The Global Peace Initiative of Women
The Global Peace Initiative of Women
Sudan Young Leaders Dialogue Update and Appeal January 2007
Dear Friends and Supporters,
We are embarking on an important but ambitious new project for which we need your help and support. We are organizing the first dialogue among young professionals from all the key regions in Sudan to explore how they can work together to address the critical problems dividing their country. This idea emerged from the series of youth summits that we have been organizing over the past few years with the United Nations. Early on we realized that the two young delegates from Sudan, a young woman from Khartoum and a young man from Darfur, were exceptionally committed and talented. They have a vision for the future of their country that they hope their generation can realize.
In one of the sessions on peacebuilding during the United Nations Youth Summit this past November, our delegate from Darfur, stood up and said, “I am bringing a message from the young people in Darfur. They have asked me to come to the United Nations to appeal to the international community for help.” He then put his head in his hands and said, “I should not have come here - I have no message to bring back to the young people in Darfur. What will the United Nations do for them?” At that moment I committed to him that we would bring a message to those young people. We then began intensive planning for the Sudan Youth Dialogue, which will now take place in Kenya March 1-6th, 2007.
Our two Sudanese delegates have been traveling throughout Sudan speaking with young leaders and have identified 35 impressive professionals who we are bringing to Kenya for the first such dialogue; the group will include 6 delegates from refugee camps in Darfur. We have also been working with a senior program officer at Professional Training at the United States Institute for Peace (USIP), which has been doing dialogue with tribal leaders and other civil society groups but has not yet worked with young people. The senior project director from the USIP will be joining us for training in dialogue and negotiations with these young people. They have expressed gratitude that we have been able to organize this and we are extremely grateful for their support and partnership on this project. Their involvement will further the outcome projects in Sudan.
We have raised $50,000 for this project but need another $15,000 in order to bring the trainers as well as the young delegates. Whatever donation you can make, however small, would be much appreciated. We feel that by bringing these young people together to communicate across regions and tribes, we are making a small contribution toward the building of peace and the healing of that country. We may not be able to stop the killing in Darfur, but we can give these young people hope and a true understanding that there are people across the world who deeply care. We can help them take an important step toward healing the divisions.
Warm Regards,
Dena Merriam, Founder and Convener
Concentrate not on the results, but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself.
Thomas Merton
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The Global Peace Initiative of Women
email: marstrandm@ruderfinn.com
phone: 212 593-6438
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