Youth

URI respects wisdom from voices of all generations.
Coexister CC youth marching

URI celebrates the work and leadership of young people. Cooperation Circles work towards equity and fair age representation in all aspects of their work.

Examples of our work in this Action Area:

  • The URI Youth Connection Cafe is a monthly virtual meeting space for young people across the URI network to connect, learn together, and share their experiences as young interfaith peacebuilders. Each Cafe is hosted by a different youth Cooperation Circle who chooses the topic and facilitates the session. Read more here. Please contact URI if you would like to join these gatherings! 
  • In MENA, Desert Bloom CC regularly hosts youth exchange programs offering young people the experience of meeting across cultures and participating in cultural activities together. Most recently, Desert Bloom participated in the Creating the Way Youth Exchange program in Romania. 
  • In South India, Ecopeace Teen Cafe runs a transformative educational experience for 30 young high school learners. This five-month program covers four modules: community building, environment conservation, social justice, and peace. The learners engage weekly with different guest speakers and participate in activities together, facilitated by a team of youth volunteers. Read more here.
Search for Cooperation Circles (CCs) with a focus on Youth

Stories

Transformative environmental education with 30 high school learners in South India - the launch of the Ecopeace Teen Cafe

In India, Greshma Raju, from Jyothirgamaya Interfaith CC, has initiated a project called Ecopeace Teen Cafe, which is a four month education programme reaching 29 high school learners in South India, focusing on community building, environmentalism, peacebuilding and social justice. Read more about the inspiration behind this initiative and Greshma’s learnings through the experience of starting a project like this!

URI AL&C Online Youth Training

Between August and September 2021, the URI AL&C Online Youth Training organized by the URI Global Program for the participation of youth was developed with the intervention of 15 young people from the CCs: Aflaiai, Constructores de Puentes, Teusaquillo, Mukua, Quinaroes , COEMATI, The Descendants of Guatemaya, Samay, ACRE from the countries: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama and Venezuela.

Report of the G20 Interfaith Forum

Young leaders from North America/Multi-Region (Erin Adarve and Vasu Bandhu), Europe (Mirjona Hoxhallari and Emina Frljak), and West Africa (Clement Awanfe Ngueto) represented URI, along with Regional Coordinator for North America Tahil Sharma and member of the URI UN team Audrey Kitagawa, at the G20 Interfaith Forum in Bologna, Italy from Sept 11 - 14th. Read about their experiences here!