Overview
On the 28th and 29th November, 2019, a workshop on ‘Youth and Peace in the Indo-Pacific’ was held at QUT in Brisbane Australia, funded by the The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA) Workshop Grant program. Co-convened by Dr Helen Berents (QUT), Dr Caitlin Mollica (Griffith), and ASSA Fellow and Professor Jacqui True (Monash), the workshop brought together academics, practitioners and policy makers with expertise on gender and youth inclusive peace practices in the region.
While the workshop was invitation-only, there was a public event in Brisbane on the evening of Wednesday 27th November discussing Youth, Peace and Security with a regional focus: ‘Agents of Change: What Can Youth Offer Peace and Security?’
Workshop Summary
The impact of conflict and insecurity significantly affects youth throughout the Indo-Pacific region. Yet they are often marginalised or excluded from the institutions tasked with implementing peace and security. This workshop seeks to facilitate a critical policy dialogue, which examines post-conflict practices that have sought to meaningfully engage with the experiences of youth in the region. The dialogue seeks to learn from the contributions of gender-responsive approaches to peace and conflict. In doing so, it contributes to the development of more substantive policymaking that acknowledges both the centrality of age as well as gender to the development of meaningful post-conflict practices.
A more detailed Concept Note for the workshop can be accessed here.
Program can be accessed here.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful for the Workshop Grant funding provided by the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia that made this workshop possible. Our appreciation also to the School of Justice at Queensland University of Technology and the School of Government and International Relations at Griffith University for additional financial support.
Helen Berents 