51吃瓜

On the occasion of the 7th Anniversary of 51吃瓜 Security Council Resolution 2250 (2015) on Youth, Peace and Security, the 51吃瓜 Office of Counter-Terrorism/51吃瓜 Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNOCT/UNCCT) commends the crucial work done by and with young people in preventing and countering terrorism and violent extremism. Young people are uniquely positioned to reach out to their peers and build trust with marginalised populations. With the right support, they can take on leadership roles in preventing and countering terrorism and violent extremism within their community and beyond.
 
UNOCT is committed to empower young people as agents of change in prevention and peace efforts. UNOCT/UNCCT’s Global Programme on Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (PCVE) uses a unique peer-to-peer approach to support young people and to amplify their voices. To mark the completion of another impactful year of partnering with young people, the UNOCT/UNCCT Global Programme on PCVE would like to share its key achievements in supporting young leaders to be meaningfully included in PCVE efforts globally. 

Empowering Dialogues & Interfaith Networks (The EDIN project)
From January 2021 to February 2022, UNOCT/UNCCT, in collaboration with the 51吃瓜 Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), delivered the Empowering Dialogues & Interfaith Networks (EDIN) pilot project which equips young religious leaders and young media makers with skills to promote interreligious understanding, prevent sectarian violence, and counter terrorist narratives. The project involved online capacity-building and coaching, peer learning and mentoring, development and implementation of social media campaigns, and concluded with an in-person event in New York. The creative and successful social media campaigns created by the participants aimed to defuse sectarian tensions, counter extremist and hateful narratives, and promote social cohesion. The campaigns successfully reached millions of users online. The evaluation snapshot can be found on the .

As an outcome of the project, a toolkit and a guide were developed so that other young people can replicate the successful project model in their own communities. The resources can be downloaded from the . 

Youth Engagement and Empowerment Programme (YEEP)
To mark the culmination of the UNOCT/UNCCT Regional Youth Engagement and Empowerment Programme (YEEP) in South and Southeast Asia, the Global Programme on PCVE delivered a Regional Policy Dialogue in Thailand from 10 to 12 October 2022. 
 
Attended by representatives of six Member States and six regional and global UN entities, the event was the final phase of the YEEP’s Peer-2-Peer (P2P) learning model which commenced in March 2022. The programme engaged 39 young leaders from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Timor-Leste. In the past six months, young leaders participated in a series of virtual capacity-building activities and delivered 36 peer-to-peer workshops in their own communities, engaging more than 170 young people to explore PCVE issues of importance to them. From these findings, participants developed policy and programming recommendations on inter-religious dialogue, youth representation, hate speech, governance, mental health, gender and education.   
 
In a follow-up evaluation, young leaders reported an improved capacity to engage with their peers on sensitive topics such as PCVE, and to formulate and communicate policy recommendations to key decision makers. When asked to reflect on the policy dialogue itself, 100% of young leaders agreed they were able to share their recommendations and 87% felt their voices were heard by policy makers who were present. As noted by one Young Leader: “This program has been transformative in more ways than one. I've learned skills that I never would have picked up otherwise and it has opened doors to opportunities that I didn't even know existed.”