News
Developing Youth Life Skills for Peace
Within the framework of the SALIENT joint project, the UNESCO Office for the Caribbean, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Youth of Jamaica, organized an onsite 'Youth for Peace' workshop on 18 and 19 February 2025 with over two dozen students in grades 7-9 at the Kingston High School, to provide life skills training for youth.
Such skills aim to improve critical thinking, problem-solving, and cooperative learning, as well as empathy and conflict management so that youth can become responsible citizens and agents of positive change. The two-day workshop, with the involvement of two facilitators, focused on developing the participants' cognitive, socio-emotional, and behavioral competencies.
It utilized participatory and interactive methods, such as sports and creative activities, to strengthen the participants' self-esteem and equip them with conflict management tools. The sessions included songwriting and presentations using key terms related to conflict and peacebuilding, a role-playing activity, and a collaborative game, among other interactive exercises.
Students are peace ambassadors. Students are vital stakeholders in fostering a peaceful school environment for their own sake and that of their peers.
The 'Youth for Peace' training program aims to empower youth to be peacebuilders in their own schools and also their wider communities.
