Young people . . . empowered, they can be key agents for development and peace.

– Kofi Annan

GREAT THINGS HAPPEN WHEN WE WORK TOGETHER

NewGen Peacebuilders℠ is an award-winning education, training, and mentoring organization that puts young people at the center of projects to build peace in their communities, countries, and the world.

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There are 3 billion people in the world under the age of 30.

Today’s young people have unprecedented awareness of local, regional, and global issues, as well as a desire to solve problems. Yet peace is essentially absent from formal and informal education frameworks. Young people are rarely invited to create and participate in local, national, and international peace projects. Young people ages 14-24 are in a significant phase of leadership development and civic engagement. There are more than 27,000 high schools in the US, with an average population of 1,300+ students. That's more than 35 million potential peacebuilders.

Our Mission: Make learning to be a peacebuilder a rite of passage for everyone.

A United Nations report titled “The Missing Peace: Independent Progress Study on Youth, Peace and Security” confirmed the value and potential impact of young people as peacebuilders through face-to-face consultations with 4,230 young people, including participants in 281 focus groups and 44 countries. Watch the short video excerpt above for additional insight from author Graeme Simpson.

180 Million Certified Young Peacebuilders

THE BIG GOAL:

NewGen Peacebuilders trains and equips young people to:

  • Truly understand drivers of conflict and peace

  • Imagine innovative solutions that create change

  • Take positive actions to address issues affecting a community or communities

The result is empowered young leaders equipped to build bridges for the rest of their lives. Through a unique and propriety program design, NewGen Peacebuilders presents a wide range of research-based content on conflict and peace, and engages participants through: dialogue, discussion and creative exercises; project management skills training; personal reflection. To become certified, participants complete team peace projects.

There are an estimated 1.8 billion people in the world between ages 14-24.
What would shift if 180 million (or 10%) of them were equipped as peacebuilders?

NewGen Peacebuilders℠ programs, presentations, and trainings have been delivered on four continents, independently or in collaboration with other organizations, including the Alliance for Peacebuilding, Institute for Economics & Peace, and Rotary Positive Peace Activators.

MILESTONES

  • 2014

    NewGen Peacebuilders launches with 18 students from three high schools – first peace project implemented: #RiceforLife

  • 2015

    First international NGP program in Buenos Aires leads to more workshops in Argentina and Bolivia

  • 2018

    NewGen Peacebuilders alumnae win the Tom Tom Founders Festival - TTFF and Youth Summit Social Innovation Challenge with their peace project

  • 2019

    Youth Peace Conference with 200 students in Houston, TX, the fourth most populated city in the US: Video Case Study

  • 2021

    Charlotte, NC, becomes the first metro area with 500 certified peacebuilders

  • 2022

    Executive Director and NewGen Peacebuilders awarded the Melanie Greenberg US Peacebuilding Award of Excellence

2021-22

Youth & Peace in Action℠ (YPA), powered by NewGen Peacebuilders℠, leverages an innovative online platform to provide peace education, training, and project mentoring. Curriculum units, supporting materials, and professional development make this content available for educators to use in classrooms. It’s the largest youth peacebuilding initiative in the US and Caribbean.

Youth & Peace in Action (YPA)

By teaming up with 20+ Districts in Rotary Zones 33-34, we launched

“In classes we learn about the violence and not to repeat the wars, but we never learn about how to repeat the peace.”

— Lexi Bateman, NewGen Peacebuilders alumna —

Results and Impact

More than 15,000 students, teachers, and community supporters completed a total of 70,000 hours of peace education and mentoring. Students have designed and initiated 100 peace projects and there are 2,250 certified young peacebuilders. And 1,000 toolkits to support teachers have been distributed.

Replicable impact occurs when we team up with donors, service organizations, school systems, and community leaders with a shared goal to . . .

Collaborators and Supporters