Investing and Partnering with Youth for Peace (IPYP)

Young peacebuilders play critical roles in building peace and have been recognised for these efforts by UN Security Council and General Assembly Resolutions. Despite this recognition, funding for youth-led peacebuilding remains inadequate, and young people are seldom included in funding decisions. With one in four young people living in conflict-affected  areas and 49% of youth-led organisations operating on less than $5,000 annually, the funding system remains inflexible, unpredictable, and short-term.

Furthermore, private financial flows are lowest in fragile, and conflict affected countries and least developed countries have attracted only 6% of all the private finance that official development assistance has mobilised.

There are opportunities for youth responsive peace finance—return seeking investments which respond to young people’s peacebuilding priorities—yet young people are rarely meaningfully involved in investment decisions.

The private sector significantly influences the lives of young people, with the potential to either promote peace or fuel conflict if not managed sensitively. Yet, despite this impact, there has been little effort to mobilise private partnerships for peacebuilding.

IPYP is organised in a flexible coalition with a small project team supported by a Steering Committee and Secretariat. We innovate to address structural challenges faced by young people, with solutions co-designed with young peacebuilders needs and priorities at the forefront.

IPYP is guided by a Steering Committee with representatives from multilateral entities, private sector actors, civil society and governments. The committee meets four times a year to provide input to the strategic direction of IPYP, and members also implement projects within the innovation portfolio.

The Secretariat for IPYP, which includes the UN Peacebuilding Support Office, UNICEF, Search for Common Ground, and Justice Call, provides regular guidance to the project team and to the Steering Committee on major developments related to IPYP.

The Project Team, housed at the Foundation, provides ideation, research and development and administers a small Research and Development (R&D) fund to help members develop initiatives within the IPYP innovation portfolio. It also supports the IPYP community of practice to strengthen the ecosystem of actors working to build meaningful private-sector partnerships with young peacebuilders.

Within the IPYP Innovation Portfolio, with youth leadership, we are creating new solutions to increase the quality and quantity of funding and financing to address young people’s peacebuilding priorities.