Salam: Youth-Powered Peace

It’s critically important to help the next generation rebuild their society for themselves, by themselves.

Change Vision
Many initiatives from individuals from developing countries often go unnoticed due to insufficient understanding or proficiency in English. Furthermore, there is a lack of recognition of the unique cultural strengths of different local communities.

Måndag initiated a mentoring and communication project for peace and reconciliation in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since children and youth make up a significant share of the population in both countries, it was fundamental to empower young people to take part in building society.

Action
The project was launched in 2019, with the support of The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, by forming a group of young peace ambassadors who disseminated information to their local community and surroundings. The project provided young people with the opportunity to meet like-minded individuals, acquire knowledge, and enhance their skills in the field of media and peacemaking. Working alongside network professionals, volunteers learned negotiating skills, ways to make an impact in their communities, and methods for handling conflict situations.

Impact
One of the key aspects was to elevate the diverse cultures of youth and to bring representation to the discussion around the topic. That’s why we focused on mentoring young people through a series of workshops, where youth created and developed stories related to peacebuilding based on their own personal goals and motivations. They also got to attend speaker sessions, create their own performances, and showcase their creativity. The young participants generated their own ideas for making an impact and collaborated with mentors to further develop them. All these sessions were recorded, generating a substantial amount of content based on the stories and ideas of the youth.

We are currently exploring the expansion of the project in other regions and countries.