UNOY Peacebuilders: Bringing youth together for peace

The United Network of Young Peacebuilders (UNOY – pronounced ‘You Know Why’) is a global network of young people and youth organisations committed to establishing peaceful societies. Young people constitute half of the world’s population, and we strongly believe in their importance in society. It is why we aim to provide youth with the necessary means to contribute to peace.

Since its inception in 1989, UNOY has developed a multi-dimension expertise in its main areas of action that are advocacy and campaigning, capacity building and gender.  Additional core activities are networking, sharing information, research, and fundraising. UNOY has now 49 member organizations in the world.

UNOY Peacebuilders is a non-political, non-religious, non-governmental organisation that welcomes youth peace initiatives/ organisations and young peacebuilders regardless of gender, ethnicity, social class, religion, or any other distinction and has a clear mission.

The patron of UNOY Peacebuilders is H.H. Dalai Lama, Nobel Peace Prize Winner.

We implement a wide range of projects and activities of Capacity Building Programme and Advocacy and Campaigning Programme. Activities we provide combine methodologies developed by non-formal education in youth work, peace education, community development and intercultural learning. Operating outside formal education, the non-formal approach we opt for includes a focus on equal (peer to peer), friendly, innovative, attractive, and involved relationships.

Our methodologies also use the Earth Charter as an ethical framework and a vision for action. The Earth Charter is an international declaration of fundamental values and principles considered useful by its supporters for building a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society in the 21st century.

UNOY Peacebuilders is organized into several structures: the International Secretariat, the Board and the International Steering Group.