Deadline: July 31, 2024
Applications are open for the UNAOC Young Peacebuilders Programme in South Caucasus and Central Asia 2024. This is a call to youth aged 18-25 from the South Caucasus and Central Asia wanting to tackle violent extremism and violence by building inclusive societies with understanding and respect among cultures and religions.
The 8th edition of the Young Peacebuilders programme in South Caucasus and Central Asia (SCCA) is designed to strengthen the skills of young people from the region in tackling stereotypes, prejudice, and xenophobia while providing them with access to regional and global peacebuilding networks and raising the visibility of their innovative and effective peace work. The long-term goal is the integration of young peacebuilders in governmental peace processes/policies. This 8th edition will be implemented in the framework of Peace4Culture Global Call, an initiative launched by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan in partnership with UNAOC.
Programme Components
- Part 1: online phase (3-4 months). Participants access the course through an online collaborative platform provided by UNAOC. UNAOC and other trainers facilitate the modules, allowing participants to get to know each other before their first in-person meeting. They start getting exposed to tools and concepts, engage in discussion, and begin reflecting on their future peace actions. Time commitment: 4 to 5 hours per week to complete the modules (some work can be completed offline).
- Part 2: face-to-face workshop (+/- 7-8 days). All participants travel to complete the training and experience how peacebuilding is successfully implemented through a local field visit. They work on the development of their action plan.
- Part 3: applied learning (+/- 3 months). Implementation of a personal peace initiative: participants are guided by UNAOC’s professional trainers and stay connected with other participants while reporting on the implementation of their projects.
- Part 4: results sharing symposium (2-4 days). Participants are invited to travel and participate in a symposium where they share their experiences, lessons learned, achievements, and recommendations with a broader audience of practitioners, policymakers, media, and the general public. In addition, they engage with this audience on topics related to intercultural dialogue, peace, and security.
About the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC)
UNAOC was established in 2005, as an initiative of Secretary-General Kofi Annan and co-sponsored by the Governments of Spain and Türkiye. UNAOC works towards a more socially inclusive world, by building mutual respect among peoples of different cultural and religious identities and highlighting the will of the world’s majority to reject violent extremism and embrace diversity. UNAOC project activities are fashioned around Youth, Education, Media, Migration, and Women as Peace Mediators. UNAOC recognizes the critical role that programming and policymaking in these areas can play in reducing polarization and identity-based tensions and in helping to build bridges between communities. The Alliance benefits from the political support of the Group of Friends, a community of 160 countries, international and regional organizations, which actively promotes the Alliance’s objectives.
Benefits
All selected youth participants will be provided with:
- Round-trip travel (international or domestic flight, economy class) to the city of the face-to-face workshop and to the city of the symposium;
- Accommodation in the city of the face-to-face workshop and the symposium
- Meals and coffee breaks during the official duration of the workshop and the symposium
- Shuttles or reimbursement of transportation to/from the airport and hotel in the city of the face-to-face workshop and in the city of the symposium.
Eligibility
All requirements must be met in order to be considered eligible:
- Be 18-25 years of age for the total duration of the project. To be considered eligible, applicants must be born between September 1999 and September 2006.
- Be a citizen of AND live in one of the following SCCA region countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.
- Be active (staff, volunteer, etc.) in a non-government and non-for-profit youth-led organization, network, initiative or movement (led by youth for the benefit of youth) and have the ability to consult with and reach a wider group of young people, audience or network, including at the grassroots and community level.
- Demonstrate commitment to diversity and pluralism, nonviolence, and peaceful and inclusive societies.
- Command of English is sufficient to participate in the online phase and in-person workshop. The applicant understands English very well; possesses intermediate to fluent levels of English, which allow her/him to participate in the conversation and provide input.
- The applicant has never taken part in a programme of UNAOC (Summer School, Youth Solidarity Fund, Intercultural Innovation Hub, PLURAL+, PeaceApp, Youth Event at the UNAOC Global Forum, Fellowship Program, Young Peacebuilders, #YouthWagingPeace, Sport and PVE youth fora, EDIN, #DigitalGamesforPeace, Sport for One Humanity).
- In order to be accepted in this programme, selected applicants must hold an international passport valid until at least December 2025. Failure to provide a copy in due time will result in cancellation of participation.
- The application is duly completed, submitted by the deadline and contains all supporting documentation, requested as part of the call. Half-complete applications or applications filled in other languages than English will not be reviewed and considered.
Application
To be considered complete and valid, the application package must include the following and be submitted through the online application system:
- An application form, completed and certified by the applicant;
- A copy of the identification page of your international passport;
- Word/character limit for each question in the application form needs to be respected. The application system automatically counts words and characters.
For more information, visit UNAOC.
