Peace, in our mind the definition of peace would be the world where there is no conflict and people can live in harmony without worrying being killed, being robbed and involve in conflict which they will be the victim or the suspect.
But the reality in the world will be contradicts with our mind’s perception about peace. The world that we are living now has conflicts in some areas. Thus, achieving peace is most of people’s dream.
There are many peace agents who act individually or with organization. Many ways have been done to achieve peace from aid donation, interfaith dialogue, conference and peace curriculum.
United Nations (UN) as the biggest organization in the world has many programs struggling to achieve peace.
N-Peace from United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Asia and the Pacific is one of the UN Program that has purpose to achieve peace. Founded in 2010, N- Peace is focused on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda.
In N-Peace there is a nomination for peace builders from Afghanistan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nepal, the Philippines, Myanmar, and Sri lanka.
There are four categories; Untold Stories, Campaigning for Action (Women), Campaigning for Action (Men) and Peace Generation (Women).
Proudly, there are 3 young people from Southeast Asia in the nomination :
- Anindya Nastitti Restuviani from Indonesia (Campaigning for Action category)
Anindya is a women’s rights activist in the Jakarta community. She has been involved in a wide variety of initiatives that advocate for diverse feminist issues in Indonesia with an emphasis on sexual and reproductive rights.
Through her role as Events Chairman for the Jakarta Feminist Discussion Group (Fem Fest), Anindya helps to provide safe spaces where women from Jakarta can discuss the gendered difficulties that they face. She also coordinated Jakarta’s first Women’s March. As the co-director of Hollaback Jakarta, a movement that seeks to end harassment in public spaces, Anindya has helped to develop a mobile application for people to share and discuss stories of harassment. She has also created an online module for harassment bystander intervention training.
Anindya has been involved in influencing policy and legal reform regarding sexual and reproductive rights in Indonesia. She has been part of a team who created a petition advocating for the rejection of amendments to the penal code which would criminalize extra-marital affairs, common-law spouses, and information sharing on family planning that is not conducted by the legal authority. Through her work, Anindya is a promoting people to become more active participants in the struggle towards gender equality in Indonesia.
- Diah Sulung Syafitri from Indonesia (Peace Generation category)
Diah Sulung Syafitri has been spreading the spirit of volunteerism and values of peace to younger members of her community, by engaging them as volunteers in conflict areas in Indonesia. Since joining the Global Peace Foundation Indonesia (GPFI) as a volunteer in 2014, she has demonstrated her passion for peacebuilding by leading various social cohesion initiatives, including the GPFI charity program that assisted Aceh people overcome the 2016 magnitude earthquake. In 2017, she was further acknowledged for leading youth interfaith dialogues between the Muslim and Christian community in Yogyakarta, to prevent continuous religious disagreements and foster a culture of peace.
Her efforts were recognized internationally when she was appointed as the SDGs Young Ambassador by UNDP Indonesia in 2017, and was involved at the 2017 Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) as a participant. She was also invited as an Indonesian delegate for the Asia Pacific Youth Peace Security Regional Meeting of UNSCR, where she was able to give valuable insights to peacebuilding at the local level and contribute to the international youth effort towards volunteerism and peace building processes. Her achievements in promoting a culture of volunteerism, inclusivity and religious tolerance serves as an inspiration to young people in Indonesia.
- Althea Dannia Esmael from the Philippines (Peace Generation Category)
Althea Dannia Esmael is an influential peace advocate in Bangsamoro of Mindanao, a region located in Southern Philippines that is undergoing religious conflict and violent extremism. Instead of applying forceful measures to resolve conflicts, Althea proposes a peaceful approach towards achieving social cohesion in her community, especially to younger generations by conducting peace educations, organizing interfaith dialogues, campaigning against violent extremism and the recruitment of Muslim youths by extremist groups. Althea was the founding coordinator at the Salaam Movement, a youth-led organization, that advocates for peace in the Mindanao region. She is now working on her M.A., and continues to very active in youth initiatives on PVE and peace building. She is recognized for her work in youth and women empowerment and her efforts in fostering a culture of peace and religious tolerance.
As nominees, they need our vote to win N-Awards, however the most important thing is not to win the award only but what is the next step they will do after winning the award. There are many young people who only think about their life and don’t want to have contribution in society. Peace is actually our responsibility, that being said every each of us are responsible to build peace to achieve the world with no conflict and people can live in harmony.
Source :
