Namibia centres youth in peace agenda

Uiras champions youth-led peace from Burundi

President of the Namibia Youth Coalition on Peace and Security, Jessica /Uiras, is calling for young people to be at the centre of peacebuilding, saying African countries should not wait for conflict to invest in the next generation.

/Uiras delivered the message at the Continental Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) Dialogue in Bujumbura, Burundi, where African governments, youth leaders and development partners discussed ways to strengthen peace across the continent.

Representing Namibia, /Uiras said the country’s peace and stability should be used to prevent future challenges rather than respond to them after they emerge.

“Our relative peace and stability should not make the Youth, Peace and Security agenda any less relevant. It should allow us to invest in prevention before fractures become crises,” she said.

The discussions come as Namibia develops its first National Action Plan on Youth, Peace and Security.

She said the plan must move beyond policy and reach communities nationwide.

“Young people should know how to recognise tensions, engage across differences and solve problems before they escalate into bigger challenges,” she said.

With 37% of Namibia’s population under the age of 15, Uiras said the country cannot afford to ignore young people if it wants to protect its future.

She said peacebuilding is not only about preventing war. It is also about addressing youth unemployment, gender-based violence, misinformation and inequality, and ensuring young people have a meaningful voice in decisions that affect their lives.

The dialogue also highlighted the barriers facing young women across Africa.

Although more young women are being invited to conferences and policy discussions, /Uiras said they remain largely absent from where decisions are made.

“The greatest challenge is the gap between visibility and power,” she said.

Figures presented during the meeting showed that women made up only about 7% of negotiators in formal peace processes worldwide in 2024, while almost nine out of every 10 peace negotiations had no women negotiators.

She added that many young women are also excluded from peacebuilding because of unemployment, financial hardship, unpaid volunteer work, online abuse and care responsibilities.

“It is not a shortage of capable young women. Institutions have become better at inviting young women than at giving them decision making power,” she said.

She urged African governments to back their commitments with funding rather than adopting policies that are never implemented.

“A National Action Plan without a budget is ultimately an expression of intent,” she said. Uiras said that for Namibia, the discussion is about protecting the country’s stability before challenges deepen.

According to the 2023 Labour Force Survey, youth unemployment among people aged 15 to 34 stands at 44.4%, while unemployment among young women is even higher at 48.2%.

She said these pressures can weaken trust in institutions and leave young people feeling excluded if they are not addressed.

Returning from Burundi, Uiras is proposing a Namibia Youth Peace Ambassadors initiative that would train young people from the age of 16 in dialogue, conflict resolution, media literacy and community leadership.

Instead of once-off workshops, the programme would encourage young people to identify problems in their communities and lead local peace initiatives.

/Uiras said the real success of the Bujumbura meeting would not be Namibia’s participation, but whether the ideas discussed result in lasting change.

“Success is not that I attended a continental dialogue. Success is being able to point to something tangible in Namibia and say: this grew out of that conversation in Bujumbura,” she concluded.

-pmukokobi@nepc.com.na

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