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Tunis, 19 March 2018 – Starting today, over the next four weeks, 180 Libyan youth will participate in workshops for promoting Positive Peace, organised by UNICEF and the Institute of Economics and Peace through funding from the Government of Italy.
Speaking ahead of the first workshop, Warda Mohammed El Bijou, one of the participants from Benghazi said, “I am looking forward to the workshops, to learning skills that will allow me to translate my thoughts into action; to develop initiatives which will help my community and promote a culture of peace in my country.” Peace means much more than the absence of violence. Based on the Institute of Economics and Peace’s [IEP] Positive Peace Framework and under the framework of the Nicosia Initiative which is lead by the European Committee of the Regions in support of Libyan municipalities, the series of workshops will encourage Libyan youth to look forward to the future instead of looking back at the differences of the past. Local ownership and leadership have shown to be critical factors in building peace and as such, participants will be asked to think and develop innovative community development projects that reflect these ideas and values; encouraged to look forward to the future instead of back at the differences of the past. “The participation of young people is crucial for the development and stability of Libya,” said Mr. Mostafa Al Baroni, the Mayor of Zintan who has been one of the main supporters of the workshops in the context of the Nicosia initiative. “These workshops will be a strong step in spreading peace and coexistence in Libya through increasing the ability and awareness of youth to address the needs of their communities.” “This generation of young women and men in Libya stand at the border between political instability and conflict and the future of prosperity, peace and humanity” said Abdel-Rahman Ghandour, UNICEF Special Representative to Libya. “The launch of these workshops is an important step to support young Libyans by giving them the tools, skills and potentially the funding they need to create change in their communities.” He added.
After attending the workshops, participants will return to their home cities and be encouraged to start campaigning to raise awareness in their communities about positive peace. A joint UNICEF, IEP panel will also select the most innovative projects to be funded and implemented at a local level in Libya.
### Notes to Editors
These workshops build on the achievements made in a pilot conducted earlier in 2017 under the UNICEF programme” Towards Resilience and Social Inclusion of Adolescents and Young People in Libya” through funding from the European Union.
Many of the 17 youth who participated in this workshop have gone onto much success, for example through setting local radio station in Sirte, developing local youth networks and campaigning within their communities for peace. By scaling up this initiative in 2018, UNICEF, the Government of Italy, IEP and the Nicosia Initiative hope to enable Libyan youth to build a better and more peaceful future for all.
About UNICEF UNICEF Libya works to ensure that all children in Libya, no matter their gender, ethnicity or background, are protected and are able to realise their rights, growing up in a safe and healthy environment. Our programmes are located across the East, West and South of the country focusing on areas of education, child protection, health, youth, water and sanitation.
UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, to build a better world for everyone.
About the Nicosia Initiative In 2015, the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) began helping Libyan mayors to foster contacts with EU institutions and European mayors, including granting Libya observer status at the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM). This was in line with the central role of Ms. Federica Mogherini, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
Following a letter to the CoR President in which Libyan mayors expressed the need for cooperation, a call for European and Mediterranean partners to share their know-how with Libyan authorities was launched at the ARLEM plenary session on 19 January 2016 in Nicosia, Cyprus, under the patronage of the Mayor of Nicosia. Consequently, CoR members began providing very practical support to Libyan cities through the Nicosia initiative – a platform run under the political umbrella of the CoR – with the aim of fostering territorial cohesion and cooperation among Libyan municipalities as well as supporting partnership building between Libyan and European peer institutions based on Libyan local strategic priorities and a set of common shared interests.
The requests for cooperation included in particular actions on services of general interest normally provided by local authorities to citizens and currently not fully performed due to the lack of budget and skills. The Libyan Mayors also pointed out a specific action on youth and mind-set change, as an urgent matter to be addressed About IEP The Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit think tank dedicated to shifting the world’s focus to peace as a positive, achievable, and tangible measure of human well being and progress.