Communications campaign and interactive conference to mark the International Day of Peace and the UNITAR Division for Peace Advisory Board side event in the wider context of the 75th anniversary of the United Nations organised under the theme “Shaping Peace Together”.
The global campaign “UN75 – Shaping Our Future Together”, intended to mark the 75th anniversary of the United Nations, was launched in January 2020 and aimed to dedicate the entire year to the amplification of the vast diversity of grassroots voices from the communities that the United Nations is mandated to serve. Following the call of the Secretary-General, various actors and institutions in the UN family have been designing and implementing a multitude of tools meant to listen to people across the world and learn about their experience of overcoming global challenges, including some of the most acute of them – persistent violent conflicts and instability.
The long-planned campaign came shortly ahead of the unplanned global health crisis. While posing an unprecedented challenge to the implementation of the sustaining peace agenda, the pandemic has at the same time had a remarkable positive effect on spurring innovation all across the related thematic areas, both in terms of greater digitalisation and new approaches to project implementation. It has also reiterated the critical value of strengthened partnerships with local actors.
In response to this double call from the community of nations and the COVID-19 pandemic, UNITAR Division for Peace will contribute to the ongoing global conversation by:
- communicating about the grassroots sustaining peace innovations with the original local voices;
- using these personal stories as an inspiration for a global cooperative action at all levels;
- showcasing innovations in various related thematic areas and using them as a starting point for further innovative developments to accommodate the needs under the new normal;
- bringing together high-level and local peace actors to raise the awareness of and lead the narrative in innovation for sustaining peace.
This way, the Division for Peace aims to silence the guns while elevating the voices of grassroots heroes serving on the frontlines of the battle against the pandemic.
On our dedicated campaign page and social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram), we feature some real personal stories of innovative approaches to promoting peace during the pandemic.
Some of the themes include:
- Peacebuilding and Mediation
- Justice
- Humanitarian Action
- Youth, Peace and Security
- Digitalisation
- Communication and Media
Story protagonists:
- Ms. Cristina and Ms. Leidy Ríos, Heads of Corporación Génesis, an NGO dedicated to peacebuilding in Colombia
- Mr. Ali Chahine, Peacebuilding consultant and facilitator in MENA region, UNITAR Mediation and Conflict Analysis Trainer
- Ms. Orsolya Bader, Digital Networks & Society Department, Telecommunication Development Bureau, International Telecommunication Union; Participant in the Master’s programme in Humanitarian Action and Peacebuilding by UNITAR/ Oxford Brookes University (OBU)
- Mr. Rohullah Azizi, Curriculum Adviser at Afghanistan Legal Education Project (ALEP), Appeals Representative, Fulbright Scholar
- Mr. Hisham Al-Omeisy, Conflict analyst, Yemen; Alumni of the Master’s programme in Conflict, Peace and Security by UNITAR/ Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC)
Meet our (s)heroes virtually in January 2021! Want to ask your questions in advance? Write us at ptp@unitar.org and we will do our best to forward your question to our panelists.