The Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) Fund is transforming the global aid landscape by putting financial power in the hands of young leaders to create prosperous and inclusive societies. Guided by principles of nonviolence, trust, and local ownership, we are a youth-led global community advised by senior leaders in the field. We support young people, the excluded and overlooked majority, who are reducing violence in conflict settings through their efforts.
We are committed to empowering local communities, financing youth leaders’ initiatives, and building a global community which works together to empower young people.
The YPS Fund recognizes that violence, from racial injustice, to climate crisis, to political, social, economic, gender, cultural, digital, and all other forms of violence, are interconnected. We aim to revolutionize how everyday people think and act around violence and peacebuilding.
We adopt a collective problem solving approach wherein we fund youth-led organizations and individuals solving similar issues. We bring people together and support them through training and mentorship, to work together, as a community.
Therefore, our goal is to support young people who are addressing systemic violence and injustice in their societies today, to create a just and prosperous world which future generations will inherit tomorrow.
100% of donations go to the YPS Fund’s programs and youth-led activities.
Quarterly goal, with the focus of raising $5 per person for every young person in the world. Inspired by the UNSCR 2250, the first UN Security Council Resolution on Youth, Peace and Security
Over the next 10 years. Equating to $5 per young person in the world.
The Fund is currently incubated at Search for Common Ground (SFCG) in partnership with United Network of Young Peacebuilders (UNOY). All the donations will go to youth peacebuilders and the administration of the Fund. None will be given to SFCG and UNOY.
Community:
Mentorship and Leadership:
Empowerment:
Innovative:
Collaborative:
Human-kind (Be both):
Great Equalizer: The YPS Fund is an equalizing force in the aid landscape. It is structured so that everyday people can be co-owners of the fund and have a stake in its operations. We support those young people who are finding solutions to today’s complex problems, and working towards prosperity in local communities.
Transformative, Transparent Governance Model: Our community-owned fund encourages a more democratic funding ecosystem by flipping the traditional governance model on its head.
Everyday people, rather than a few elite and wealthy individuals, are co-owners of the Fund. No one person holds all the power. The Fund operates horizontally and transparently and promotes people to people accountability.
The YPS Fund’s governance structure has several unique features, divided between international and regional boards:
Agility: We want people to rethink how they view peacebuilding. Peacebuilding is not just about reducing violence, but also about supporting young leaders who are trying to create more economically empowered and socially just societies.
Equity and Inclusiveness: The Fund champions diversity and inclusiveness and supports all youth leaders who are willing to work together to find solutions to local problems. There is no bias in the process of how decisions are to be made.
Responsiveness: The YPS Fund follows a horizontal approach which connects young people with international and local stakeholders. The Fund is responsive and will authentically address all public concerns and questions.
Consensus-Based: Young people have the power to make decisions about the activities and the programs the YPS Fund supports. Decisions are taken in a democratic way and by the majority.
Transparency and Accountability: Our transparent governance and accountability ensures that all decisions taken are transparent to the public.
Search for Common Ground and United Network of Young Peacebuilders are administrative partners in setting up the Fund and will support it during the incubation period. 100% of donations go to the YPS Fund’s programs and youth-led activities and support youth peacebuilders.
If you or your organization is interested in becoming involved with YPS Fund, please contact:
Saji Prelis — Director, Children & Youth Programmes Search for Common Ground and Co-Chair, Global Coalition on Youth, Peace & Security — Email: SPrelis@sfcg.org
Youth, the face of leadership today, are on the frontlines to improve the quality of life of their families and communities. They deserve our commitment in disrupting inequities and setting a new standard that engages them as equal and essential partners in peace.
Young people are seen by many as perpetrators of violence, untrustworthy, and unprepared to lead peace initiatives. These negative stereotypes of young people are far from accurate and hinder their access to resources. Young female peacebuilders face further marginalization and discrimination, including a gender gap in funding.
Young people also inherit the burden of multiple crises we face today with a long-lasting impact on their future.
In many conflict settings, young people take care of their families by meeting their food, economic, and health needs. Young people also play a key role in taking a stand against gender-based, political, social, cultural, ecological, and racial violence.
Given their incredible contributions to peace, when young people address the underlying causes as opposed to the symptoms of violent conflict, their work has the potential of being transformative.
The YPS Fund works with other partners in the peacebuilding and policy field, including the YPS Ambassadors, to learn how to make funding more accessible and transparent for young people.
Through a three-phase, decade-long approach, the YPS Fund prioritizes solutions to problems with transnational roots to financially empower young peacebuilders. Initially, Search for Common Ground, in partnership with the United Network of Young Peacebuilders, will incubate the Fund until it is ready to become independent with a fully functioning governance, financial, and administrative structure.
Incubating partners will co-shape the process with a steering committee of international agencies, governments, key partners and young people.
The YPS Fund is being developed by a core team of youth leaders and experts, who work closely with a wide network of supporters and other practitioners to operationalize Youth, Peace, and Security (YPS) agenda.
The YPS Fund is the world's first youth-owned fund, it does not follow a traditional donor model. Under the YPS Fund, young people have the opportunity to be investors and co-owners. It is radical in its approach as it aims to decolonize funding, promote a culture of collaboration for collective - level impact, and adopt a horizontal governance model. Because it is led by people living in the front lines of conflict and crisis situations, we aim to be more cost effective and impactful.
Anybody who is passionate about supporting young people driving change can contribute to the fund, regardless of where they live in the world. Currently, available payment options include credit card, debit card, and direct bank transfer. In the future we aim to diversify donation methods available.
As it was just launched in March 2021, the YPS Fund is still fairly new. Thus, in its initial years, until the YPS Fund becomes independent, Search for Common Ground will serve as an administrative partner by providing necessary programming, financial accountability and audit support. The key decision-making of the Fund will be made by a youth group, advisors, and initial investors. Search will be among the decision makers. During this incubation, we plan to test and iterate many of our ambitions. As we continuously use this time to learn, we aim to ensure that all the lessons learned during this incubation will strengthen the Fund as a whole.
Young individuals or youth-led groups from around the world, ages 15-29, working on issues of peace and security, will be eligible to apply to receive funding. However, all candidates must dedicate themselves to the values and principles of the YPS Fund. These core values include collaborative actions that promote a collective impact. Join our Facebook group to be the first to learn about fund distribution announcements!
A holistic Youth 360 Model will be used to support both youth groups and young individuals (ages 15-29) working on issues of peace and security. This model promotes a culture of collaboration rather than competition. Together, youth will conduct a joint conflict analysis and design joint problem solving approaches to foster actions for a collective impact. They will work alongside each other to address and solve problems identified during the conflict analysis. Thus, funds will be distributed to enable these joint collaborative actions with the aim of yielding a higher collective impact. We want to move beyond a traditional competitive model of win-lose toward a culture of meaningful collaboration and finance that is collective leadership.
As 50% of the governance/board of directors will be composed of youth, young people will make decisions at several levels. They will be the stewards of the fund. Additionally, youth groups who design interventions will choose the cost of interventions and have access to funds for their collaborative efforts. Together, young leaders collaboratively choose which projects will be funded. Partners and stakeholders will also make decisions on governance and administration-related questions. The structure of the fund’s governance model consists of an international and a regional governance board. International Board: Guide the overall direction of the board. This board will comprise at least 2 people from various regional boards. Regional Governance Boards: For regions that experience conflict, the regional governance board oversees the context-specific work supported by the Fund.
Yes, the YPS Fund believes in innovative public and private partnerships for collaborative actions. Partnerships can include local, national, regional and international entities (public and private) that believe in strengthening and supporting ‘youth leading peace’. Eventually the YPS Fund may act as a mechanism for international organizations to directly fund young people’s peacebuilding work. We welcome innovative partnerships who look to collectively finance the largest demographic the world has ever seen -Young People. This includes social impact investors, to private sector groups, as well as to multilateral, bilateral and international nongovernmental organizations. Reach out to inquire about this exciting partnership!
