Global Urban Peace Labs -Colombia Urban Youth Fund

2.3. PurposeThe project is a targeted initiative that will provide specific needs and priorities of different groups of young people, including the differentiated needs of young women and men, during and after conflict. The project is innovative as it will be developed with and by young people, building on research which identifies existing local capacities for peace and young people’s sources of resilience, as opposed to externally driven solutions. Guided by human rights principles of participation and inclusion , in line with the Guiding Principles  and the Security Council Resolution 2250, the project aims to create a self- sustaining funding window (Global Urban Peace Labs) for innovative youth–led organizations in Colombia as an intervention on peace and resilience building. This is with funding from Alianza-SENA within Youth Fund rules and regulations. The project will address the specific needs of the youth, as the target group, while also building peace ad resilience through: 1:  Promoting young people’s participation as an essential condition for successful peace building The Colombia Urban Youth Fund Window will aim to prioritize regular, systematic, meaningful participation of young people as an essential condition for the sustainability, inclusiveness and success of peace building efforts. This is of particular importance, as young people constitute a majority of the population. In addition, the project will promote and abide by the understanding that the majority of young people strive for peace and stability and that a number of them are actively engaged in peace building efforts; only a minority of young people engages in violence. In order, to ensure maximum participation of young people, the project will link young people’s participation in peace building to all sectors (social, economic, cultural and political) and levels (family, school, community, local, regional and national governance). 2:   Valuing and building upon young people’s diversity and experiences The project will acknowledge that definitions of “young people” vary depending on social, cultural and political contexts and strive to understand the national and local contexts that young people have grown up in. This will also involve valuing diversity among young people and developing targeted strategies to involve and include young people from different backgrounds, taking into account differences in age, gender, ethnicity, culture, religion, class, caste, education, social status, place of residence (rural/urban), sexual orientation, physical and intellectual abilities, interests, etc. The project will support youth-led organizations to reflect on patterns of inclusion and exclusion, and to work pro-actively to address discrimination, which is often one of the root causes of conflict. It will also be important to involve hard-to-reach young people who belong to groups often disproportionately affected by conflict, including disabled young people and young people from minority and indigenous groups. 3:  Being sensitive to gender dynamics Gender inclusiveness will be key in this project. With this regard, the project will recognize the specific grievances or vulnerabilities that young people might have as a result of the conflict and violence, and that these experiences are often gendered. As a result of the Global Urban Peace Labs, the project during implementation, will avoid stereotypical assumptions about the roles and aspirations of girls, boys, young women, young men and young transgender people in conflict. In addition, the project will seek to identify strategies to reach out to young women, seek their engagement, and create a safe space to raise their specific issues and concerns and support their initiatives.4: Enabling young people’s ownership, leadership and accountability in peace building The Colombia Urban Youth Fund window will identify young people and youth led-organizations involved in peace-building initiatives: find them, learn from them and support them. This will also enable different project stakeholders and beneficiaries to create opportunities for young people’s sustained participation, ownership and leadership in local, national, regional and international mechanisms in preventing, managing and resolving conflict and maintaining peace. 5. Involving young people in all stages of peace building and post-conflict programming It is important to involve diverse groups of young people in identifying critical interventions that can change the dynamics of conflict and violence and in analyzing the conflict and the roles of different actors. This will involve use of tailored and age-appropriate methodologies for young people to contribute directly to designing, implementing, monitoring, evaluating and following up on peace building and post-conflict processes. In addition, it is important to advocate for and support institutionalizing of young people’s participation and representation in local and national governance processes so that they can influence practices and policies affecting them and ensure youth have the appropriate training and support to engage in these processes. 8. Introducing and supporting policies that address the full needs of young people Key to UN-Habitat will be to prioritize the development of youth-focused and youth-inclusive policies as an important peace dividend. This will be achieved though working with various stakeholders relevant in meeting the goal of the program. Of keen interest are the various city leaders in Colombia. UN-Habitat and Alianza SENA will be key in providing knowledge and expertise towards contributing to the establishment of or support existing local and national fora and other appropriate channels of communication that can enhance young people’s participation in development of public policies, which affect the lives of young people. UN-Habitat will offer technical support and expertise in the development of inclusive national policies that address the needs and aspirations of young people. This will aim to contribute to young people’s participation, development and empowerment, and that are fully aligned with international human rights, regional instruments and key policy documents. Lastly, as part of the program activities, UN-Habitat and SENA will take the lead in supporting research on youth and peace building that can be used as a reference for policy in Colombia and other fragile states. 

1.1.                     Alignment

 

 

Local Priorities

·        Youth Citizenship Act (2013)[1]

National Priorities

·        The Political Constitution (1991)

·        Colombia National Youth Policy (2005)

·        The National Development Plan (2012-2018)

Regional Priorities

·        Youth Conference of the Americas 

Global Priorities

·        SDG 11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable,

·        SDG 16: Peace, Justice and strong institutions,

·        Guiding Principles on Young Peoples Participation in Peace building,

·        UN Security Council Resolution on Youth, Peace and Security S/RES/2250/ (2015),

·        United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child,

·        The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of discrimination against Women (CEDAW)

·        World Programme of action on Youth

·        The New Urban Agenda

2.5. Reason for engagementToday, more than 1.5 billion people live in countries affected by fragility and conflict, a majority of which is under the age of 30. These numbers alone justify the inclusion and consideration of youths in policymaking and planning. However, in practice, the meaningful participation of young people in peace building has been hindered by discourses that overwhelmingly depict youths as victims or villain. UN-Habitat has been on the fore front of advocating and providing technical support for youth issues both on a programmatic and normative level in urban contexts in Africa, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Caribbean and the Arab states. Such previous engagements on youth engagement, empowerment, capacity building and entrepreneurship with myriad of partners, including city leaders gives UN-Habitat provides an edge as far as this project is concerned. In addition, through the programs implemented in the regions, best practices are easily depicted that is key in influencing policy on a national, regional and global level. Local Economic Development strategies are important while implementing Colombia Youth Fund window with the aim to build up the economic capacity of a local area to improve its economic future and the quality of life for all. Local Economic Development strategies are integral in implementing programs under UN-Habitat Urban Economy and Finance Branch .The project is a programmatic initiative that supports and links the currently launched Security Council Resolution on Youth Peace and Security S/RES/2250/2015.