NKABOM NEWS

Pacific Islands Forum, 6-9 September 2011

The Wansolwara Youth Peace-building Conference was represented at the Officals' Side Event on "Youth Matters NOW: Investing in Young People for a Secure, Prosperous and Sustainable Pacific" as part of the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders' Meeting held in Auckland in September. See the press release on APYouthNet.

The outcome statement from the Wansolwara Conference was endorsed by Pacific leaders in their Forum Communiqué (Point 24).

Wansolwara Youth Peace-building Conference, 20-23 June 2011

The Pacific Nkabom Steering Committee successfully ran the first Wansolwara Youth Peace-building Conference (WYPC) in Auckland, New Zealand from 20 to 23 June 2011. Eighteen young people between the ages of 18-25 years representing fourteen Pacific Island Forum countries met at the Conference to discuss ways of developing their capacities to promote, undertake and support peace-building activities within the Pacific region.

You can download the outcome statement from the Conferencehere .

After lobbying the 42nd Pacific Islands' Forum, the outcome statement will be discussed by Pacific leaders in Auckland from 6-9 September 2011.

Congratulations to the Pacific Nkabomers for their fantastic achievement!

Information on the Wansolwara Youth Peace-building Conference

The 'Pacific Nkabom Youth Steering Committee' built on the success of Nkabom Peace-building and leadership Programme that took place in Rwanda last year. Nkabom means 'coming together' in the Ghanaian language of Twi. It is the name for the RCS's unique Commonwealth Youth Leadership Programme. The Pacific youth delegates who participated in this training formed a steering committee with the aim to facilitate and replicate a similar training for the young people from the Pacific region.

This regional conference aimed to:

• Bring together two youth participants between the ages of 18-25 –€“ from Australia, Cook Islands, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Tonga, New Zealand, Tuvalu, Niue, Kiribati, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of Marshall Islands –€“ This interactive programme builds peace-building and advocacy skills designed to empower participants to be leaders in their own communities.

• Address the themes of leadership and conflict resolution using examples in the Pacific region as case studies with the aim of empowering young people to take leadership and take action on issues that cause conflict in their communities.

• Engage, educate and embed key themes and theories which will in turn give young people the confidence to take action and enable them to assist with their governments and stakeholders on devising best practices, processes and mechanisms for peace in the Pacific Region.

• Enable a cultural exchange between participants & engage young people in key topics affecting their countries.

This conference is funded and supported by the Commonwealth Youth Programme, the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization.

For more information, check out this poster  and this Facebook group.

If you have any questions, please contact Steering Committee member Katrina Ma'u at katrina_mau@hotmail.com .

April 2012

The CariMentors Team (led by the 2010 Caribbean Nkabomers) launched a very successful CanaCaribe initiative in St. Kitts and Nevis, September 2011. Canacaribe is a biennial Youth-led "Respect and Understanding" programme with focus on Peace Building and Conflict Resolution, supported and sponsored by The Commonwealth Youth Programme Caribbean Centre. There are now more opportunities to get involved - see below and contact carimentors@gmail.com  for more information

WE NEED PEACE–€¦

We are launching our CanaCaribe Newsletter and we want you to be a part of it!

With the increase of crime and violence in our region, this is an excellent opportunity for us to highlight the champions of peace.

Send us a project report of what you or youths in your country are doing to promote peace. These articles, videos, drawings or other submitted material can be featured in our first issue.

Please download the flyer  for more information.

New! Commmonwealth Youth Peacebuilding Training to take place in Jamaica

Apply now if you live in a Commonwealth country in the Americas!

Cana-Caribe 2011, the brainchild of Carimentors, is a proposed annual Peace Building and Conflict Resolution Training Programme targeting young men and women in the Caribbean and Canada between the ages 18 and 29 years old.

The idea of Carimentors, which by definition is Caribbean Leaders and the Cana-Caribe initiative was coined during a similar training programme called "Nkabom" held by the Royal Commonwealth Society in Rwanda September 2010.

Cana-Caribe 2011: Peace Building and Conflict Resolution conclave to be held in Kingston Jamaica is one of the many initiatives within the Commonwealth Youth Programme's thematic area of Peace Building, Respect and Understanding.

It seeks to curb Crime and Violence statistics within the Caribbean and Canada by engaging young people, community activists, corporate and private stakeholders that are most effected by these statistics and those who would greatly benefit from such a venture.

The selected participants of this programme would be those able to impart the information learnt from this training on a wide scale in their respective countries. The program is scheduled to take place during the Easter Vacation period of 17th to 19th August, 2011 –€“ in Kingston, Jamaica.

The programme will take the form of lectures, cooperative activities, strategic planning and practical exposure to the topics discussed such as community visits and informative tours.

For further details of the project, please see this Facebook event. To request an application form, please email carimentors@gmail.com .