Progress Study on Youth, Peace and Security

The UN Secretary-General appointed in August 2016 an independent lead author, Graeme Simpson, to develop the Progress Study, as well as an Advisory Group of Experts, including 21 scholars, practitioners and young leaders. UNFPA and PBSO jointly provided secretariat functions for the development of the Study, working in close collaboration with the Office of the Envoy on Youth. A Steering Committee, composed of 34 partners from the UN system, civil society and non-governmental organizations, inter-governmental organizations, foundations, etc. oversaw the preparation of the Study.

The Study is supported by the UN system and partners but it is independent, demonstrating young people’s positive role in sustaining peace and proposing concrete recommendations for the peace and security community to work with young people in new ways. The Study defines critical issues and areas of interventions for the YPS agenda. It is an agenda-setting document, defining a strategy for the implementation of SCR 2250.

The Progress Study was developed through a uniquely participatory research process, including face-to-face discussions (focus group discussions, regional and national consultations) with a total of 4,230 young people, as well as research in 27 countries, surveys and mapping exercises. For an overview of youth consulted for the Progress Study, click here.

In addition, the Progress Study built on commissioned thematic and country-specific research, which provided evidence on young people’s participation in formal and informal peace processes, and the relationships between the YPS agenda and issues of countering violent extremism, transitional justice, migration, and social media, to name a few. This research also served to identify existing knowledge gaps in youth, peace and security. Most of this research will be available on the Youth4Peace website in the course of 2018. For a full list of the commissioned research for the Progress Study, click here.

In addition to English, the Progress Study is available in Arabic, French, Spanish, Chinese and Russian here: https://www.youth4peace.info/ProgressStudy