Peace Building; the role of young people

Peace building is an essential virtue for global development and togetherness which helps to prevent the occurrence of war, conflict and prejudice. Every individual, organization and nation of the world must work towards helping to stop war and conflict. With peace in the world, individuals act right, businesses thrive better, organizations grow well and there is improvement in the way things run.

There are several non-governmental organizations working to protect this cause e.g. peace Direct, Safer world and Junior chamber International etc. I joined Junior Chamber International as an undergraduate in 2011 and since then I have learnt to work with people from all walks of life and different cultural backgrounds. JCI is a not for profit organization that helps foster peace among nations of the world through selfless service and it’s an organization that consists of young people between the ages of 18 and 40 working towards making the world a better place through humanitarian services. 

The JCI Global Theme for year 2017 was Peace Is Possible, a project that integrates mutual understanding among the members of the organization who are indigenes of several nations of the world. I also run a project in Nigeria that helps sensitize the youth on the importance of peace building during elections and after.

There are several ways young people can be part of peace building, which includes:

·         Learn another language

·         Organize advocacy initiative/programs for peace

·         Encourage inter- community engagement

·         Organizing sensitization programs

·         Youth empowerment

·         Educational supports to youths

·         Scholarship and community development.

Conclusively, young people are also encouraged to be part of Peace building Initiatives like Enough is Enough Nigeria, which is a network of individuals and organizations committed to instituting a culture of good governance and public accountability in Nigeria through active citizenship.