At a critical moment for Afghanistan’s future, Change Makers of the World is proud to be one of the founding members of the National Youth Consensus for Peace (NYCP), established on 25 July 2020 to bring young Afghans together around a common position on peace.
Afghanistan is moving toward negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban that could shape the future of the country for generations. Yet young people, despite representing most of Afghanistan’s population and having lived much of their lives through war, have had limited space in formal peace negotiations.
The National Youth Consensus for Peace has been established to address that gap.
The coalition brings together more than 240 youth-led organizations, networks, civil society groups, universities, and youth activists from across Afghanistan around a shared goal: ensuring the meaningful participation of young people in the Afghan peace process. It connects youth from different provinces, ethnic backgrounds, communities, and organizations so that their concerns are not represented through isolated voices, but through a national platform.
Change Makers of the World has joined the Consensus as a founding member, with Mohammad Jawid Amani and Mohammad Reza Hussaini contributing to its establishment and representing CMW within the coalition.
The Consensus will work with young people across Afghanistan to identify their priorities, develop common positions, and advocate with the Afghan government, parties to the peace negotiations, and the international community. Its purpose is not simply to have young people present in discussions, but to give them a meaningful role in decisions about peace and the future of Afghanistan. This focus on substantive youth participation is also reflected in later descriptions of NYCP’s work and mandate.
For Change Makers of the World, joining this effort is a continuation of our commitment to youth participation and peacebuilding. A peace agreement will shape the lives of Afghanistan’s young generation for decades. Their voices therefore belong in the process that creates it.
In the coming weeks, we will work alongside other members of the National Youth Consensus for Peace to consult young Afghans and develop a unified National Youth Resolution for Peace, bringing their priorities and demands into one national document.
This is the beginning of that work.
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