Policy Brief

Youth empowerment at national and regional levels

Cohort two of the 2025 Peacebuilding Fund Thematic Review on Youth, Peace and Security

At the centre of the landmark Security Council resolution 2250 (2015) on Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) lies a call for the “inclusive representation of youth in decision-making at all levels in local, national, regional and international institutions and mechanisms for the prevention and resolution of conflict”. Since 2015, the Secretary General’s Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) has provided a unique tool for amplifying young people’s roles and impact both at the local community level, as well as in national and regional peacebuilding and conflict-prevention.

This cohort study considers some of the lessons from this work by examining 10 projects supported by the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) between 2018 and 2022. This includes projects that helped support National Youth Councils and YPS Action Plans, YPS coalitions and youth monitoring networks, as well as youth engagement in national transition moments, in regional peacebuilding, and in cross-border early warning and conflict prevention. The research and findings for this cohort study form part of a larger year-long Thematic Review on Youth, Peace and Security, which examined how PBF-supported peacebuilding programming has been advancing the YPS agenda

Access the brief here.

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