healers have provided additional support and substance to the projects. Support from the existing Administration or Government likewise facilitated the implementation of the projects.

Lessons learned include appreciation for the value of patience, proper timing, and the opinion of the ordinary citizens. Art showed its effectiveness as a medium by which to communicate messages of peace. Based on the authors' observation, the sustainability of any peace-building process depends not only on high-level political agreements but has to do also with the grassroots, community-based awareness of the existence of, and willingness to engage in, a non-violent resolution to conflict. In this process, children and youth's point of view and suggestions regarding conflict transformation need to be recognized by the civil society. Peace initiatives, especially the children and youth's own ideas, should be actively implemented by the children and youth themselves as co-builders of a civil society.