Press release: The 2nd Regional Peace Summer School to be held in Entebbe, Uganda, from 19th–23rd September 2022.

Persons in charge: Blaise Ndola

Position: Communications Manager

Contacts: blaise.ndola@greatlakesyouth.africa & +243 813304394

C/O Lydia Byogera and Kwezi Tabaro, Uganda National Coordinators, lydia.byogero@greatlakesyouth.africa, kwezi@leoafricainstitute.org

Kampala, 12th September 2022 – The EU-co-funded project "Great Lakes Youth Network for Dialogue and Peace" would like to announce the second "Regional Peace Summer School" to be held in Entebbe, Republic of Uganda, from 19th–23rd September 2022 at the Imperial Botanical Beach Hotel.

The project is being implemented by a consortium of organizations that have been working in the region for several years, including the German political foundation Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS)–with its three country offices in DRC, Uganda and Tanzania–as well as local partners: Pole Institute in Goma, DRC; Vision Jeunesse Nouvelle (VJN) in Gisenyi, Rwanda; Cornerstone Development Africa (CDA) and LéO Africa Institute (LAI) in Kampala, Uganda; and Actions for Democracy and Local Governance (ADLG) in Mwanza, Tanzania. This second Regional Peace Summer School will be hosted by our two partners in Uganda mentioned above.

The first Regional Peace School, held in Goma, in January 2022, from 24th–28th, brought together a hundred people from various portfolios. This second such event would like to start on a solid foundation, considered solid, of the first and welcome more than 130 people in Entebbe. They include leaders of youth organisations, targeted actors in politics and civil society, the private sector and development cooperation, academia, national and international media, EU delegations and Konrad Adenauer Foundation country offices in the Great Lakes region. All these stakeholders will come from DR Congo, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania, the Target Region of the project.

This Regional Peace Summer School will include very relevant sessions around current thematics for peace, development, and social cohesion within the Great Lakes region. These sessions will be facilitated by experts and youth leaders on topics such as the danger and threats to the peacebuilding process following the resurgence of armed conflicts in the region; education in the culture of peace and non-violence; the role of the media in the peacebuilding process; economic stability and youth employment; the skills needed for mediation and conflict resolution as well as the participation of youth in these processes at national level; the community mobilization for peace; the creation of an adequate environment for refugees, etc. Youth will also be able to share their experiences and lessons learned in peace and security activism in the Great Lakes region and participate in a peace walk in support of the Uganda Refugee Bill alongside other local organizations.

After forging partnerships and links during the first Regional Peace School, youth will present ideas for regional and national projects to a jury and will then be able to benefit from sub-grants to implement these projects over a period of about one year. It is indeed a question of consolidating the youth network that is being built in the region, but also of strengthening the impact of youth initiatives in the field of the promotion of peace and dialogue. 16 chosen projects will benefit from these sub-grants.

Recall that these two editions of the Peace Summer School are made possible thanks to the financial support of the European Union and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung as well as with the technical support of all partners.

Download the press release in PDF here.