The Peace Corner Podcast

Generation climate: What is the impact of conflict and climate change on vulnerable communities in Yemen? What is the role of youth in building community resilience to changing climate patterns?

Tune in to join the discussion of Charis and Olla Alsakkaf and deep dive into the role of youth mediators as valuable contributors to climate-action.

Olla Alsakkaf is a peace and climate activist from Yemen, and chairperson of Peace Environment organisation. Having witnessed first-hand the implications of the on-going crisis in Yemen, she describes the importance of adequately addressing the intersection between conflict and climate change, while giving young people the opportunity to take the lead and be at the forefront of change.

Climate action must be channelled through feminist and civil society networks who have the local expertise on climate peace and security.

Sharon Bhagwan-Rolls has over 30 years of experience in feminist movements. She is part of the #ShiftingThePowerCoalition - a feminist alliance of pacific women-led organisations driving climate justice and humanitarian action.

Peacebuilding should not just be regarded as a project of development partners. To sustain their support they have to ensure localised peacebuilding and ask: “How do we get more money to our partners on the ground?”

Tune into this episode to learn from Sharon about the shared vision of feminist grassroots peacebuilders for climate justice in the Pacific Island Countries.

The Peace Corner Podcast is an initiative of GPPAC, CSPPS & UNOY Peacebuilders

It is quite evident that climate change is very much a global issue. How we live and work together in communities and cities can have a huge impact in tackling climate change. Some believe that small scale projects do not positively combat the effects of climate change, others believe that solutions suited to the local context is one of the best ways forward.

Join us in discussing this topic with Nepalese climate youth activist Lakshmi Sapkota, where we delve deeper into the role of community level interventions in Nepal and how climate change is conceptualised and understood within the South Asian region.

The Peace Corner Podcast is an initiative of GPPAC, CSPPS & UNOY Peacebuilders

La région de l’Extrême Nord du Cameroun est la région plus touchée par le changement climatique, la plus pauvre et la moins scolarisée du pays. C’est aussi la région dans laquelle Marthe Wandou a concentré ses efforts depuis les années 1990 avec son association ALDEPA (Action locale pour un développement participatif et autogéré).

Les activités de l'association ont évolué avec le contexte sécuritaire, en raison de l’expansion de Boko Haram dans la région du lac Tchad depuis 2013 et du conflit anglophone qui a débuté il y a plus de cinq ans.

Dans cet épisode, Marthe nous raconte comment elle lutte chaque jour depuis plus de 20 ans pour faire évoluer les mentalités sur les questions de genre en adoptant une vision holistique qui intègre tous les pans de la société camerounaise: les victimes de violences basées sur le genre, les familles, les leaders communautaires et religieux, les jeunes… ALDEPA a ainsi développé des outils innovants et basés sur la communauté dans laquelle ils sont implantés, afin de créer des mécanismes communautaires de prévention de l’extrémisme violent et de protection contre les violences faites aux femmes et filles qui vivent en situations de conflit. Écoutez cet épisode pour en savoir plus sur le contexte camerounais et les activités de Marthe, lauréate 2021 du Right Livelihood Award!

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Community Strength Against Gender-Based Violence: The Example of ALDEPA in Cameroon

The Far North region of Cameroon is the region with the highest levels of poverty and the lowest levels of education in the country. It is also the region in which Marthe Wandou has concentrated her efforts since the 1990s with her association ALDEPA (Action locale pour un développement participatif et autogéré).

The association's activities have evolved with the security context, due to the expansion of Boko Haram in the Lake Chad region since 2013 and the Anglophone conflict that started more than five years ago.

In this episode, Marthe tells us how she has been fighting every day for more than 20 years to change mentalities on gender issues by adopting a holistic vision that integrates all parts of Cameroonian society: victims of gender-based violence, families, community and religious leaders, young people... ALDEPA has thus developed innovative tools based on the community in which they are implemented, in order to create community mechanisms for the prevention of violent extremism and protection from violence against women and girls living in conflict-affected settings. Listen to this episode to learn more about the Cameroonian context and the activities of Marthe, the 2021 Right Livelihood Award winner!

Music credit: 'Coffee Shopping' by Bruno Freitas, licensed under hooksounds.com.

Peace is personal; part of demystifying peacebuilding is recognising the agency of young people who are building and sustaining peace in their communities, and speaking up against injustices and acknowledging their role as peacebuilders. In this episode of the Peace Corner, Freya from UNOY Peacebuilders sat down with Anbid Zaman, LGBTQIA+ human rights activist, and discussed intersectionality, stereotypes and moving beyond binary gender identities in peacebuilding.

Peace, just like conflict, is highly gendered. Assumptions about who is peaceful and who is violent rely on stereotypes. Young peacebuilders come from different backgrounds, work on different issues, and have intersectional identities. Stereotypical assumptions about young people lead to the exclusion and discrimination of youth. In order to ensure their participation, we need to be aware of the structures that lead to their exclusion, open up spaces, and unite in solidarity with young people who cannot be in the room.

Music credit: 'Coffee Shopping' by Bruno Freitas, licensed under hooksounds.com.

After years of confrontation and diplomatic tensions, Ukraine was invaded by Russia on 24 February 2022. The war has severely impacted social cohesion, community security, and the resilience of local communities, especially women and girls. This episode is structured in two interrelated parts: the first part is designed to highlight the role of women in peacebuilding, while the second part, more intimate, focuses on women's daily lives and perceptions during the current crisis. The podcast traces the life of a woman peacebuilder, who is committed to youth in Ukraine through local and international projects.

The promotion of democratic and human rights, which was at the heart of her daily work in 2011; from 2014 onwards, due to the deteriorating security situation in Ukraine, Yuliya's work turned to conflict transformation and the better inclusion of young people in peacebuilding initiatives. The episode addresses the harsh psychological reality of war and the place of women as well as mothers in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. In sum, Yuliya describes the suffering of women and children from the violence of the conflict and the taboo of sexual violences as a weapon of war.

Music credit: 'Coffee Shopping' by Bruno Freitas, licensed under hooksounds.com.

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Après des années de confrontation et de tensions diplomatiques, l'Ukraine a été envahie par la Russie le 24 février 2022. La guerre a donc gravement affecté la cohésion sociale, la sécurité des communautés et la résilience des communautés locales, en particulier des femmes et des filles. Cet épisode est structuré en deux parties interdépendantes : la première partie vise à mettre en lumière le rôle des femmes dans la consolidation de la paix, tandis que la seconde partie, plus intime, se concentre sur le quotidien et les perceptions des femmes durant la crise actuelle. En effet, le podcast retrace la vie d'une femme bâtisseuse de paix qui a décidé de s'engager auprès des jeunes en Ukraine à travers des projets locaux et internationaux. La promotion des droits démocratiques et humains, qui était au cœur de son travail quotidien en 2011, s'est soudainement tournée vers la transformation des conflits et la meilleure inclusion des jeunes dans les initiatives de construction de la paix à partir de 2014, en raison de la détérioration de la situation sécuritaire en Ukraine. Enfin, l'entretien aborde la dure réalité psychologique de la guerre et la place des femmes, ainsi que des mères, dans le conflit russo-ukrainien. Globalement, elle décrit la souffrance des femmes et des enfants face à la violence des combats et le tabou des violences sexuelles comme arme de guerre.

Part of demystifying peacebuilding is recognising the agency of young people, who are building and sustaining peace in their communities, and speaking up against injustices. In this episode, Shreya from UNOY Peacebuilders sat down with Ufra Mir, a peace psychologist from Kashmir, to discuss the nexus between mental health, decolonising peacebuilding, and Ufra’s experiences as a woman peacebuilder in Kashmir.

Kashmir has increasingly come to be a militarised and patriarchal conflict zone, where the word ‘peace’ has become a privilege given the context. In such situations, peacebuilding often needs to start from scratch, rebuilding communities socially, economically, as well as mentally and physically, and where a gender-inclusive mental health lens is crucial. Moreover, especially in the context of South Asia, it is important to understand that decolonising peacebuilding spaces is also equally important to consider when we talk about peace psychology. Peace is a process, not a product, and narratives should be centred around bringing to light the importance of doing psycho-social conflict resolution and peacebuilding work in places such as Kashmir.

Music credit: 'Coffee Shopping' by Bruno Freitas, licensed under hooksounds.com.

Despite the wealth of evidence highlighting the benefits that investing in women and youth can bring in terms of conflict prevention, crisis response, and peace, the failure to allocate sufficient resources and funds has been perhaps the most serious and persistent obstacle to the implementation of the WPS and YPS agendas. Moreover, research shows a consistent, striking disparity between policy commitments to gender equality and women’s empowerment, and the financial allocations to achieve them. Saumya is the co-founder and CEO of Youth for Peace International, a youth-led peacebuilding organisation in India. As a social entrepreneur, peacebuilder, and international trainer, Saumya has been working towards building a peaceful world by empowering young individuals and creating a sustainable society. In this episode, we discuss Saumya’s experiences accessing resources as a young peacebuilder; she shares what needs to change in the donor community to ensure an enabling environment for young women peacebuilders, and an ideal future where all members of society have equal opportunities to achieve and sustain peace.

Music credit: 'Coffee Shopping' by Bruno Freitas, licensed under hooksounds.com.

In January 2020, the Mexican government announced that it would implement a Feminist Foreign Policy and in January 2021 Mexico presented its first National Action Plan (NAP) on Women, Peace and Security (WPS). Both documents claim to put women and marginalised communities at the centre of their approach to international affairs and security. In this episode, Dinorah sat down with Ana and Daniela—all Mexican women—to discuss the implications and contradictions of these first attempts of Mexico to implement the WPS Agenda in a country where more than 10 women are lethally killed every day and with extreme levels of violence against journalists, LGBTQ+, afro descendants, and other marginalised identities.

Music credit: 'Coffee Shopping' by Bruno Freitas, licensed under hooksounds.com.

Rwanda leads the world with the largest share of women in the national legislature; it's arguably the number one country for women in politics. This has led me to wonder whether and how traditional gender roles are challenged and/or transformed in times of (post-)conflict. This is a relevant question as times are changing, and with that, there is also a need for the transformation of traditional and outdated roles that have been imposed on us by generations that do not exist anymore. The expectations of gender roles are not limited to the experiences of women, but also to men and gender diverse people, who are often overlooked in the gender discourse. Can gender roles transform and how?

In this episode, Sara Sadrizadeh sits down with Dorsa Babaei—Co-Director of PeaceMentors, a youth-led initiative that raises awareness and trains young people in peacebuilding, intercultural and interfaith dialogue, social inclusion, and conflict resolution—to explore how she got into peacebuilding, and how her gender has influenced her career. Moreover, she shares her experience working with people in a post-conflict society and sheds light on the traditional expectations set out for all genders. This episode shows that even though traditional gender roles can remain intact, there is also space for change and transformation, which individuals can shape to their own liking. Tune in to hear Dorsa and I share our thoughts on today’s topic. For more on the Ted Talk mentioned throughout this episode, visit: https://www.ted.com/talks/deepa_narayan_7_beliefs_that_can_silence_women_and_how_to_unlearn_them.

Music credit: 'Coffee Shopping' by Bruno Freitas, licensed under hooksounds.com.