On Tuesday the 18th of May nine youth activists from Spain (COOP), Italy (DICOCOM), Cyprus (NGO Support Centre) and the Netherlands (ICDI) visited UNOY Peacebuilders for a lunch and training on advocacy.

During the training an introduction to UNOY Peacebuilders was given, explaining its activities, structure and members. The main part of the training was focused on advocacy. Advocacy is the act of pleading or arguing in favour of something, such as a cause, idea, or policy, in order to exert some influence. Advocacy is part of an ongoing dynamic process. The five steps to planning an advocacy project were broadly discussed: develop the message, create a strategy, lobby, follow-up and evaluate.

The training ended with an actor mapping exercise. During this exercise participants were asked to formulate a solution on how Spanish youth could be more active and involved in volunteer work. The volunteer project that received the most attention during this mapping exercise was the online exchange program with Cyprus and Italy implemented by Youthactivism.net.

UNOY Peacebuilders is pleased to announce that after applying in May 2006, the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations has recommended UNOY Peacebuilders for special consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Receiving approval for this status will allow UNOY to work more closely with UN Agencies and other UN bodies by giving us the ability to attend ECOSOC meetings and circulate statements. We intend to use this as an opportunity to promote the role of youth in peacebuilding at the international level. Read the full UN statement here.

UNOY Peacebuilders' International Secretariat and member organisation Dinamismo Juvenil have co-written an article on the Violence against Children and Youth campaign.

The article has been published in the Coyote Magazine which is published by the Council of Europe and the European Commission.

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On 10th and 11th December 2008, the United Network of Young Peacebuilders Youth Advocacy Team attended an EU conference on Children and Development in the European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium.

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On 20 November 2008, Universal Children's Day, UNOY Peacebuilders was present at the final presentation of the Youth Group GOUD, which was held in one of the local libraries of The Hague. Youth group GOUD consists of youth from different high schools from The Hague that are active in the school councils. This joint project focused on raising awareness on the importance of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child among youth in The Hague.

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Charles Bwembya from Coalition for Peace in Africa (COPA) South Africa represented UNOY Peacebuilders during the Biennial Meeting of States in New York in July.

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UNOY Peacebuilders has decided to dedicate the month of August to Advocacy. We have produced a special version of the newsletter which is designed to answer exactly why advocacy is so important and how you can be more successful when undertaking such work. The newsletter also includes interviews, commentaries and useful resources!

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UNOY Peacebuilders’ latest publication ’Youth Advocacy for a Culture of Peace: A Reflective Guide for Action’ has been published. Please click here to download the report (1.1 MB).

On April the 15th the UNOY Advocacy Team conducted a series of workshops on advocacy and political lobbying at the Radboud International Model United Nations in The Netherlands.

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