CONTACTS
Massimiliano Colonna | [email protected] | +1 (202) 768-7539
Director of Communications
Search for Common Ground
Mark Daley | [email protected] | +1 (202) 779-1854
Chief of Development, Marketing, Communications
Search for Common Ground
WASHINGTON, DC — A new fund to catalyze and mainstream youth leadership in peacebuilding across the globe is being launched today. The aptly named Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) Fund helps put UNSCR 2250—the groundbreaking United Nation Security Council Resolution on Youth, Peace and Security—into action, and aims to make peacebuilding fully inclusive of young people. The YPS Fund is available at sfcg.org/yps-fund.
“The most innovative work to transform conflict into peace and peace into progress for millions of people is done by youth, yet they are often excluded from the rooms where decisions are taken, and are usually the last considered for aid. The new YPS Fund will further unlock and propel authentic youth leadership to the next level of impact,” said Saji Prelis, Director of Children and Youth Programs at Search for Common Ground, the world’s largest peacebuilding NGO.
Studies show that youth groups operate on modest budgets — ranging from $5k to $10k on average; yet, young people are on the bottom of aid distribution and often face systematic and bureaucratic barriers to accessing international aid. The YPS Fund is designed to shift power to young people by breaking inequity in a global funding landscape that is currently failing to meet the needs of youth. The YPS Fund will serve as a collaboration platform for donors, youth, and adult partners to build a better way to finance youth peace work and remove systemic barriers.
The Fund will adopt a crowdsourcing funding model—building sustainability from small dollar donations by young people from all corners of the world. Funded primarily by young people, for young people, the YPS Fund will receive additional support from the private, government, and philanthropic sectors.
The YPS Fund hopes to reach a goal of $1.8 billion by 2030—representing the 1.8 billion young people in the world today—with a first quarter goal of $22,500, representing UNSCR 2250. These funds will benefit young peacebuilders and youth-led organizations on the frontlines of conflict in ten target geographies, who will receive average funding amounts of $7,000, dependent on need and proven impact.
Search for Common Ground is partnering with the United Network of Young Peacebuilders (UNOY) to incubate the Fund for its first two years. Once up and running, the Fund will launch as its own independent, self-sustaining entity. 100% of proceeds go straight back into the Fund and do not benefit Search for Common Ground or UNOY.
Through a horizontal governance structure, the Fund puts young people in the driver’s seat, with a cohort of Youth Ambassadors managing how resources are allocated to young peacebuilders in conflict-affected communities around the world.
“Include young people, change everything. If you want to hurry history and achieve a world transformed without violent conflict and with freedom, justice and equality for all, then include and invest in young people,” Prelis stressed.
ENDS
