Young people are not disengaged from peacebuilding—they are redefining it.
 
In our new policy brief, Reimagining Peace: Young Peacebuilders and the Future of Peace Practice, Giacomo Castorina Calí and I examine how young peacebuilders are already leading amid a rapidly changing international order.
 
This moment calls for a new vision—one that invests in the people, networks, and forms of solidarity already carrying communities through conflict, democratic erosion, digital repression, and civic closure.
 
Drawing on the experiences and priorities of youth-led organizations within the United Network of Young Peacebuilders (UNOY), the brief shows that young peacebuilders are not waiting for permission to lead. They are organizing through community networks, mutual aid, protest, digital campaigns, transnational peer learning, and other forms of solidarity—often beyond formal institutions that have excluded or tokenized them.
 
The paper highlights five priorities:
✔️ Rebuild trust through meaningful listening and intergenerational partnership
✔️ Adopt Holistic Security approaches that address physical safety, digital security, and psychosocial well-being
✔️ Invest in digital and information security while addressing AI-enabled risks
✔️ Recognize peer learning and transnational solidarity as essential infrastructure
✔️ Provide flexible, accessible, long-term funding that allows youth-led organizations to respond and adapt
 
This is not simply about including young people in existing systems or asking them to respond to crises designed by others. Reimagining peace must recognize their leadership as central, and pair it with the protection, trust, and resources needed for their work to endure.
 
We hope this brief contributes to a broader conversation among young peacebuilders, governments, funders, civil society organizations, and peace practitioners.

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Read the policy brief here.