The Anna Lindh Mediterranean Foundation for Dialogue joined the Government of Finland in a strategic forum at the UN Headquarters on “Young Peacebuilders for Sustaining Peace”. The forum took place on the eve of the first Youth Dialogue in the UN General Assembly that aims to reinforce youth-led dialogue and peacebuilding at the global level.

The President of the United Nations General Assembly, H.E. Miroslav Lajčák, underlined at the opening of the meeting: “If we don’t pull up a chair for you, you will leave us behind. Throughout history, young people have created positive social change both with and without the United Nations. Our relevance depends on youth involvement and not the other way around.”

The UN Secretary General’s Envoy on Youth, Jayathma Wickramanayake, referenced the new Progress Study on UN Security Council Resolution 2250 (Youth, Peace and Security): “A next step in our work together is to be more strategic for building local partnerships for 2250 and in strengthening the evidence base through access to data and research in youth-led initiative.”

Ms Wickramanayake also underlined that Finland was a leading example in investing in the implementation of the YPS Progress Study, and it is the first Member State to have developed a national action plan for 2250 that can provide a model of practice for the Member States in the Euro-Mediterranean partnership and wider region.

The core message captured through the Progress Study is that there is a growing trust gap between young people and their governments, multilateral organisations, and international civil society organizations, and recommends investing in the upstream and existing youth-led initiative.

The Anna Lindh Foundation and the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs signed this month, in May 2018, a new funding agreement to scale-up the impact of the Foundation’s flag-ship debate programme Young Mediterranean Voices.

The Anna Lindh Foundation for Inter-Cultural Dialogue promotes knowledge, mutual respect and inter-cultural dialogue between the people of the Euro-Mediterranean region, working through a network of more than 3,000 civil society organisations in 43 countries. Its budget is co-funded by the EU (EUR 10 million) and the EU Member States (EUR 6 million).

Read more

Press release

Anna Lindh Foundation – website