Global Campaign for Peace Education Youth Hub
(Photo: Clay Banks on Unsplash)
Welcome to the Global Campaign for Peace Education Youth Hub generated by the GCPE Youth Team! This page is dedicated to providing peace education information and resources specifically with young changemakers in mind! Please explore the content below to get started engaging in the meaningful work of peace education and check back soon for additional resources coming in the future! Happy learning!
Youth and Peace Education
What is Peace Education?
Peace education is defined broadly as “education both about and for peace.” Education “about” peace examines the question of what peace (and justice) is and explores the possibilities for how to achieve peace. It also involves understanding and critically examining violence in all of its multiple forms and manifestations.
Education “for” peace prepares students with the knowledge and skills to pursue peace and social justice and to nonviolently respond to conflict. It is also concerned with nurturing inner moral and ethical resources that are essential to external peace action.
Peace education takes place in many contexts and settings, both inside and outside of schools. Not all peace education is explicitly labeled as “peace education.” Most peace education efforts emerge out of local experiences of violence and/or injustice. They might address racial justice, post-conflict peacebuilding, gender justice, reconciliation, violence prevention in schools, anti-war education, and so forth. (For more information, please see: “What is Peace Education?”)
The Role of Youth in Peace Education
Take a moment to consider how you might incorporate peace education into your life and work in your community. As young people, you are central to the implementation and success of peace education. Your passions, interests, and motivations make peace education possible, and it is through your efforts that we can work toward a more just future. Because peace education is needed now more than ever to combat systemic injustice and violence around the world, we invite you to consider how you might get involved in peace education efforts or how you might use peace education tools and frameworks to pursue the issues that you care most about. You are at the forefront of change, and we hope to provide you with helpful resources in spearheading that change.
Youth Survey Report: Youth Knowledge & Interest in Peace Education
Youth involvement in peace education is essential for the growth of peace and justice movements across the world. But what do young people know about peace education and how would they like to get involved? What’s needed to ensure young people are fully able to learn about and get involved with peace education? To answer these questions, the Global Campaign for Peace Education Youth Team conducted a survey in 2021 and created a report based on the findings. From this survey, we learned that young people are interested in getting involved with peace education work, but lack the resources to do so. To address the lack of peace education in schools and other contexts, there is much desire amongst young people to learn how to advocate for peace education within their communities.
That’s where the youth hub comes in! We are committed to providing you, youth changemakers, with the educational resources and tools you need to advocate for peace education in your communities and dive into peace education work around the world. We encourage you to explore the survey report to better understand the current landscape of youth and peace education, as well as consider some of the ways to fill the gaps the survey found in both youth knowledge and engagement in peace education and get your peers involved in peace education work. Then, check out the resources below to get start your peace education advocacy efforts!
Getting Involved in Peace Education
Are you ready to start advocating for peace education in your community and designing your own peace education project to make meaningful change? Check out the toolkit below for information on peace education and advocacy work and a step-by-step guide for designing and implementing your own project!
Peace Education for Youth:
A Toolkit for Advocacy & Planning
We designed this toolkit, which provides information on what peace education is and how it can be implemented on a practical level, with youth changemakers in mind. We hope to highlight the importance of peace education strategies in both formal and informal contexts as a means of affecting change. While this toolkit can be adapted to multiple advocacy efforts, it is specifically designed to support youth in advocating for peace education in spaces of formal (schools, universities) and non-formal learning (community settings). Ready to learn more about peace education and how you can start your own project? Check out the toolkit at the link below!
(Photo: Andy Blackledge via Flickr. CC by 2.0 DEED)
Educational Resources
Peace Studies Glossary
As you explore and engage in peace education, it may be helpful to have an understanding of the language used in peace studies. This resource aims to provide you with an explanation of terms that may appear in your readings related to peace and justice and support you in holding knowledgeable conversations about peace. The glossary provided below does not encompass every term related to peace studies, but it will be a helpful starting point for your journey into the field.
Youth Leading the Movement: A Global Dialogue on Anti-Racism
One of the best ways to learn about social issues and movements for change is from those engaging in work to create sustainable peace and justice! Much can be learned from those at the forefront of these movements, and they can inspire us to join in the work for peace. In 2020, the Global Campaign for Peace Education hosted the webinar “Youth Leading the Movement: A Global Dialogue on Anti-Racism.” In this seminar, you have the opportunity to hear from young people from around the world about how they are working in the anti-racism and anti-ethnic discrimination movement. It also explores how peace education in particular can be used to tackle oppression and create sustainable peace. Hopefully it will expand your understanding of anti-racism and anti-ethnic discrimination movements and encourage you to consider how you can use peace education as a means of enacting change in a variety of contexts.
Youth Focused News & Resources
Read the latest youth-focused news, resources, and reports here! Access the full archive of youth-focused content or conduct a focused search using the Peace Education Clearinghouse.
The 2023 Nanjing Peace Forum “Peace, Security, and Development: Youth in Action” was held in Jiangsu, China
Youth NGO calls for efforts to address religious intolerance (Ghana)
“Our Similarity is the way forward“ say young people from Western Balkans
Paving the way for peace: A transformative journey through Cameroon
UNAOC Trains New Cohort of Young Peacebuilders from Latin America and the Caribbean
George Mason University Graduate Students Experience Humanitarian Complexities at Home
Peace Education for Youth: A Toolkit for Advocacy and Planning
Responding to Recent Shootings and the Perils of Daily Life
The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Announces New Cohort of Young Peacebuilders from Latin America and the Caribbean
