NewGen Peacebuilders

Description

Mahatma Gandhi famously said, "To teach real peace in the world ... we will have to begin with the children." Today, there are nearly 2 billion young people under the age of 25 in the world, about 30 percent of the global population. That number rises to 40 percent or more in some countries. Yet peace, the most cross-cutting of all global aspirations, is often absent from formal and informal educational frameworks. On one hand, non-profit and for-profit leaders point to the potential of youth as tomorrow's global citizen leaders. On the other, young people are most often perceived as likely victims or perpetrators of violence. There are few meaningful opportunities for youth to receive systematic skills development and education for peacebuilding. NewGen Peacebuilders is a peace education program for young people that emphasizes their role in achieving a peaceful world. With a focus on high school and university students NewGen Peacebuilders consists of five intensive workshop days, conference calls with guest speakers, and completion of a team action peace project. The program is delivered over the course of a semester. NewGen Peacebuilders trains and equips students to: Truly understand drivers of conflict and peace; Imagine innovative solutions that create change; Take action to address an issue impacting quality of life in a community or communities. The result is empowered young people who are equipped to actively resolve conflict and build bridges for the re