Mediothek Afghanistan organized a provincial youth dialogue forum in Kabul on 11.02.2021 in which more than 50 participants, both young men and women, young peace makers, leaders of youth groups, university students and youths of different backgrounds participated. The provincial dialogue forum is part of the project “Youth as Multipliers for Peace – Mobilization for and Participation in the Peace Process in Afghan Provinces”, funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.
In part, the project is aiming to promote the involvement of young multipliers in matters of peacebuilding, political processes through exchanges with one another and with political decision-makers at local, provincial and nationals as well as training and capacity building and skills acquisition. In addition to the current provincial dialogue forum, two series of 20 dialogue forums in provincial capitals, workshop with facilitators in the Ministry of Peace and a nation conference “Afghan Youth for Peace” in Kabul will provide further chances for young peace makers to come together to discuss the results of the ToT, the previous workshops and dialogue forums held during 2020. The current dialogue forum in Kabul was organized in collaboration with the Deputy Ministry of Youth Affairs – the main governmental entity responsible for policy making on youth affairs and improving youth conditions across the country.
Speaking at the opening of the event, Farah Mostafavi, head of youth and cultural affairs at Mediothek, said that Mediothek Afghanistan since its establishment has been working to promote and facilitate cohesion and participation of young people in national issues and processes, provide capacity building programs for youth and help young people mobilize for positive change in their communities and the country at large.
“Peacebuilding is a multi-phased process namely peace-making, peace-keeping and peacebuilding and young people can play a more effective role in peacebuilding when and if they have knowledge about these phases and acquire needed peacebuilding skills” added Ms. Mostafavi “and through this project we help young people to not only learn about peacebuilding in theory but also help them to effectively engage in it.”
Dr. Idris Alokozai, Deputy Minister of Youth Affairs of the Ministry of Information and Culture, praised Mediothek Afghanistan for organizing such dialogues to promote a culture of mutual acceptance, tolerance and peace by engaging and training youth people, adding that the Deputy Ministry of Youth Affairs is working to launch a comprehensive program to mobilize youth to play an active role in peacebuilding and social change and Mediothek’s work of the past two decades is of great importance in this regard.
The Deputy Minister of Youth Affairs, while expressing his readiness to cooperate with Mediothek Afghanistan in working for youth across the country, elaborated new plans of the Ministry and spoke about the important role of young people in social change and peacebuilding given the fact that 70.4 percent of the country’s population is made up of people under 30 years of age.
Mediothek Afghanistan and Deputy Ministry of Youth Affairs recently renewed and signed a new Memorandum of Understanding to improve coordination and organize more effective youth-oriented programs across the country.
Ziadin Sadr, chief-in-editor of Afghanistan Today – Mediothek publication center, also spoke to the young participants, saying that achieving peace is not feasible without working with a segment of the citizens which makes up 70 % of the country’s population: the youths. Working with young people and focusing on well-defined goals and most importantly setting peacebuilding in the country as our primary goal can and will lead us to sustainable peace in the country and this project is providing a very open and unique chance for young people of different backgrounds to share their views about peace.
“Youth is a vulnerable group in society so their cohesion and mobilization can reduce their vulnerability and in order for young people to play a key role in society and peacebuilding, communication must be strengthened amongst them” says Hassan Hossein Yar, moderator of the dialogue forum, “youth’s work will be not be impactful and effective unless they work in coordination and mobilization with each other.”
Participants welcomed organizing such dialogues among youth adding that such efforts are very effective for youth the across the country giving the current state of affairs in the country.
Ramzieh Saeedi, a participants of the dialogue forum in Kabul says “young people must be consulted in the peace process, and without a doubt, holding these dialogues will enable young people to have their voices heard in decision-making bodies.”
“Such dialogues help mobilize youth for the peace process and with these programs, the position and presence of youth in the country will be better established, says Rana Moradi, a participant.
The “Youth as Multipliers for Peace – Mobilization For and Participation in the Peace Process in Afghan Provinces” project began in 2020 with an advanced ToT workshop in Kabul followed by two rounds of local or district level workshops and discussion fora in 2020 across a dozen provinces aiming to develop common views and perspectives of young people on a peaceful future and collecting views about strengthening the peace process by directing engaging with more than several hundred young leaders across the target provinces. The current provincial dialogue forms are organized across 10 provinces throughout the country. The project will proceed with a workshop of facilitators with the State Ministry for Peace in Kabul, a national conference on “Youth and Peace” in Kabul with the participation of youth representatives from across ten target provinces, workshops and dialogue forums in a dozen provinces during this year and presentation of youth perspectives on the peace process to the Afghan government, UNAMA, EU representation and the German Embassy in Kabul in writing and through meetings and forums.
In the second and last of part of the dialogue form-Kabul, participants continued working through different working groups to discuss and analyze the challenges, opportunities and solutions that are available to youth. Each working group presented the results of their group work and a resolution was developed for further discussion and analysis.
