Alarm caused by the burgeoning global youth population and young people’s potential roles in causing or sustaining conflict have been well documented, whilst their contribution to building peace is often overlooked. Young people often present a combative or destabilising force within post-conflict communities, but they also work on the frontlines of peacebuilding, contributing to the rebuilding of civil society and the local economy. Their lack of political representation and their marginalisation from decision-making in many conflict-affected societies explains why these positive contributions go unrecognised. The disparities that young people face in accessing economic, political and socio-cultural resources explains why the impact of youth peacebuilding activity is sometimes limited. Many young people also experience a ‘double’ marginalisation because of their gender, disability, religion or ethnic status, yet current literature and programming often fails to take account of this in seeking to understand barriers to youth participation.
Recognising that international actors are increasingly aware of the need to include young people more substantively in shaping society, this project currently addresses the question of how the peacebuilding sector might be enabled to fully integrate young people into activities geared towards political change and positive peace. This project therefore looks at how we can ensure that young people’s voices are listened to and acted upon in societies where youth marginalisation has previously been a factor facilitating their mobilisation into violence, and the responsibilities that are placed on others to create spaces for youth participation.