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Youth Peacebuilding Initiative (YPBI)
Through training and funding, YPBI aims to increase the influence of youths in the peace process.
Description
The Youth Peace Building Initiative (YPBI), Phase II, is the second stage of an initiative to translate the political 'peace' in Sudan into a reality at the grassroots level. The project aims at enhancing the capacities of Sudanese youth to participate directly in the peace process by supporting them in their civil society initiatives and fostering the conditions for continued and favourable implementation of the peace agreement.
Aims / Objectives
IRC’s Youth Peace Building Initiative, Phase II the important and unique roles that Sudanese youth can perform in fostering peace amongst divided communities in Sudan. Therefore the aim is to enhance the capacities of Sudanese youth to become central actors in the development of more peaceful communities in Sudan, by supporting them to undertake initiatives that defuse local tensions, mitigate against future conflict and increase civil society commitment to, and involvement in, the peace process.
The participants' knowledge, skills and capacities in conflict mediation, conflict transformation and peacebuilding will be strengthened through the delivery of intensive introductory or advanced training packages. Their organisational structures will also be strengthened through the delivery of a package of capacity building trainings and opportunities for networking, information and cultural exchange amongst youth and other civil society actors.
Their opportunities to engage in, influence and undertake community, state and national peace building activities will be increased through the provision of financial and mentoring support and practical experience in project implementation.
How it is Articulated
The initial stage of Phase II will develop an induction and training course and will produce action-oriented advanced manuals taking into account the lessons learnt from Phase I and the post-conflict Sudanese environment. The first two months will therefore see a series of programme-orientation days hosted in each programme location. In month three, the ‘youth leaders’ will impart the advanced peacebuilding trainings and then they will also benefit from central involvement in an extensive DFID-funded IRC civil society empowerment programme, which aims to lay the foundations for active, empowered communities and good governance.
At the next stage, the IRC/partner project staff will assess the capacities of the youth groups using IRC’s field-tested CBO (Community Based Organisation) capacity assessment tools. These capacity assessments will be used to guide and tailor IRC’s core capacity building curricula that will be adapted in month three by IRC’s Civil Society Coordinator to suit the requirements of the two streams.
The key aim of the Stream One training will be to build effective and efficient group management and project implementation skills, with coaching on registering formally as CBOs delivered if appropriate. Stream Two training will focus on strengthening the independence and the sustainability of the groups, developing core organisational, programmatic and fundraising capacities. Experienced IRC capacity building trainers will then deliver the organisational and programmatic capacity building training in months four and five. Registered youth groups will also be encouraged and assisted to apply for inclusion into an IRC organisational capacity building programme (CODE) which will deliver significant intensive and targeted capacity building training and funding. In month ten of the project, the young people will have an opportunity for cultural exchange and networking through participation in one of at least four regional YPBI workshops.
In the final stage, the young people will be assisted to undertake research and develop activity/programme plans in furtherance of peace in their areas. They will be assisted to devise practical ways to undertake activities towards achieving and maintaining peace.
Achievements / Learning Points
In the last six months, youth groups were provided with refresher courses (for those who had participated in Phase I of the project) and orientation to the project, staff were recruited, youth training manuals and resource packs were designed and developed. Building upon their respective experiences under Phase I, the youth groups contributed to upgrading the training manuals. They provided inputs to the revised manuals that will be used to train the youth nationwide. Youth groups conducted in-depth analyses of various issues including conflict transformation, reconciliation, post-conflict environments, political and social issues in their areas. A training of trainers workshop was conducted successfully on 18-28 July 2005.
Initial assessments conducted in Juba and Khartoum by IRC and CSVR staff resulted in the following lessons, which have been incorporated into the development of the manuals and training sessions:
- There is a need to link the training activities delivered throughout the project with developmental activities, through which the targeted training group can benefit. The youth groups in Khartoum implemented training activities at the IDP camps. It was observed that peacebuilding and capacity building training was more successful if accompanied by and conducted during health and environmental days. This is all the more important in extremely difficult environments such as IDP camps where the lack of basic services has been identified as an obstacle to concentrating on the capacity building process.
- The ToT (Training of Trainers) training should be followed by hands-on training, firstly to test the manual and its efficiency and appropriateness, and secondly to test and improve the training skills of the trainers.
- There were some weaknesses in the first phase manual in terms of guiding the trainers on how to enter the different targeted communities, and different methodologies of training that suit different groups, e.g. youth students, youth in IDPs camps, youth in prisons and reformatory institutions, youth in the north and south. The trainers and young people covered by the assessment indicated that, when dealing with training, they found difficulties in identifying entry points according to the variety of targeted groups. In addition, the ToT manual developed in Phase I lacked information and guidance on training methodologies. It was felt that it would be essential to equip trainers with basic skills on how to identify appropriate methodologies.
- The language of the manual should be simplified, as it will be used for and by different groups.
- It is essential to use case studies derived from Sudanese realities, allowing the trainees to bring their own stories and cases, to make the analysis more appropriate to their conditions.
- The manual should also use local terminology, rather than focusing on academic and international theories, and adapt the definition of the themes according to different Sudanese cultural and social environments.
- The upgraded and the advanced manuals should focus more on peacebuilding and reconciliation rather than conflict resolution and analysis, to suit the post-conflict era.
- It is necessary to use modern technology to convey messages (e.g. participatory films and film newsletters).
- An important lesson learned is that the training should be delivered to the youth group in a manner that is built on their social and cultural environment. The young people recommended that the social, economic and political contexts of the Sudanese youth be considered as the base for any training and intervention. They also recommended using the local terminology and local case studies in the manual development and training process.
Geographical area of operation
Khartoum, EL Fasher, Dillinge and Salara, Lagawa, Wau, Raga and Aweil, Port Sudan, Malakal and Juba.
Funding resources
CIDA, DFID.