Building Peace with and for Youth: Lessons from PBF-supported Programming
October 2025
The year 2025 marks the 10th anniversary of the Security Council resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security (YPS). Since 2015, the Peacebuilding Fund has given substantial support to engaging youth in peacebuilding programming and in conflict prevention. In addition to a specific funding modality known as the Youth Promotion Initiative (YPI), which was introduced in 2016, the 2020-2024 PBF Strategy set an internal annual target for 25 per cent of funding to support the empowerment of women and youth, which the Fund has met or exceeded since. Between 2018 and 2024, through 167 projects across 48 countries and territories, the PBF invested more than $311 million towards the implementation of the YPS agenda.
A young blogger in Rosso, Mauritania, who was involved in the PBF-supported project on conflict prevention during the pre-election period stated: “We look after society by countering hate speech and guiding people towards the truth. The project has given us the tools to do it.”
Committed to learning and enhancing its support to YPS efforts, the Peacebuilding Fund commissioned the YPS Thematic Review (2025), in partnership with UNFPA, UNICEF, Climate Security Mechanism, and conducted by the UN University’s Centre for Policy Research. The Review identified common challenges and good practices in YPS programming and outlined practical recommendations for donors and practitioners.
First, donors should consider more flexible and localized funding modalities to youth-led organizations and networks, such as seed-funding and subgrant modalities. These modalities can be more accessible to youth organizations, as they often allow more flexible and locally adapted proposal processes. For example, a PBF-funded project in the border of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, which was implemented by Mercy Corps, offered an innovative modality for involving more local organizations in leading peacebuilding initiatives. The sole project activity was to create a modality for providing microgrants to local organizations in the hard-to-access subregion of Liptako-Gourma. The project provided microgrants ranging from $2,500 to $20,000 to at least 64 organizations in border communities across the three countries. There was a competitive proposal process, with priority given to applicants that were youth-led and women’s organizations.
Mercy Corps worked with a number of the very localized (not registered) organizations, including youth-led organizations, to help them obtain their NGO registration. Once accepted, Mercy Corps worked with grantees to develop their administrative capacities, to ensure that they would be able to appropriately and transparently manage the budgets and other processes. This investment in the organizations, and the credibility that they gained from taking part in the project, was very impactful and sustainable, with many subgrantees able to secure other grants from different donors to continue their efforts. Similarly, the portfolio evaluation of PBF-funded programmes in Mauritania (2018-2024) highlighted the importance of strengthening leadership and organizational capacity of youth groups through sustained training and mentorship, ensuring they can maintain and build on project gains independently.
“The YPS agenda is not the Government or the UN agenda. It is a youth agenda, and it should be led by young people,” said Abdullah Bility, Co-Chair of Liberia Coalition on YPS, during the PBF YPS Thematic Review launch event.
Second, the YPS Thematic Review suggests that nearly all youth-focused peacebuilding interventions should have some socioeconomic empowerment components. Socioeconomic needs are often at the center of youth exclusion and vulnerability. The Review discovered that socioeconomic empowerment of young people can kickstart meaningful youth participation in peacebuilding. Socioeconomic needs encompass much more than short-term livelihood support. For example, one PBF-funded project in Liberia targeted ex-combatants who were still involved in violent behavior. Many participants struggled with drug addiction and homelessness, which prevented them from participating in the project. To address this socioeconomic barrier and enable participation, the project helped beneficiaries secure shelter and rehabilitation services. Addressing these critical needs was necessary to put the young people in ‘the right frame of mind’ to engage. Similarly, the portfolio evaluation of PBF-supported programming in the Democratic Republic of Congo (2019-2024) recommended donors to scale up vocational training and entrepreneurship support for youth in conflict-affected areas to address economic drivers of conflict.
Community leader in Kasai, DRC, shared: “Thanks to the projects funded by the PBF, young people have been able to find alternatives to violence, which has strengthened the stability of the area.”
Third, donors supporting peacebuilding and development interventions, including International Financial Institutions and Multilateral Development Banks, should consider opportunities for sequential funding. YPS field needs synced and sequential funding strategies so that projects have an opportunity to build from past successes and scale up good practices. The portfolio evaluation of PBF-supported programmes in Mali (2019-2024), for example, specifically recommended future programmes to expand the reach of peace clubs and youth committees that were established or strengthened with support of PBF funding, so that more young people can influence conflict prevention and community decision-making. The Peacebuilding Fund remains keen to work with bilateral and multilateral donors on maximizing synergies and impact of YPS interventions.