Youth Engage: Multi-stakeholders Collaboration in Reducing Youth Engagement in Violence

Youth Engage: Multi-stakeholders Collaboration in Reducing Youth Engagement in Violence

Project locations:

8 districts in the Central and Eastern Terai region, viz.

1. Morang
2. Sunsari
3. Saptari
4. Siraha
5. Dhanusha
6. Mahottari
7. Sarlahi and
8. Rautahat.

Total duration:

24 months (9 December 2013 – 8 December 2015)

Name of the Partners:

• Search for Common Ground (SFCG)
• Association of Youth Organisations Nepal (AYON)
• Youth Initiative (YI)
• All People’s Empowerment Centre (APEC) and
• New World (NW)

Project Objectives:

The overall goal of the proposed action is to reduce youth engagement in organised violence by mobilising youth-led organisations, civil society actors, and state institutions to promote the constructive role of youth in promoting peace and stability.

• To strengthen the capacity of key civil society, police, local government actors and youth leaders to work cooperatively to prevent youth engagement in violence;
• To promote platforms for youth to advocate for changes that address the causes of youth engagement in violence; and
• To shift public attitudes about the constructive role that youth can play in peace building and development.
• To improve relationships and foster cooperation among youth, local leaders, security forces and the media to prevent youth engagement in violence and promote youth civic engagement.

Target group(s):  

Influential youth: aged 15-29 years; those engaged in armed groups; youth and student wings of political parties and ethnic/caste-based interest groups; youth led groups.

Main activities

1. District-specific research and consultations on youth engagement in violence.

1. Capacity building training and workshops for 400 influential youth, 24 civil society organisations, 80 police personnel and 24 local leaders.

1. Cooperative actions: 32 dialogues to develop respective district action plans to reduce youth engagement in violence; seed grants to youth-led groups in 8 target districts to implement their action plans targeting 4000 youth; and football clinics in 8 target districts to develop youth-police relations with 400 youth.; Networking and Advocacy: 8 district level youth-led advocacy forums targeting 1000 people and 1 National Youth Forum with 500 participants.

1. Changing public attitudes and behaviours: 78 episodes of weekly half-hour radio drama broadcast across 8 target districts reaching 1.5 million listeners.

Combating youth engagement in violence is a joint effort. The actors and stakeholders best positioned to prevent youth participation in violence in Nepal currently lack the capacity to work together and optimize impact through combined efforts. Furthermore the involvement and participation of Ministry of Youth will enhance the impact of the program and will justify the core motive and the objective of Institution itself.

The objective of the program builds stronger public platforms through which youth can engage other key actors to address youth vulnerabilities.

The YE Consortium will disseminate the research findings across broader peace building communities and with state institutions.

Developing mutual understanding and trust among youth, police, local leaders, and CSOs through multi-stakeholder dialogues and collaboration on common goals will increase these actors’ effectiveness in addressing the causes of youth mobilization in violence.

Informed by research findings and multi-stakeholder collaboration, youth leaders will advocate for appropriate policies that prevent youth engagement in violence. The objective targets the broader community in the eight districts and aims to change public attitudes and behaviors.

The YE Consortium will promote shift in public attitudes about youth and establish the idea that youth can play constructive roles in peace building and development. Furthermore, the Action will also seek to enhance the capacity of young women leaders in playing more visible roles in public affairs, as well as to increase key stakeholder understanding of gender-sensitive responses to reducing youth engagement in violence.