Youth, Peace and Security
In recent years, COMESA has recognised the importance of youth in promoting peace and security in the region. Initiatives on Youth, Peace, and Security (YPS) are implemented in line with the existing normative frameworks guiding the YPS Agenda including the United Nations Security Council Resolutions (UNSCRs) 2250, 2419, 2535, 2807 and the Continental Framework on YPS (CFYPS). The youth are often the most affected by conflict and violent extremism, whilst also most likely to be excluded from decision-making processes. Hence, GPS has undertaken initiatives to promote effective and meaningful youth participation in peacebuilding efforts in the COMESA region. These include building and strengthening capacities on the Silencing the Guns Initiative, creating awareness on the YPS Agenda, convening Inter-generational dialogue forums – with four IGDs held in the Horn of Africa (2022), Southern Africa (2023), Eastern Africa (2024) and the Island States (2025); holding High-level Ministerial Conferences on the Role of Governments, AU, RECs/RMs in the promotion of the YPS Agenda – with four Conferences held for the Horn of Africa (2021), Southern Africa (2022), Eastern Africa (2023) and Islands States (2024); as well as providing mentorship and training for young people through a yearly internship programme. To set the Agenda for the next decade of YPS implementation, GPS, in December 2025, in collaboration with its partners, convened a Stocktaking Conference on the UNSCR 2250 and the 5-year implementation of the CFYPS to gauge the progress made, lessons learned and policy wins of the past decade of YPS implementation on the continent. The Conference culminated in the endorsement of an Outcome Document which was presented to H.E Evariste Ndayishimiye, President of the Republic of Burundi and AU Champion of the YPS Agenda, during the 4th Continental Dialogue on YPS in Bujumbura, Burundi.
GPS has further continued to advance the YPS Agenda by capacitating the most vulnerable and disadvantaged youth in its region through the establishment of One Stop Youth Centres in peri-urban and rural settings – namely; Apala, Northern Uganda (2023), and Baringo, Kenya (2025) – to serve as multi-service platforms linking youth engagement, conflict resolution education, skills development, and consequential communal peacebuilding – all of which are concrete objectives at the heart of GPS’ YPS efforts. Additionally, GPS has directed its efforts towards strengthening youth capacities for governance through the validation and adoption of the COMESA Guidelines for the Establishment of Effective National Youth Councils (2024) and it continues to roll out sensitisation sessions for National Youth Councils in its region, in order to equip them with the knowledge and skills to effectively carry out their mandates.
Through its implemented activities, GPS has been able to reach out to over 700 young people from the Member States, National Youth Councils (NYCs), and other regional and national CSOs.