June 26, 2023 – WPDI’s commitment to creating conditions for lasting peace in marginalized communities means leaving no stones unturned to engage young people, both because they are at a critical age when basic values and attitudes are forged and because they can be mobilized directly to disseminate these within the community. These skills can be disseminated thanks to a rugged determination and tenacious desire for positive transformation that we believe can be found in all young people. It is a powerful tool, and requires a specific approach to access.
Our global Youth Peacemaker Network is a strategic social structure that WPDI has spent 10 years developing in order to unlock the power of youth for peace. At our Community Learning Centers, we run bespoke peace initiatives that empower local children, youths and women in vulnerable communities in view of improving conditions for peace, sustainability and resilience. These initiatives include Conflict Resolution Education (CRE) programs in schools, which focus on both teachers and students, which aim to tackle deep-seeded socio-economic issues in places where violence and instability is rife.
In this context, WPDI’s team in Chiapas, Mexico, has been running a special Conflict Resolution Education program for 300 students and 14 teachers in two municipalities of the Chiapas jungle zone. The area is characterized by political violence, with different groups vying for territorial control and where the socio-economic fabric has been severely destabilized by years of instability. Many locals have thus been deprived of basic services and have had their human rights violated by conflict.
Two second-generation WPDI Youth Peacemakers, Dany and Lielman, took it upon themselves to run a CRE training program in COBACH 67, Telesecundaria Tocob Lejlemal, Emiliano Zapata and Albergue Centro de Integracion Social No2 Benito Juarez schools. The special workshops are designed to help communities strengthen their resilience capacity with respect to ongoing conflict and political instability. 
At the heart of the approach is teaching trainees about how they can create conditions for more peaceful coexistence, find common ground when resolving local and communal conflicts and how to spread this message of peace among their peers and everyone in the community. New generations hold the key to a peace that endures, this program aims to get them into the driving seat of change.
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