Youth

Youth are the leaders of tomorrow. Instilling a culture of peace at an early age will build future generations that in conflict situations will resort to alternatives instead of violence. That is why COPA has opened a Youth desk, addressing the youth in their own environment and language.

The Youth desk is running the following projects:
 Conflict Transformation Training (CTT)
 Peace education

Conflict Transformation Training (CTT)
Lack of capacity for young people to manage their conflict, anger and external circumstances are all a threat to lasting peace, especially in informal settlements or low income areas. The Conflict Transformation Training is aimed at equipping the youth with skills to handle conflicts in a positive way, without resorting to the use of violence. In the aftermath of the 2007/2008 Kenyan crisis, COPA co-operated with youth organizations based in the slum areas of Nairobi to facilitate CTT workshops. This training is readily available on request.

Peace education

Reaching out to young people
COPA’s engagement with learning institutions begun out of the realization that sustainable peace is only achievable if deliberate efforts are made to reach out to young people.

Programmes in schools need to instill positive attitudes and behaviors in addition to equipping the youth with skills that empower them to engage positively in conflict situations -both at school and at the community level.

History
COPA’s journey with learning institutions begun in 2003 when COPA carried out a baseline survey in learning institutions across Kenya, with permission from the Ministry of Education. Goal of the survey was to establish their experiences with conflict, their existing capacities for peace education and their needs and preferences in this area.

The survey showed that schools were interested in both incorporating peace education within the formal curriculum and in receiving support for student-led extra-curricula peace clubs.

In the same year, COPA organized the first thematic peace education training workshop for teachers in Mombasa for a period of one week. This happened through the Linking Policy to Practice (LPP) programme under Dekha Ibrahim, a renowned Kenyan peace builder and COPA member.

Its purpose was to create an understanding of the rationale of peace education and the role of trainers. Out of it, the Peace Education Network (PEN) was launched.

School Diary of Peace
The following year COPA developed the ‘School Diary of Peace’ through the LPP programme: a monitoring tool used to record violent incidences in schools and their intervention strategies. Its idea is that over time, the diary entries provide regular feedback as well as benchmarks to enable teachers and others observe conflict patterns.

The systematic keeping of records helps to see trends, revise assumptions and to create strategies to prevent further violence. The diary was officially launched in November 2004 and has been used by some schools to record their efforts at peace making. It is currently available in English, Kiswahili and Somali. Copies can be found at COPA for those interested in having one for their school.

In November 2004, COPA in partnership with the Peacejam Foundation and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines organized a special event in Nairobi (Kenya) during the commemoration of the UN anniversary of the Ottawa Convention against land mines. The event brought together over 300 secondary school students from Nairobi, Coast and North Eastern Province (Kenya) and a further 100 young people from land mine and war affected countries.

The gathering was graced by Jody Williams (the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize Winner, honoured for her campaign against landmines) and Shirin Ebadi (the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize Winner, honoured for her effort to promote democracy and human rights in Iran). This event marked the launch of the School Diary of Peace. The conference generated a lot of interest from the youth on issues of peace building.

In October 2005, COPA held a strategy workshop on peace education in Gitega, Burundi. The workshop brought together participants from Kenya, Uganda, Somalia, South Africa, Zambia and Burundi to share their experiences on the implementation of peace education in their countries.

Participants to the workshop agreed that peace education in post-conflict situations should be centred on weaning off the culture of violence and conflict and on articulating values, attitudes and behaviour for a culture of peace.

Peace education
In 2006, COPA started a three year peace education project with the financial support of Cordaid. The project consists of various capacity building peace workshops for students and the establishment of peace clubs in selected learning institutions in Nairobi. Later in 2008, the programme expanded to include schools in districts that were most affected by Kenya’s political crisis.

Schools that have been part of the COPA peace education programme were at the start limited to Nairobi. These schools include Starehe Boys Centre, Kahawa Sukari Secondary, Parklands Boys, Jamhuri High, Kibera Academy, Raila Education Centre, Pumwani Boys and St. Teresa Boys.

Other schools that have also interacted with the COPA programme though not initially in the project include Dandora High School, Friends School, Ofafa Jericho High, Huruma Girls, Ndururuno High and Aquinas High School.

The schools involved from Rift Valley and Western Kenya include 64 secondary school, Mother of Apostles, Kapsoya secondary school, Hill school, St. Marks Kipchiria, all located in Eldoret. Those in Mount Elgon include Maeni Girls Secondary, Kapsokwony High, St. Theresa’s Kimilili, Kapkateny High, Kibuk Girls secondary, Chemonge secondary, Moi Girls Kamusinga, Friends school Kimobo, Toroso high school, Cheptais High School among others.

COPA has partnered with youth organization in the conflict transformation process in Nairobi and focuses in working closely with the youth as no serious organization can claim to do intervention without involving the youth.

School's Peace Journal
The peace education programme has culminated in the recently published School’s Peace Journal. This journal is a learning and a motivating tool for students and institutions that would like to engage in peace building activities.

It contains lessons learned from five years of peace education and describes the challenges that COPA has faced in implementing the programme. In addition, case studies of peace clubs from various schools and poems and essays from various students are included in the journal.