Peace Jam latest:
young people changing the world

We continue to work closely with the international Peace Jam programme – enabling young people to meet Nobel Peace winners, get inspired, and work out how to become change-makers where they are.

So we were delighted to attend the most recent UK Peace Jam gathering, alongside groups from across Leeds, including: Pudsey Grangefield, Otley Prince Henry’s, South Leeds Academy, and Chapeltown Youth Development Centre.

The speaker was Argentinian campaigner Adolfo Perez Esquivel (pictured above, with the Chapeltown group) – who won the 1980 Nobel Peace for speaking out against the abuses of the military junta in his homeland. His theme for the event was ‘breaking the cycles of violence’ – and the young people were genuinely captivated.

Many of them are now looking to develop projects for change, to put their learning into practice. In particular, the Chapeltown group have received funding from Live Unltd to deliver an inter-community cooking project called ‘Our Recipe 4 Peace’ (linked to our Active Citizens work). And the same group joined us to go see the Dalai Lama speaking on ‘fostering a culture and peace in the 21st centure’ in Manchester over the summer.

Peace Jam UK (with whom we work) are exploring options for 2013 and beyond, and – as an offshoot from Peace Jam – we’re working with South Leeds Academy and others to develop a Peace Jam styled day event in autumn 2013. Please get in touch to find out more.