The ACADEMY Represented at an International Seminar On Youth AND Peace-building

(Hargeisa, Somaliland, January 27 2010) Ms. Ifrah M. Abdi, the Academy's researcher on Gender Mainstreaming, attended an international seminar on "Youth and Peacebuilding" on 12-14 January in San El Salvador, Central America.

Since armed conflicts aggravate the vulnerability of youth, rendering them both victims and destabilizing agents in conflict-ridden societies, the seminar addressed the importance of channelling youth's energy towards recovery and peace building.

With the objective of integrating youth into the peacebuilding, reconstruction and long-term development of post-conflict societies, the seminar was organised by INTERPEACE (The International Peacebuilding Alliance) and had participants from the Alliance's world-wide affiliates.

	Photo group of Elsalvador Youth Club		Photogroup of the Seminar Participants		During the closing lunch ceremony

Further, the seminar was intended to encourage the creation of an enabling environment in which youth can learn, share, work through solutions and trigger new creative ideas.

External experts on youth issue such as Dr. Brian K. Barber, the founding director of the Center for the Study of Youth and Political Violence in Tennessee University, some of whose published books on youth include "Kids are all right" and "Adolescent & War: How youth deal with political violence" has been invited. Other guests included officials from Population Action International and respected local leaders.

Representing the Academy, Ms. Abdi presented the context in which Somaliland youth can be found today, with particular focus on their role and involvement in both the country's past conflicts as well as subsequent peacebuilding efforts; equally important, Ms. Abdi conveyed the determination of Somaliland's youth today to participate in the country's political decision-making processes and structures.

A draft strategy document was developed at the end of the seminar as part of efforts to address youth issues as a vital component of the Alliance's current and future respective partnerships with its international affiliates.

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