In many post-conflict societies throughout the world, young people must deal with poverty, exploitation, and neglect. It is perhaps not surprising then that many youth eventually find themselves embroiled in violence, either as perpetrators or victims of crime. However, often overlooked are young people’s current and potential future contributions to peace, since with the proper support, youth can prove instrumental in a society’s rebuilding process.

In her new book Youth in Post-Conflict Reconstruction: Agents of Change, Stephanie Schwarz examines the intersections between youth, war, and peace. These linkages were examined at a book launch and panel discussion held last week at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

According to Schwarz, youth are often ignored despite their potentially strong influence on society. Traditionally, children and adults—easier age cohorts to define—dominate the focus of aid programs and government outreach efforts in nations recovering from war, she said.

Yet in post-conflict environments, youth are highly vulnerable, since they often comprise a large portion of society, but have few opportunities available to lead a peaceful life.  Schwarz broadly defines youth to encompass those that should be targeted in order to improve the prospects for a successful post-war reconstruction process.

Schwarz challenged those that link “youth bulge” with instability, describing the concept as an “exaggerated youth theory.” She asserted that youth can play either negative or positive roles in post-conflict societies, but specifically emphasized young people’s positive contributions as community leaders, with their ability to raise a “coordinated political voice…through spontaneous motivation.”

Communities and governments need to support young people engaged in these positive roles, Schwarz added. Otherwise, youth could become a “resource for perpetuation of violence,” she warned, especially if they become apathetic toward the reconstruction process, or are recruited as child soldiers. Schwarz advised that young people need empowerment programs to “provide skills to be productive in [their] community,” as well as to boost their sense of belonging.

Marc Sommers, also with the U.S. Institute of Peace, described obstacles that youth programs currently face in post-conflict societies. He pointed out that although post-war populations are often “youth dominated,” many young people are disengaged from programs linked to reconstruction efforts, which he said exacerbates the feeling of exclusion. In turn, he said, it becomes difficult for youth to reintegrate themselves into their communities, increasing the likelihood that they fall victim to child-soldier recruiters, or become drawn into other negative roles.

Lessons From Kenya: Integrate Young People to Avoid Conflict

In an interview, Margaret Muthee, a scholar with the Wilson Center’s Africa Program, used her personal observations and experiences from Kenya to shed some light on the obstacles young people often face in the developing world.  She emphasized that while “youth are very resilient with lots of potential,” they often find themselves in a “disadvantaged position.”

In Kenya, Muthee said, youth suffer from a vicious cycle, where a lack of educational or economic opportunity places young people—especially men—on a slippery slope toward crime and violence. In turn, she explained, “male youth are vilified” and sometimes dealt with through government-supported “shoot to kill…[measures] designed to instill fear rather than reintegrate them into society.”

Muthee recommended countering the top-down approach of dealing with youth, asserting that with the right approach and improved support from government and civil society, peaceful paths can be developed for young people, which would help achieve a greater sense of security for entire communities.

Marie Hokenson is a cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point and an intern with the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program.

Photo Credit: “Joy Centre – BEC,” used courtesy of flickr user Ben Namibia.

Leaders from 49 African countries are meeting today in Kampala, Uganda, at the start of a scheduled week-long African Union (AU) summit on maternal and child health. Uganda is a fitting location, as it faces some of the toughest health and demographic challenges in Africa, including a very young and rapidly growing population and poor maternal health services. However, with the memory of last week’s twin bomb blasts still fresh, peace and security issues will surely be on the agenda as well.

“The role of intergenerational transfers, land, and education in fertility transition in rural Kenya: the case of Nyeri district” in Population & Environment by Karina M. Shreffler and F. Nii-Amoo Dodoo, explores the reasons for a dramatic and unexpected decline in fertility in rural Kenya. In one province, total fertility rate (TFR) declined from 8.4 to 3.7, from 1978 to 1998. The study found numerous contributing factors for this decline, which occurred more quickly and earlier than demographers expected, but land productivity seemed to be the primary motivator. A growing population and the tradition of dividing family land among sons made continuing to have large families unrealistic for these Kenyan families. “Family planning is, therefore, not the primary causal explanation for limiting the number of children, but rather serves to help families attain their ideal family sizes,” the authors conclude.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs, in a personal email posted by Wired, recently tried to explain to a concerned iPhone customer the complexity of ensuring Apple’s devices do not use conflict minerals like those helping to fund the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. However much one might be tempted to pile on Apple at the moment, Mr. Jobs is on to something with regard to the conflict minerals trade – expressing outrage and raising awareness of the problem is one thing but actually implementing an effective solution is quite another.

As finely articulated in a number of recent articles about conflict minerals in the DRC (see the New York Times, Guardian, and Foreign Policy for example), the Congo is, and has been for some time, a failed state.

A new documentary film released recently by Population Action International brings attention to the plight of women across sub-Saharan Africa who lack access to basic reproductive health supplies, such as condoms and contraceptives. Funded with the support of the Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition, “Empty Handed” documents the unmet need for family planning services in the region, which has some of the world’s highest fertility rates.

In the wake of The New York Times article detailing a potential mineral bonanza in Afghanistan, Senators Ben Cardin and Dick Lugar earlier this week published an op-ed in support of a bill that would create “an international standard for transparency in law” by requiring oil, gas, and mining industries to report amounts paid for drilling/mining rights in their SEC filings. A similar program, albeit a voluntary one, already exists – the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). The senators, however, raised questions about the ability of EITI to ensure transparency and accountability of payments for future mining rights to Afghanistan’s government. Joining EITI was a “good first step,” they say, “but too many countries and companies remain outside this system.”

The European Union’s biofuel goal for 2020 “is a good example of setting a target…without really thinking through [the] secondary, third, or fourth order consequences,” said Alexander Carius, co-founder and managing director of Adelphi Research and Adelphi Consult. While the 2007-2008 global food crisis demonstrated that the growth of crops for fuels has “tremendous effects” in the developing world, analysis of these threats are underdeveloped and are not incorporated into climate change policies, he said. [Video Below]

The coup in Madagascar in early 2009 not only politically destabilized the country, but also damaged its ability to protect its unique environment. A hotspot of biodiversity, Madagascar is the home of many species that exist nowhere else in the world.

Deposed president Marc Ravalomanana, while criticized for prioritizing business interests, was a proponent of environmental conservation who leveraged the natural wealth of his country to promote sustainable development.