Conflicts, both armed and un-armed, have been a constant throughout human history and will continue to persist in the future. Among the demographic groups most vulnerable to conflict and violence are the youth—who will also be called upon to find solutions for these conflicts in the future. The imperative question is: How can youth be bolstered to shoulder this responsibility? Cultivating unlikely partnerships is one promising approach. One such partnership was established in 2023 between the Global Diplomacy Lab (GDL) and the city of Osnabrück in Germany.

Signed in 1648, the Peace of Westphalia treaty marked the end of the Eighty Years’ War between Spain and the Netherlands, and the Thirty Years' War between Catholic and Protestant states within the Holy Roman Empire. The two parts of the treaty were signed in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. The treaty not only brought peace and territorial changes in Europe, but also lay the foundations for international law and modern international relations, with concepts such as diplomacy, mediation between states, and state sovereignty reflected in the treaty’s texts.

In celebration of the 375th anniversary of the treaty, the city of Osnabrück organized a seven-month long festival of Peace that created spaces for dialogue, ex-change, and inspiration for a more peaceful future. A particular focus was placed on the perspectives of young people, where their ideas and opinions formed a central part of the festival program.

Some key questions that went into the conceptualization of the program were: How might youth tackle present-day conflicts? What innovative strategies for conflict-prevention can they conceive? How can a more peaceful future be shaped collectively? A pivotal outcome of the festival was the documentation on key recommendations and practical implementable action points that go beyond the festival’s conclusion.

Forming an unlikely partnership

To create a unique Youth Empowerment Lab with an international reach, Osnabrück’s city representatives turned to the GDL. The GDL drew on its expertise on inclusive diplomacy, its experience in creating inspiring workshop situations, and its network’s international reach. The city of Osnabrück provided its convening capacities, Connections to a lively ecosystem of startups and artists that are active in peace-initiatives, and its connections to public and private institutions. The resulting collaboration was titled “Empowering Youth through Intersectional Conflict Mediation with a Focus on Religion”.

The Lab’s program benefited from the different yet complementary strengths of both partners as it featured several methods, approaches, and personal encounters that neither partner could have brought in alone. As the program aimed to engage participants emotionally as well as intellectually, sessions focused on a range of subjects, including Conflict drivers, identification methods, and tools for building and sustaining peace.

Topics included:

• The historical context of the Westphalian Peace treaty
• The Sustainable Development Goals
• Theory of peace and conflict resolution
• Interactive exercises for negotiation, non-violent communication, intercultural communication, Team building, and conflict management
• Exchange with experts from interfaith groups, business, government, youth and development sector
• The use of technology and art for advocacy

Embracing cooperative action

Once the Lab’s concept was finalized, both partners disseminated a call to participate in their respective networks, culminating in 140 applications. The jury that selected the participants consisted of members from the GDL network with expertise in the field of "peace and conflict mediation" and "religion" as well as experience working on young-oriented projects. In addition, young people were included in the jury to adequately consider the perspectives of the target group in the selection process.

Together, they selected 45 applicants between 17 and 27 years of age—15 from Germany including 8 of them from Osnabrück and 30 from other countries. Due to unforeseeable individual challenges, only 22 participants from 22 countries attended the 6-day event, held from October 28 to November 4, 2023.

Creating sustainable outcomes

Based on the post-event evaluation, participants were inspired by the project and carried forward the skills, experiences, and insights they gained during the event into their lives. In addition, almost all participants expressed a desire to stay in contact. The city of Osnabrück and the GDL will strive to create appropriate spaces for this. Already, a perpetuation of the format and even scaling up to include cities across the world are being discussed.

Furthermore, the program’s last day included the Formation of four working groups that created “Projects for Peace” that could be implemented in their communities:

1. Ubuntu: This group established a network of Engagement opportunities for youth in climate. This includes a social media platform that will serve as a hub for young individuals to share their expertise and foster collaborative approaches.
2. Youth for Democracy: This group emphasized that democracy extends beyond mere voting and highlighted the importance of active citizen engagement and participation to create a peaceful future.
3. Anti-Discrimination: Participants of this group drew on their collective experiences and identified prejudice and intergroup conflict as common issues in their lives. They proposed a global pen pal initiative to dismantle stereotypes and promote understanding among young people.
4. Making the Invisible Visible: This project focused on raising awareness of invisible disabilities through a social media campaign and an online petition. The group put together a list of demands that they would like their governments to act on.

Multiple perspectives leading to multiple Benefits

Many positive outcomes stand as a testament to the Synergy created by the combined efforts of the people and the organizations involved:

• Young participants were trained to be peace Multipliers and learned more about finding solutions collectively for seemingly intractable conflicts, thereby allowing them to look with hope into a future that is often marked by fear and uncertainty.
• The city of Osnabrück was able to tap into the international network and the expertise of GDL members. Though strong in the local peace-related infrastructure, the city also requires strong partners with international networks.
• The GDL extended its experience to a heterogeneous group outside of its network, and scale up their formats and methods into a larger stand-alone program that included local public and private partners.

With participants translating the gained skills and insights to peace building into concrete project ideas they could accomplish, the lab unfolded as part of a global peace process with an impact reaching beyond the one week in Osnabrück.

This article was orginally published in the iac Berlin Activity Report 2023. The entire report is available as free download:

Contact

Do you want to learn more about the Global Diplomacy Lab and its approaches and labs? We'll be happy to hear from you.

Audrey Namdiero-Walsh
audrey.namdiero-walsh@global-diplomacy-lab.org