JWF Connects with Youth in Back-to-Back Peace Programs

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JWF Connects with Youth in Back-to-Back Peace Programs

On May 1-3, 2015, JWF ran a peacebuilding workshop for youth as part of the Cayrus Project in Alexandria, Egypt, which was organized by the Italian NGO New Humanity and financed by the European Union. JWF also participated in the three-day Youth World Peace Forum immediately following the Cayrus Project.

We want education as a tool for reconciliation which includes a culture of peace in the curricula of schools … We want a society in which both men and women advocate equal rights … We want collaboration among states toward economic development rather than domination.

Excerpts from the JWF youth workshop’s Final Declaration

The Cayrus Project prepared about 60 youth from around the world to engage in human rights education, explore careers in the social field, and develop relevant media skills. Participants were thus well-prepared for the Youth World Peace Forum on May 4-6, 2015, a large-scale event that was organized by New Humanity and the EU at the El Rowad American College in Cairo.

Many non-governmental organizations from different countries were involved in both the Cayrus Project and the Youth World Peace Forum. Turkey was represented by the Journalists and Writers Foundation along with a group of four students from Turkish high schools and universities.

For the Cayrus Project, JWF organized a workshop that focused on identifying and overcoming obstacles to peace-building efforts. The workshop’s participants summarized their findings in a final declaration, which covered five broad areas: education, gender, social justice, the economy, and the environment. Each section offered suggestions for building sustainable peace.

For the Youth World Peace Forum, which featured musical and dance performances as contributions to world peace, JWF developed a presentation around the forum’s theme of “Living Peace: Let’s Bridge.” Their performance symbolized the building of bridges between different religious, ethnic, sexual, and ideological identities via universal human rights.

As part of the forum, participants had the chance to visit the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the City Museum of Cairo, and other touristic places. The program concluded with a sound and light show over the pyramids on the Giza Plateau.

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