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2. In your own opinion, what concrete activities can be carried out in order to consolidate peace on the African continent?

For activities to be carried out to harness a culture of peace in Africa I am suggesting firstly engaging young people and women in this process. With women and young people at the forefront of this process, then activities like research are very important towards informing context and background of conflict, and also to be able to capture perspectives. Capacity building in the form of workshops and trainings are also strategic. It is also important to work around developing resources and financing for initiatives, especially at community levels, and also opportunities to experience sharing and pollination of ideas. All these are very key things and ideas towards building peace in the African continent.

3. What made you decide to become a peace activist?

My decision to become a peace activist was actually influenced by my personal experience. I grew up in a community that was plagued by a lot of violence, and as a young person, it was a way of life. At some point, I came to realise that violence leads us to nowhere, because in the course of this I lost some friends and acquaintances, some of them being stabbed and others thrown into jail. That was how through volunteering in civil society, I found a different perspective at life, which was around peace and helping communities to become better, and I started early using theatre to preach these core values within my community. That is how I found myself into this work since 2007, and since then it’s been a life changing experience, with a lot of inspiration.

"The message I am sharing with everyone is that, we should not underestimate the power of young people."

4. What is the role of young people in peacebuilding and countering violent extremism?

The role of young people in peacebuilding and countering violent extremism, is a growing conversation, but as a young person who has been in this space and has been leading other young people, designing and implementing initiatives, I will say that our role has really been underestimated, because sometimes I feel that communities, leaders, institutions give a blind eye to what we are doing.  But all of this is quick changing with UN Security Council resolutions on youth , peace and security.

Our role is very important, because we are the ones who suffer the most in times of conflict, we are also the most victimised in times of war and every other difficult moment. The need for this same group that has been trapped or plagued by this violence to respond to is more relevant, because; I have seen that, what makes us strategic is that we speak to our peers. Most often in my work, when I go to prisons, speaking to other young people who have committed crimes, they relate with me and see the reasons to become better. So I think that the role of young people firstly, the peer to peer conversation is very transformative and the fact that the same challenges our peers went through before resulting to violence is the same ones we are living but have not used violence, so sometimes, we are able to show them that; there are better ways of responding to the challenges that you face, and that is what we have been doing.

This is what makes our role very strategic because we have the abilities to convince our peers and develop solutions to the drivers of this conflict, because we make majority of the population in our countries across the world, though it vis not just about the number, but that zeal, burning passion, and ability to do things the way things are supposed to be done, is one of the things that guarantees how strategic young people are in building peace.