The populations in the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin (LCB) regions face a range of challenges and threats to their human security due to ongoing conflicts and crises. In particular, young women and men under the age of 25, who make up about two thirds of the population living in the regions, face frequent exposure to violence (including gender-based violence), exclusion from social and political processes, a lack of access to education and employment, a lack of trust in their wider social environments, etc.

In this Virtual Brown Bag Lunch organised with Crisis Management Initiative, we will examine how the EU and other (international and regional) actors should engage with young women and men in the two regions and support their peacebuilding and crisis resolution efforts. In particular, we will look at the impact of the crises in the LCB and Sahel on young women and men and, correspondingly, the roles that youth play in these (local and regional) contexts as peacebuilders, perpetrators and victims.

Rafiu Lawal is the Founder and Executive Director of Building Blocks for Peace Foundation, a youth-led organisation based in Nigeria which seeks to build the resilience of people against violent philosophies and to promote sustainable peace, including through capacity building trainings, workshops, and community sensitisation. Sa’adatu Shuaibu is a Program Officer on the ECOWAS Conflict Prevention Framework (ECPF). She has been working on prioritising conflict prevention and promoting women and youth’s political participation to build sustainable peace in local communities.

Please contact Lorenzo Conti if you would like to participate.