Strengthening transnational youth peace leadership along the Ivorian-Ghanaian border

This project aims to empower diverse young women and men to be collaborative leaders driving peaceful change in the northern borderlands of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. It seeks to increase the prospects for sustained peace and security in the northern border regions by empowering young people to strengthen the emerging peacebuilding ecosystem in the region. The project also aims to ensure that decision-making and peace processes are grounded in and responsive to the vulnerabilities and frustrations driving youth recruitment strengthening youth resilience against being drawn into violence. Project activities include: (1) building the capacity and confidence of youth for peace leadership; (2) shifting barriers to youth engagement to create a conducive environment for their meaningful engagement in decision-making and peace processes; and (3) connecting youth locally nationally and across borders.

The expected outcomes of this project include: (1) strengthened capacity of young women and men to meaningfully engage with and lead gender-responsive peace processes addressing the gendered drivers of conflict in their respective communities; (2) increased reception from customary and state power holders (usually elite men) at the local national and regional level to engage youth in peacebuilding and increased responsiveness to their gendered needs and priorities; and (3) engaged youth leaders (women and men) in collaborative peacebuilding actions at the national cross-border and regional level.